As the daylength decreases, the leaves should start to turn yellow and look a bit ratty...at which time you can dry them out. If the foliage keeps looking healthy and green, this withdrawal of water always seems a little brutal but remember, at this stage it is about root growth - the leaves will detract from that and may want to go into dormancy after Xmas...which leaves you with too little time to get the plants up and putting out enough vegetative growth to support blooming. Manipulating growth cycles in bulbs and tubers is more forgiving than it seems - a little like the amaryllids and hippeastrums which are popular at this time of year for Xmas forcing. My DiL grows these and has been surprised to find bloom cycles at different times of year - certainly not following textbooks, with no apparent damage to the plants...but nonetheless, the decision to cut off water while in full flush of leaf is always a bit counter-intuitive. I think the plant only needs a month of dormancy so you can water till mid November, drying out the soil until mid January. Forcing the plant back into growth might require more warmth than is available outdoors or under glass so maybe a handy windowsill...and once the leaves re-appear, move them into the cooler flowering positions. The exact same conditions are required for the ranunculus relatives, anemone coronaria and a.pavonia. Some years (in the UK), they will bloom effortlessly while others result in puny late growth and a corolla which is feeble and hopeless. By way of consolation, the tubers are cheap and readily available...unlike some rare tecophilea or fritillaria...so we can generally afford to shrug off fails or cave in and actually (shudder) buy one.

Linnea, In your zone (z5) you will find them very challenging to grow well. You will find these even more difficult to grow in your climate than caladiums. Note that Izhar and Calistoga are in perfect climates for growing Ranunculus so their experiences are not at all relevant to you. It does help however to understand the way that Ranunculus behaves in these climates. Ranunculus are a cool season plant with a frost sensitive rhizome. In an ideal climate (like Carlsbad, CA) you would plant the rhizome in late fall and it would put out roots and then leaves from December - February and then bloom in March or April. After that it would go completely dormant during the hot dry summer. The problem with trying to grow them in the ground in cold climates is that the rhizome is not cold hardy so you can't plant it in the fall and let it get established in preparation for spring blooming. If you have have nice cool summers you can probably plant it in early spring and have a summer blooming season but then you will have to dig it up and store it in a frost free location over the winter. If you have hot summers (like me) it doesn't work to plant it in the spring because the plant doesn't have enough time to get established before the weather gets hot and triggers the blooming process. Without being properly established it will put only small weak blooms or none at all. I've tried several times and had only limited success growing it in the ground. I do have a nice one that is about to bloom in a pot and that may be an option for you if you have a cool sunny location for the plant to grow along during the winter. - Steve Here is a link that might be useful: Carlsbad Flower Fields

nothing inherently wrong with buying plants at a big box store. they have interesting plants show up in their inventory now and again. often at great prices. but advice? perhaps there is an employee at home depot that knows something about anything they sell, i just haven't found one yet.

I would just add that growing ranunculus successfully anywhere outside of coastal SoCal in the US is going to be a real challenge. Unless you can start in a greenhouse :-)) They just have rather specific growing requirements that are not easily met with inground planting across most of the country. Here is an excerpt from a previous thread on this topic that presents the situation very well: Ranunculus are a cool season plant with a frost sensitive rhizome. In an ideal climate (like Carlsbad, CA) you would plant the rhizome in late fall and it would put out roots and then leaves from December - February and then bloom in March or April. After that it would go completely dormant during the hot dry summer. The problem with trying to grow them in the ground in cold climates is that the rhizome is not cold hardy so you can't plant it in the fall and let it get established in preparation for spring blooming. If you have have nice cool summers you can probably plant it in early spring and have a summer blooming season but then you will have to dig it up and store it in a frost free location over the winter. If you have hot summers (like me) it doesn't work to plant it in the spring because the plant doesn't have enough time to get established before the weather gets hot and triggers the blooming process. Without being properly established it will put only small weak blooms or none at all. I've tried several times and had only limited success growing it in the ground. I do have a nice one that is about to bloom in a pot and that may be an option for you if you have a cool sunny location for the plant to grow along during the winter. This link of the Carlsbad CA flower fields - where virtually all of the ranunculus for the cut flower trade as well spring potted nursery stock comes from. A very impressive sight but this is an area that is uniquely suited to these rather tricky bulbs.