In My Garden

Philip Duly

One of the joys of last Spring, my first in this garden, was the discovery of a few beautiful crocuses hidden away in various beds and borders. They were few and far between but they still provided a useful splash of colour and a great deal of pleasure. I was particularly pleased to discover them as my previous experience of growing crocus was not a happy one causing me to avoid growing them. They had previously failed to appear, been disturbed by passing wildlife or had flowered for a day and then wilted or become damaged. This Spring I am hoping to enjoy a decent showing as I planted 100 bulbs last Autumn in about a dozen small groups. Unlike other spring bulbs, crocus can look stunning whether planted in groups or individually and either in a mixed bunch of colours or in groups of a single colour.

I was surprised to discover that the crocus genus is part of the iris family. They arrived in Europe from Turkey and were originally valued as an ornamental flowering plant. The crocus has been known throughout history, mainly as the source of saffron which is obtained from the dried stigma of Crocus sativus, an autumn-blooming species.

These beautiful small bulbs close at night and sometimes on overcast days. They are capable of flowering for about three weeks from mid to late February and into March in a dazzling variety of complementary colours such as white, yellow, orange, violet, mauve and purple. In common with other spring bulbs, they are best left undisturbed but should, I hope, provide several batches of joyous colour in February before the full flourish of spring arrives the following month.