{"id":2669,"date":"2019-03-18T04:59:04","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T12:59:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=2669"},"modified":"2019-03-18T04:59:04","modified_gmt":"2019-03-18T12:59:04","slug":"orange-glow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/orange-glow\/","title":{"rendered":"Orange Glow"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Eranthis<\/a>\u2018Orange Glow\u2019 is up and glowing, even though \u201cup\u201d is a relative term for a plant that is only a few inches tall.\u00a0 Though it has the same name as a popular cleaning product, \u2018Orange Glow\u2019 is in fact a winter aconite, a type of buttercup, belonging to the same Ranunculaceae family as the more common yellow buttercups of summer.<\/p>\n

Known to botanists as part of Eranthis hyemalis Cilicus Group, \u2018Orange Glow\u2019 is actually golden orange in color.\u00a0 In bud, you might confuse it with a snow crocus, but when it spreads its sunny petals, the buttercup family connection reveals itself.<\/p>\n

Winter aconites have lovely flowers, but the narrow green leaves are also beautiful, forming a flattering ruff around the blooms.\u00a0 The difference between Cilicus Group plants, like \u2018Orange Glow\u2019, and ordinary Eranthis hyemalis varieties is larger flower size and more delicate foliage.<\/p>\n

My little patch of \u2018Orange Glow\u2019, now five years old, lives under one of my ever-increasing \u2018Nikko Blue\u2019 hydrangeas.\u00a0 The hydrangeas look awful right now and still retain most of last year\u2019s flowerheads.\u00a0 I have to do something about that very soon, and maybe the enticing brightness of those orangy buttercups will help move me and my clippers towards the shrubs.<\/p>\n

Fourteen years ago, English plantsman Noel Kingsbury referred to \u2018Orange Glow\u2019 as \u201crare\u201d in an article for the Telegraph <\/em>newspaper.\u00a0 The fact that I have five little specimens of this rarity in my garden makes me feel rather rare and special myself.\u00a0 I received mine from snowdrop guru Hitch Lyman about five years ago.\u00a0 I don\u2019t believe he has sufficient stocks to sell it since.\u00a0 European catalog vendors sometimes carry this and other cilicus varieties, like \u2018Guinea Gold\u2019, which has yellow-gold flowers and bronzy foliage, and \u2018Flore Pleno\u2019, which boasts double yellow buttercups.<\/p>\n

American vendors seem to stick to the more common yellow-flowered types.\u00a0 All are beautiful, but I think that, true to its name, mine glows just a bit brighter.<\/p>\n

While ordinary winter aconite is native to Europe, from France to Bulgaria, the cilicus types, like \u2018Orange Glow\u2019, hale from farther south, growing naturally in Turkey, Kurdistan, Iran and Afghanistan.\u00a0 It is unclear when cilicus aconites arrived in England, but the more common Eranthis hyemalis were first mentioned by the celebrated English herbalist John Gerard in his Catalogue<\/em>, published in 1596, when the first Queen Elizabeth was still on the throne.\u00a0 At least one eranthis plant list mentions that \u2018Orange Glow\u2019 was first discovered in a Copenhagen, Denmark botanical garden.\u00a0 It was probably a random seedling of another cilicus plant\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fortunately, even my \u201crare\u201d specimens are easy to grow.\u00a0 Some references say they do best in slightly alkaline soil, but mine thrive in the same acid soil that happily supports rhododendrons and azaleas.\u00a0 Like many spring-flowering plants, winter aconite starts as a small tuberous rhizome.\u00a0 You can plant the dry rhizomes in the fall, and this is how most winter aconite is sold in the U.S.\u00a0 The chances for success increase if you buy or beg a division that has been harvested \u201cin the green\u201d, in spring, just after the flowers have faded.\u00a0 This same lifting technique works well for snowdrops.<\/p>\n

Once the winter aconites are safely installed in the garden, give them a bit of water if the weather is dry, to help the roots establish themselves.\u00a0 Eventually the top growth will disappear, just like the remains of the daffodils, tulips and hyacinths.\u00a0 The cloak of invisibility that covers such plants through the summer, fall and winter has earned them the nickname \u201cspring ephemerals\u201d.\u00a0 But never fear, winter aconite will return and increase year after year.\u00a0 My \u2018Orange Glow\u2019 patch started with one plant and has grown to five.\u00a0 I think the more common types increase even faster because they set seed very efficiently.<\/p>\n

To keep things moist and well insulated, mulch your eranthis, preferably with shredded leaves or other organic material.\u00a0 Mark where you planted the little buttercup relatives so you don\u2019t dig them up inadvertently.<\/p>\n

If you want to try winter aconite, find a neighbor or internet connection with an established patch and get a division within the next few weeks.\u00a0 If you can\u2019t find anyone to supply \u2018in the green\u201d specimens, buy bulbs next fall.\u00a0 A good source is Brent and Becky\u2019s Bulbs, 7900 Daffodil Lane Gloucester, VA 23061; (877) 661-2852; www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Free catalog.<\/p>\n

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\u2018Orange Glow\u2019 is up and glowing, even though \u201cup\u201d is a relative term for a plant that is only a few inches tall.\u00a0 Though it has the same name as a popular cleaning product, \u2018Orange Glow\u2019 is in fact a winter aconite, a type of buttercup, belonging to the same Ranunculaceae family as the more … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,5],"tags":[752,2060,2061,1803,477,751],"class_list":["post-2669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-winter","tag-buttercup-family","tag-eranthis-orange-glow","tag-eranthis-hyemalis-cilicus-group","tag-ranunculaceae","tag-spring-bulbs","tag-winter-aconite"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2669"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2671,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2669\/revisions\/2671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}