PlantFiles: Dutch Crocus, Spring Crocus
Crocus vernus

My most anticipated flower in spring. But, don't forget, squirrels LOVE them. I planted a 'zillion' three years ago anticipating a carpet of color the next spring. It took less than one week for the local squirrels to dig up all of them. All they left were the established crocus. The next year I planted squirrel resistant spring bulbs but they just are not crocus. Now that the neighbor's huge pecan tree is gone (sad but more sun for my roses) most of the squirrels have moved on. I will try again this fall.

When the bees came from the nearby beehive on the first sunny, warmish day had nothing to eat, I started planting these crocus. I planted about 100 bulbs for 4 or 5 years in the fall. Now when they come up in the early spring, my front yard "hummmmms" with the happiness of the bees finding something to bring back to the hive.

Blooming in March, these are the first flowers to bloom in my garden. Such a welcome sight after a cold winter! A beautiful hint of things to come.

I have very nice crocuses that are in full bloom right now (zone 5a/b). They come back every year and are a very welcome sign that spring is on it's way.

I love this little flower, it heralds the beginning of spring and usually it's more than welcome! It's so pretty sticking up out of the snow or dried leaves from the previous fall.

I much prefer the "species" crocuses myself - there are about 80 other species not to mention innumerable cultivars of them! There is a much larger range of colours, including real blues, wonderful markings when viewed close up, and a longer flowering season overall. They may be smaller, but they open up more in the sun and many increase as well as, or better than, the "Dutch" cultivars. Many, especially the chrysanthus/biflorus hybrids have been around for about 100 years and are easy to grow - others require simulated alpine mountainsides and are a little more difficult. Some that I have been unable to grow outside do well in pots. About a third of them flower in fall or winter (depending on your climate) so we in St. John's Newfoundland have crocuses from September through to May, with a short gap outside from mid December to late March, but they still can continue in pots in a frame. (I'm not talking about the "False" Autumn Crocuses here, the Colchicums, which I love too, but fall flowering true crocuses.)

Compared with these I find the "Dutch" ones coarse and dull!

Just my opinion!

Howard.

Crocus are a lovely spring bulb, that naturalizes nicely, and is an amazing addition to your lawn, as long as you can hold off mowing them down til the foliage begins to die back.

Big, bold, beautiful. Dutch crocus come in a variety of colors and bi-colors. They bloom with the earliest daffodils.

Crocus prefer full sun while the foliage is ripening, but then can tolerate shade. They prefer a site that dries out some during the summer, but with adequate moisture in the remainder of the year.

The corms can be lifted when the foliage is spent and the cormlets removed either to a nursery bed or just sited in a new location for very fast increasing, or they can be left in the same place for many years before needing to be thinned.