For 'Flowering in my garden' this week my Crocus have suddenly appeared and are gorgeous in the intermitant sunshine. This jolly little bulb is easy to grow and comes in lots of variants from purple through pinks, to whites, creams and blazing yellows. They can be blotched, streaked or delicately veined, so there is a type to suit every taste and colour scheme.
The spray of leaves comes first, recognisable by their central silvery stripe...
...followed by the tightly furled buds...
which burst open at the first hint of sun.
The name Crocus comes from the Greek word for saffron - krokos, and within each flower is the stunning yellow stamen which is the origin of the Crocus' culinary fame. However it is a particular type of crocus that gives us the highly prized spice and colour (strangely enough it's the Saffron Crocus which presumably in Greek would be the Krokos Crocus) so we can't all start harvesting and making our fortune!
Crocus grow best in poor-ish gritty soil in full sun. They are best planted in the early autumn with the other spring bulbs and grow about 3-4ins tall.
As you will notice all my Crocus are purple, and I have to admit that I don't know specifically what type they are. They were a free gift with a bulb order about 5 years ago that I just threw in the ground any-old-where, and haven't they done well (typical)! I have grown yellow in the past, but found that these were far more likely to get nibbled by squirrels or pecked by birds.
However, now I'm inspired to try some white Crocus, like the ones I saw in Bosvigo spring garden this weekend (see previous post), they were beautiful!
However, now I'm inspired to try some white Crocus, like the ones I saw in Bosvigo spring garden this weekend (see previous post), they were beautiful!
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