Safe to Plant

Persian buttercup · Renca, Santiago Metropolitan, Chile

When to sow persian buttercups in Renca

Main outdoor window

25 Apr - 9 May

The window this page is built around.

Timed from last spring frost

14 September

In Renca, on your chosen risk.

Ready to pick

29 Sep - 28 Dec

If you plant at the start of the window.

The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.

Step by step in Renca

Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.

Plant the corms

25 Apr - 9 May

Four to six weeks before your first frost, so roots form before the ground cools.

In flower

29 Sep - 28 Dec

Frost tolerance
Half-hardy
Damaged below
-7°C (19.4°F)
Days to flowering
90–120
Hardy to
Zone 8a–10a
Spacing
15 cm
Sowing depth
50 mm (2 in)
Sun
Full

Persian buttercups through the year

Against the frost risk in Renca

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Frost risk Plant Harvest Today

Why these dates

Where winters stay above about -7C, plant in autumn for spring flowers - this gives much the better crop. In colder gardens, start the corms indoors in late winter and plant out around the last frost, or grow them in a cold frame. Soak the claws for three or four hours before planting, points downward, 5cm deep.

Hardy only to about -7C, so autumn planting is limited to zone 8 and warmer. The foliage takes a light frost; a hard one kills the plant. It also stops flowering in real heat, so a hot spring simply ends the season early.

Persian buttercups are anchored to the first autumn frost rather than the last spring one, so the planting window on this page counts backwards from the end of the season in Renca instead of forwards from its start.

Hardiness is not the obstacle here. Renca is zone 9b, comfortably inside the range this crop is rated for, so an established plant should come through an average winter without protection.

The median frost-free season here is 265 days, against 90 to 120 days to first flower for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.

See every crop timed for Renca →

Growing persian buttercups in Renca

When should I plant persian buttercups in Renca?

Aim for 25 Apr - 9 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 8-22 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.

When will persian buttercups be ready to harvest in Renca?

Expect to start picking around 29 Sep - 28 Dec, based on 90 to 120 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.

How much frost will persian buttercups tolerate?

Hardy only to about -7C, so autumn planting is limited to zone 8 and warmer. The foliage takes a light frost; a hard one kills the plant. It also stops flowering in real heat, so a hot spring simply ends the season early.