Common Name: pasque flower
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Ranunculaceae
Zone: 5 to 7
Height: 0.50 to 1.00 feet
Spread: 0.25 to 0.50 feet
Bloom Time: April to May
Bloom Description: Creamy white, pink, red, blue, purple
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Flower: Showy
Tolerate: Rabbit, Heavy Shade
Culture
Best grown in fertile, humusy, gritty, medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun to light shade. Good soil drainage is essential. Best performance occurs in cool climates where plants are also more apt to tolerate drier conditions. Plants need consistent moisture in hot summer climates such as the St. Louis area. Plants are best left undisturbed once established.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Pulsatilla vulgaris is a purple-flowered pasque flower that is native to Europe (Great Britain and France to the Ukraine). Hairy flower stems emerge from the ground in spring (March-April in St. Louis), sometimes when patches of snow are still on the ground. Flowers bloom as the foliage begins to form. Flowers are solitary, erect-to-nodding and open-bell-shaped. When the flowers appear, stems are typically only 4-5” tall. Stems elongate and foliage grows taller after bloom, with plants typically maturing to 9-12” tall. Flowers are followed by equally-ornamental, plume-like seedheads (reminiscent of some clematis) in fluffy spherical clusters. Deeply-divided, silky, hairy, fern-like, light green, basal leaves (to 4-6" long) are attractive throughout the growing season.
Genus name comes from Latin meaning sway as the flowers sway in the wind.
Specific epithet means common.
Pasque comes from Old French for Easter in reference to the spring bloom time.
‘Papageno’ features fringed double flowers in a variety of mixed colors including shades of creamy white, pink, red, blue and purple. Flowers may be single, especially in the first year. The cultivar name of ‘Papageno’ presumably was borrowed from the brightly colored bird-catcher character of the same name in Mozart’s The Magic Flute opera.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems.
Uses
Rock gardens. Prairie areas. Border fronts.