Ranunculus Bouquets at the Market

Ranunculus is Latin for little frog, a name that suits the wild buttercups of the same group, many of which grow in damp ground. The garden kind has been bred into something very different, with layer after layer of thin petals wrapped like tissue paper. Bunches wrapped in brown paper fill a market stall in soft spring colors, which makes a flower market jigsaw puzzle that looks like a Saturday morning. Cut ranunculus can last well over a week in a vase if the water is kept fresh.