Growing Crocuses

The Stray at Harrogate always amazes with a fantastic display of crocuses in a range of purple, yellow and white, it is a display that is undeniably impressive. Spurred on by this, late last year I purchased several hundred crocuses and planted them in raised beds in the garden. I now see the first signs of growth and the fantastic display of colour they will give – even if only for a short period of time before disappearing until next year. Crocuses are much underused in the garden and despite costing a fraction of the price of daffodil bulbs I see many more daffodils and tulips planted. Daffodils are far easier to sell and promote and come in a widely available range but the lesser crocus sadly hasn’t got itself the same status yet! One of the big advantages I have found with crocuses is that the leaves are not as untidy when starting to die away after flowering unlike some daffodils that unfortunately seem to hang about for ages before finally disappearing from the border. There is an ideal balance between daffodils at the back of a border and crocuses to the front. Over the years we have planted many crocuses in many gardens, mostly in either raised beds or at the front of borders rather than in turf or lawns. The reason is that unless they are planted in huge groups, hundreds or thousands in grass, like Harrogate has, then they do get lost and don’t have an impact. Raised beds and containers are ideal as the crocuses do not have the same competition from the grass and a big bonus is that the flowers are closer and easier to appreciate – it’s a win-win situation for both the crocus and the gardener. Crocuses do tend to thrive on neglect. Once planted they can be forgotten about and left to their own ways. In a border they do get accidentally dug up and disturbed but this does distribute them around and slowly they will spread and over the years create a better display. One of the reasons to plant spring bulbs it to have early flowers and colour in the garden and crocuses are ideal for brightening the garden and very useful for pots and planters. One display we have is in a large stone trough that consists of the common snowdrop, a mix of bronze and gold coloured heathers and of course crocus – altogether this gives a long and easy colourful display early in the year with very little effort. As with all nearly all plants there is a huge range of crocuses, some needing sun, some being able to tolerate shade and some specialist ones too. The best we have planted is Crocus tommasinianus, a purple variety with bright yellow stamens. This can cope with all aspects whether north or south facing, can survive in exposed sites and in poor or fertile soils too so it is an ideal plant. It can also cope with being planted in turf or a woodland setting so a great bright and cheerful all-rounder that deserves a place in the garden.