Adonis vernalis -The Spring Pheasant’s Eye




This slow to establish beautiful and rarely seen member of the Buttercup Family is perhaps only occasionally seen in plant collector’s gardens, but that’s a shame, since once established ( it is only difficult to transplant), it can live a long time. As one collector stated, “Adonis are easy to grow, but difficult to find”, this is because they plants resist domestication. If one is able to obtain a plant that was carefully divided while dormant, and gets it planted immediately, then one must leave it alone and let it grow undisturbed. If new plants are desired, even seedling resist any disturbance, so although not difficult to raise from ones own fresh seed, success if better if the plant is allowed to drop its own seed into the soil, and young plants moved extremely carefully in the following years.

This is our second year with this division so it is still just settling in, but once established, I expect a dozen or so of these bright cheery yellow buttercuppy flowers very early in the spring, perhaps even with some snow on the ground. It is perhaps the most desired plant by many plant enthusiasts the Ranunculaceae family and its leaves and flowers look very much like the genus Anemone, and not buttercups, which is a good thing. In the garden, the overall appearance in not very buttercup-like at all, and more like Eranthis, the winter Aconite, if anything.

Adonis vernalis is native to Europe, whereas the more commonly seen, if one can say that about Adonis, is the Asian species, Adonis amurensis, which is highly collectible in Japan where many forms have been introduced. Our Adonis vernalis was started from seed collected in the Czech Republic started by Harvey Wrightman’s Nursery, where he shared a few plants with us. Harvey WrightmanMostly this is a plant shared by collectors, but look for it, for one could call this the Peony of Ranunculus’. The other species which is sometimes more available is the Asian form, Adonis amurensis. Try ordering it from Asiatica.com.

When I planted the dormant potted division last autumn, I didn’t realize that I planted in near a dormant Corydalis bulb clump, so this late summer, I will relocate the Corydalis solida, not the Adonis.

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Comments

  1. I love your Adonis. I bought 3 last year and got them into the garden a bit late. I think they are returning but they did not flower this year. Getting nervous that I did them in…but hoping that I didn't.

  2. I live in Alberta Canada, and we have success growing this plant from seed, and it is quite hardy here, which is unusual because we have difficult growing conditions due to Chinooks and a very short growing season.

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