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According to Brooke Palmer, the ranunculus is THE iconic bloom of early springtime. A seasoned grower and owner of Jenny Creek Flowers, based outside of Ithaca, in New York’s Finger Lakes Region, Brooke grows a wide array of specialty cut flowers that she sells through her flower CSA and a seasonal U-Pick program. Students take her workshops in person, including a successful dahlia-growing course, and she sells bulbs, tubers and plants to avid gardeners. After trialing the best ways to grow ranunculus, Brooke has landed on a successful approach that tailors her methods to the grower, depending on issues like zone and geography. Last week, Brooke revealed her ranunculus-growing secrets with the Slow Flowers community during our monthly meet-up session. Today, you’re in luck, because we’re sharing the replay recording from that session. Learn Brooke’s tips and techniques for success with growing ranunculus, the gorgeous, spring-blooming flower.
In 2024, Brooke Palmer of Jenny Creek Flowers shared her approach to growing winter tulips. We hosted her on a podcast episode after she contributed a wonderful article to the Slow Flowers Journal. This high school English teacher-turned-flower farmer is a researcher at heart. So it was no surprise when Brooke told me that she recently packaged her ranunculus-growing lessons into a new online course.
Brooke narrates the romance of ranunculus this way:
You step into your garden on a cool spring morning, coffee in hand — and there they are. Ranunculus you grew yourself. Layered, ruffled, so beautiful they almost don’t seem real. You pause; everything else slipping away as you think: “I did this.” For anyone who has dreamed of growing beautiful ranunculus, Brooke wants to show you how — with a simple, clear path.
As a ranunculus super-fan, Brooke brings more than 20 years as an educator and teacher to her work. She likes to break things down into simple, doable steps — the same way she taught students and supported teachers for two decades.
Since moving from longtime gardener to full-time flower farmer, Brooke says she learned to grow ranunculus the hard way — years of trial and error and more lost corms than she cares to admit. When things finally clicked for her, Brooke turned her insights about what worked into a clear, step-by-step path so others don’t have to figure it out alone.
Join me today and gain inspiration and confidence to plant your own beautiful ranunculus. You’ll also find a link to a free ranunculus quiz: Should you Fall-Plant Ranunculus or Wait Until Spring?
We’re excited to see more ranunculus arrangements out in the world and I’m just going to reiterate the wish I spoke out loud during last week’s Meet-Up session. I would LOVE to see a botanical couture look created with fresh ranunculus blooms as part of our 2026 American Flowers week floral fashion collection. Just putting it out there. If this idea appeals to you, please reach out! Can’t you just see how dreamy that would look?!
Follow Jenny Creek Flowers on Instagram and Facebook
Slow Flowers WORLDWIDE Summit is coming!
The countdown continues because our Slow Flowers WORLDWIDE Summit is coming up in less than three weeks! We are back for Year Two and coming to you virtually to deliver inspiration and education during the two-day online conference.
The program includes 10 hours of education from 13 speakers near and far – an incredible rate for $289 general registration. Remember, Slow Flowers members receive $50 off their registration at $239. All registrants with US addresses will receive a spring-flowering tree from our lead sponsor, My Patio Tree – a $199 value, which means attending the Summit practically pays for itself! Find all the details in our show notes or visit slowflowerssummit.com.
Thank you to our SPONSORS
This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 700 florists, shops, and studios who design with local, seasonal and sustainable flowers and to the farms that grow those blooms. It’s the conscious choice for buying and sending flowers.
Thank you to our lead sponsor, Flowerbulb.eu and their U.S. lily bulb vendors. One of the most recognizable flowers in the world, the lily is a top-selling cut flower, offering long-lasting blooms, year-round availability, and a dazzling petal palette. Flowerbulb.eu has partnered with Slow Flowers to provide beautiful lily inspiration and farming resources to help growers and florists connect their customers with more lilies. Learn more at Flowerbulb.eu.
Thank you to Longfield Gardens, which provides home gardeners with high quality flower bulbs and perennials. Their online store offers plants for every region and every season, from tulips and daffodils to dahlias, caladiums and amaryllis. Check out the full catalog at Longfield Gardens at longfield-gardens.com.
Thank you to Rooted Farmers. Rooted Farmers works exclusively with local growers to put the highest-quality specialty cut flowers in floral customers’ hands. When you partner with Rooted Farmers, you are investing in your community, and you can expect a commitment to excellence in return. Learn more at RootedFarmers.com.
Thank you for joining me today! The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than 1.5 million times by listeners like you. Thank you for listening, commenting and sharing – it means so much. As our movement gains more supporters and more passionate participants who believe in the importance of our domestic cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. If you’re new to our weekly Show and our long-running Podcast, check out all of our resources at SlowFlowersSociety.com.
I’m Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Show & Podcast. The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. The content and opinions expressed here are either mine alone or those of my guests alone, independent of any podcast sponsor or other person, company or organization. Next week, you’re invited to join me in putting more Slow Flowers on the table, one stem, one vase at a time. Thanks so much for joining us today and I’ll see you next week!
Music credits:
Drone Pine; Gaena; A Pleasant Strike
by Blue Dot Sessions
http://www.sessions.blue
Lovely
by Tryad
http://tryad.bandcamp.com/album/instrumentals
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
In The Field
audionautix.com
