THE golden buttercups of our meadows and roadsides, and sometimes our lawns, are among the UK’s most familiar wildflowers. But in hotter, drier parts of Europe and Asia there grows an even more colourful relation – the Persian buttercup. It may be familiar from spring trips to Greece, where the large, upward-facing scarlet (sometimes white or yellow) flowers of Ranunculus asiaticus can be seen brightening dry hillsides.
The flowers of this true wild species are short lived, and it’s quite difficult to find them in nurseries. Luckily, the many semi-double and double-flowered garden varieties are easier to get hold of. They
