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Always so cheery- spring flowers rarely fail to make me smile. With Valentines days seeming like a distant memory- who needs Roses when you’ve Ranunculus and Tulips!

There’s nothing I love more than Ranunculus! (other half, parents and siblings aside)

Note to self- I must try and grow these beauties! I heard said the other day that the Ranunculus is one of the few flowers that gets better by the day until it falls apart! I love love love them! Their layers and layers of papery thin vibrant petals and quite reminiscent of Peonies which are yet a distant summer dream!

I sent my boyfriend flowers once – a Kilner jar full of bright yellow Ranunculus (to match his car) and I remember careful attaching a cardboard tag with some gardening string and in black marker pen scrawling ‘incredibly thirsty! top me up with water every day but don’t put me in the pond!’. The latter a nod to his not so ideal approach to disguarding dead flowers! Also known as  a Persian Buttercup- I was sweetly amused to discover that the gift had prompted much research on the subject.

I love the quirks that the individual flowers present- as mentioned above, Ranunculus can happily drink their way through a vase of water. Tulips – to use the scientific terminology have a ‘positive photo-tropism’ in simple terms they grow towards the light and in fact they continue to grow despite being a cut stem. I love to watch them creep up through a bouquet after several days, as if they are vying for attention!

And such beautiful colours too! We had Tulips in at the weekend which I can only describe as Apricots on stems – not the dried variety that you might find lurking in a Morrocan Tagine but fresh, plump, and inexpressibly beautiful! Its funny actually that as I refer to the invoice to share with you the variety that the actual  name is ‘Mango Charm’. They got the charm bit right- but someone should check out the fruit aisle in their nearest Waitrose because they’re definitely Apricots – not Mango’s!