Ranunculus Ficaria

One of our earliest spring flowers, just after the snowdrops, it can appear as early as the latter part of February where it makes carpets of golden stars on shiny green carpets of tightly-packed foliage. on the banks of streams and rivers, or else in the more shaded areas under hedgerows. A valuable addition to any garden, as the bright green shiny foliage is an astonishing annual weed suppressant. Annual seeds simply do not have light to survive until may or June, when the celandine's leaves promptly die completely away, leaving just tiny harmless tubers until the following February. Contrary to popular belief it was the Lesser Celandine rather than the Daffodil which is said to have been William Wordsworth’s favourite flower. He wrote three poems to the little flower with the “glittering countenance”, noting the plant’s habit of opening and shutting its petals according to the weather: “There is a Flower, the Lesser Celandine, That shrinks, like many more, from cold and rain; And, at the first moment that the sun may shine, Bright as the sun itself, ‘tis out again!”