An Iowa Garden

I just love these little plants, but have to say, don't try these plants at home, kids. They are considered an invasive pest in much of New England, and even as close to us as Wisconsin. Several States are considering banning them. Ranunculus ficaria supposedly goes by the name lesser celadine, but I don't know anybody that calls them that; for that matter, I don't know anybody else who even has them... for some reason they are not exactly a must-grow item here in the plains. When they push up their shiny little leaves in the early spring, I never fail to get down and examine them closely, and always find them delightful. The leaves, which sometimes have a deep chocolate-purple sheen, are reason enough for me to grow them, and the beautiful little buttercup flowers (they do, indeed reside in the buttercup family), are a further delight. I grow two different single-flowered ficarias: Brazen Hussy, pictured above, and Coffee Cream, below. The whole plant goes dormant in mid-summer, but it doesn't flop about or go through a prolonged, Camille-like dying process, and the bare spot that results is so small, that the plant's passing is almost unnoticed... it just seems to kind of disappear, as magically as it appeared. I've not noticed anything alarming about them that suggests they are going to explode into our countryside, but I have them both well esconced in contained beds right in the middle of the garden. The double-flowered forms are supposed to be much less likely to ramble about, and I do have two doubles, Picton's double, and Collarette, but so far they have been kind of wimpy here... probably our climate is just too warm for these little plants to get too frisky, as I note the States where they are a pest tend to be cooler, and wetter than us. These plants were very popular in England in the 19th century, with hundreds of varieties available, then went out of favor, but just recently have seen a resurgence of interest, with a number of new clones on the market in England, some of which I lust over, but they are extremely hard to find in this country. I'm going to try to pick up a few other varieties; it may well be that time is short, as they will be even harder to find if the New England states actually ban them.