a good sign of spring, a crocus.
Credit: Annette McCarthy
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EmailBotanical name: Crocus
Plant type: Flower
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Sun exposure: Full Sun, Part Sun
Flower color: Pink, Orange, Yellow, Blue, Purple, White
When it seems like winter will never lose its icy grip, the dainty goblet-shaped crocus pushes through the snow to put on a show of colorful revival. If you are not planting this perennial bulb, you are missing an early season of delight.
From snow crocuses (the first to bloom) to giant Dutch crocuses, all just 2 to 4 inches tall, these blooms offer a variety in color (pinks, reds, oranges, yellows, purples, blues, and more) that stand out against the bleak late-winter landscape. Many have strong perfumes that lure bees out of their hives in February or March.
Small bulbs like crocus not only provide winter garden color, but they naturalize, meaning that they spread and come back year after year—with minimum care—for an ever-larger display. As as a bonus, deer, squirrels, and rabbits rarely bother early little bulbs.
Planting
- Before the ground freezes in the fall, early bulbs can be planted most anywhere, except in the dense shade on the north side of buildings.
- Make sure the soil drains well, because bulbs will rot in soggy ground.
- Work in organic matter such as compost, peat or a substitute, such as shredded leaves to a depth of at least 10 inches.
- Plant crocus bulbs 3 to 4 inches deep (with the pointy end up). After planting, water well.
- Plant bulbs in groups or clusters rather than spacing them in a single line along a walkway or border. Single flowers get lost in the landscape.Plant a few inches apart, and plant in groups of 10 or more.
- Consider planting crocuses in lawns and meadows where they can form carpets, or mass them in the frost of flower beds along the edge.
- Plant taller bulbs and spring-flowering shrubs behind the early bulbs for color contrast.
Care
- Apply a balanced fertilizer in early autumn is your spring is short and the days heat up fast; or, apply fertilizer after bulbs flower if your spring is long and temperate; bulbs will have a chance to use the extra nutrients to produce bigger carbohydrate stores.
- Through the autumn, keep crocus beds watered if weather gets dry but do not waterlog. Cover the beds with mulch before the winter.
- In late February, remove mulches from snowdrops and crocuses so the shoots can come through.
- In February and March, keep plastic milk jugs or other coverings on hand to protect the flowers of crocuses and other early bloomers against the return of severe weather.
- If you have crocuses growing in your lawn in mid-Spring, don't mow until their leaves have died down.
Pests
- Mice, voles, and squirrels may feed on the corms. If they are a problem, consider planting crocus bulbs in buried wire cages.
- Birds sometimes pick off the flowers.
- Corms in storage are prone to rots and molds.
Recommended Varieties
- 'Bowles White' produces white flowers with deep golden yellow throats in early spring. It grows 2 to 3 inches tall.
- 'Flower Record' has single pale violet flowers in spring to early summer. It grows 4 to 5 inches tall.
- 'Pickwick' is a striped crocus with alternating pale and dark lilac and dark purple bases. It's 4 to 5 inches tall and blooms in spring to early summer.
- 'Tricolor Crocus' is a beauty. Each narrow flower has three distinct bands of lilac, white, and golden yellow. It grows 3 inches tall and blooms in late winter and early spring.
- 'Purpureus Grandiflorus' has abundance violet flowers with purple bases. It grows 4 to 5 inches tall and blooms spring to early summer.
Wit & Wisdom
- In the language of flowers, crocus means cheerfulness.
And all the woods are alive with the murmur and sound of Spring,
And the rose-bud breaks into pink on the climbing briar,
And the crocus-bed is a quivering moon of fire
Girdled round with the belt of an amethyst ring.
–Oscar Wilde
E-Cards
Send an e-card of these little blooms as a sign that warm weather is coming!
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Comments
By Anonymous on May 10
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I planted crocus for the first time last Fall (2012). The blooms came up for a couple weeks, looked great. Had some stormy weather, blooms are now gone. Now Ive have had flattened green leaves for a couple weeks. Do I cut them back, leave them there? If I leave them, for how long. they are in a flower bed with other flowers that will be blooming soon. Will not be mowing the flower bed anytime soon, so what now?
By Anonymous on May 6
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We've had to dig up our old garden completely and I tried to salvage as many of the bulbs as I could. They hadn't completely died off, but weren't in flower. Is it worth trying to store them so I can replant the bulbs in the fall in the new garden? If so, how? If you don't think it's worth it, just say so and I'll save myself the trouble.
Kristen
By Almanac Staff on May 8
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Save the bulbs that don't have any damage or rot (soft spots). Make sure that they are completely dry. Put them in a paper or mesh bag and store them in a dry, dark place until fall.
By Anonymous on April 30
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I REALLY want to plant my crocus mix corms, they are solid purple, solid white, solid yellow, and a white/purple stripe. I did not plant in the fall and I live in Estes Park, CO so we are still getting snowstorms until the end of May or later. I did have them stored in my unheated storage shed all winter,perhaps I can still plant them?
By Almanac Staff on May 8
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You can still plant them but you may not have any blooms this year. Next spring you'll get the full flower show.
By Anonymous on April 29
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I have crocus which were bought flowering in 4 small pots. They have finished blooming and the plants have shrivelled. Can I plant the corms on my glazed balcony for flowering next winter/spring? It is not really spring yet here in Stockholm, Sweden. Outside the temperature will reach 11 C/51 F this afternoon and go down to 2 C/36 F at night. Thank you for your help. Edwin
By Almanac Staff on May 8
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You can plant the crocuses in the bottom half of a pot on your balcony and then plant some annuals or herbs in the pot for the summer. Come fall remove the annuals or herbs and cover the pot with a heavy cardboard box to protect it from really freezing temperatures. Use a plastic pot (ceramic pots may crack in the winter).
Lycka till!!
By Anonymous
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Can I plant crocuses in a deep pot and bring in to the garage for the winter? My new back yard is fairly shady except for a few spots where there are not any flower beds.
By Almanac Staff on May 8
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You can keep the crocuses in a pot in an unheated garage over the winter. They need the cold winter temps. to bloom next spring.
By Anonymous
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my crocuses have dark green leaves but no flowers They look healthy but some do not flower.
By Almanac Staff
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Are they in the shade? Sometimes crocus bulbs do not flower due to lack of sunlight.
By Anonymous on May 9
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That just totally answered what I was about to ask. Only it doesn't explain why a single crocus (which I planted with many others about four years ago) is blooming now.
By Anonymous
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When can you dig up and divide the corms for replanting?
By Almanac Staff
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Do not dig up the corms until the foliage has turned yellow and withers. After you carefully dig them up, let them sit in indirect sunlight for 2 to 3 weeks. Then, gently separate the new corms that grow on the old corms, dust with fungicide, and store in a cool, dry place away from sunlight, preferably 60 to 65 degrees F. until planting time. Plant crocus in the spring. Note that crocus can be refrigerated at 40 degrees F. for two months prior to planting or potting.
By Anonymous
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I live in Zone 5. The crocus I planted in Fall of 2011 bloomed in spring 2012 but haven't come back yet, don't really see leaves poking out either. Yet, the crocus I planted in Fall of 2012 have bloomed nicely so far this spring. Is there a chance the crocus that didn't bloom this spring might bloom next year? I just wonder why they didn't return. What are some of the reasons the crocus didn't return/naturalize. Could it have something to do with the planted depth? Maybe they weren't planted deep enough to naturalize? Would that cause a problem?
By Almanac Staff
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You might give the older crocuses a little more time to pop up; weather or other environmental stress from last growing season may have delayed them a few weeks. If there are no signs of leaves, it is possible that rodents damaged the bulbs (or actually, corms). To avoid them nibbling in future, place wire mesh around bulbs at planting time. Pea gravel sometimes helps, too. In general, plant bulbs twice as deep as the bulbs are tall. Make sure the bulbs are not crowded. Keep up with watering in dry periods, even into fall, but don't overwater. Make sure they are in a place with adequate sunlight (full sun is usually best). In Zone 5, you probably have had the chilling requirements needed over winter. Do not cut the leaves of bulbs after flowering--the bulbs need the leaves to make food to survive the winter and to bloom next year.
Are the older crocuses in a different spot than the newer ones? If so, check out what possible environmental conditions may be affecting the older batch, such as shade, drainage (too close to a sprinkler?), lighting, competition with other plants (such as tree roots), etc.
By Anonymous
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Once it blooms and the blooms dies does it continue to sprout and bloom or does it only bloom once.
By Almanac Staff
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The crocus is a perennial. So, it will bloom once a season, but it will come back year after year in the early spring. After it blooms, it will grow and store food for a period of time before dying back to ground level and becoming dormant. They will bloom well before grass starts to grow and by the time it reaches mowing height, the crocus are finished for the season.
By Anonymous
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what if you do plant crocuses in the middle of January in Oroville Calif?
By Almanac Staff
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Crocuses are planted in the fall to bloom in the early spring because they need a cold treatment for 12 weeks to bloom. If you didn't plant, you may want to store until the fall. There are also varieties (e.g., saffron crocus) that are planted in the spring to bloom in the fall but this isn't the norm.
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