{"id":2267,"date":"2017-11-13T06:29:51","date_gmt":"2017-11-13T14:29:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=2267"},"modified":"2017-11-13T06:29:51","modified_gmt":"2017-11-13T14:29:51","slug":"striped-crocus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/striped-crocus\/","title":{"rendered":"Striped Crocus"},"content":{"rendered":"

You might think that after thousands of years of coming up too soon and getting frozen, the crocus family would have had a little sense knocked into it.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The words of twentieth century writer and humorist Robert Benchley make me smile every time I plant my crocus bulbs.\u00a0 Still, as I carve planting holes out of the recalcitrant earth, I am glad that the family has not \u201chad a little sense knocked into it\u201d over the millennia.\u00a0 Nothing is as reassuring to winter-weary souls as the appearance of the first spring crocuses.<\/p>\n

This year I have a passion for big, striped Dutch crocuses because they look especially joyful in March.\u00a0 For reasons known only to the crocuses and their geneticist friends, stripes are less common than solid colors and the majority of striped varieties are purple and white.\u00a0 You can find yellow stripe-bearing crocuses, like the variety \u2018Zwanenburg\u2019, but the stripes are bronze and fairly subtle.\u00a0 I would love to see a yellow and white, awning-striped crocus, but such a thing does not exist\u2014yet.\u00a0 For exuberance and big visual impact, purple and white is the way to go.<\/p>\n

I am very fond of Crocus vernus \u2018King of the Striped\u2019, a true heirloom that made its debut in 1880.\u00a0 Marketers use all kinds of language to describe its color, but the chalice-shaped blossoms are medium purple to blue-purple with white or gray-white stripes.\u00a0 Examined closely, the stripes look more like fine feathering, but if you are viewing crocus from high above, \u201cstripes\u201d is a good enough description.\u00a0 I have seen a very similar crocus marketed as \u2018Striped Beauty\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018Pickwick\u2019, introduced in 1925, is another purple and white striped variety that seems a little different from \u2018King of the Striped\u2019.\u00a0 Both feature stripes or feathering on the outside surfaces of the six petals, but the inside of each of the three outer petals on \u2018King of the Striped\u2019 appear to be solid purple.\u00a0 All \u2018Pickwick\u2019s petals seem to be feathered on both back and front.\u00a0 This is only a minor distinction and may not be apparent on every blossom of \u2018Pickwick\u2019 or \u2018King of the Striped\u2019, but it might help you tell them apart.\u00a0 Both varieties feature a prominent central array of golden-orange stamens.<\/p>\n

Most people who love crocuses plant two species. The first to appear are the little snow crocuses or Crocus chrysanthus, which bloom about the same time as snowdrops in the late winter or early spring.\u00a0 After the snow crocuses finish their run, the larger, Dutch crocuses, or Crocus vernus appear.\u00a0 They are bigger and flashier, trumpeting spring\u2019s arrival and serving as a prelude to the symphony of daffodils, tulips and other showy spring performers.<\/p>\n

Various species of crocus are native to a wide swath of southern Europe and Asia minor, from Spain to Afghanistan.\u00a0 They made their way into the Netherlands via Istabul, around 1560 and have been cultivated and loved by gardeners ever since.\u00a0 The large Crocus vernus\u2014Latin for \u201cspring crocus\u201d\u2014found their way to Europe in the nineteenth century and by century\u2019s end had become fixtures in the colorful but labor intensive carpet bedding schemes that were popular on both sides of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

The vogue for carpet bedding comes and goes, but Dutch crocuses remain in-demand because they are both cheap and easy.\u00a0 For the price of a couple of good-size daffodil or tulip bulbs, you can buy a big handful of Crocus vernus.\u00a0 The initial investment grows over time because happy crocuses multiply into clumps and can survive all kinds of neglect.\u00a0 On my neighborhood walks, I frequently see crocuses from long-forgotten garden beds persisting in lawns.<\/p>\n

Crocuses are also perfect for containers.\u00a0 I always plant a few in the big pots that I use for summer annuals.\u00a0 To make a nice spring array, fill the container of your choice with potting soil to within eight inches of the top.\u00a0 Position tulip or daffodil bulbs atop the soil and cover with about three inches of additional soil.\u00a0 Position crocus bulbs on top of this layer and cover with enough soil so that the tops of the crocus bulbs are submerged to a depth of three or four inches.\u00a0 Water and place the container outdoors in a garden bed, or on a porch or terrace.\u00a0 When spring arrives, the crocuses will push up first, followed by the tulips or daffodils.\u00a0 When all of the bulbs have bloomed, you can either put the container aside or clear the container for re-use by lifting the bulbs and storing in a cool dry place to await fall replanting.<\/p>\n

\u2018Pickwick\u2019 or \u2018King of the Striped\u2019 look wonderful paired with solid-colored Dutch crocuses like deep purple \u2018Flower Record\u2019 or the lovely white \u2018Jeanne d\u2019Arc\u2019.\u00a0 Being small, the flowers are perfect for rock gardens, the fronts of beds and borders, or naturalized in lawn areas.\u00a0 As with all spring ephemerals, you should let the grass-like crocus foliage turn brown before removing it after the blooms fade.\u00a0 Fortunately this process is not as unsightly with crocuses as it is with some of the larger spring flowers.\u00a0 Still, if even a small amount of untidiness gives you palpitations, plant crocuses in places where the emerging foliage of larger perennials will hide their final act.<\/p>\n

If for some reason you have neglected to buy Dutch crocuses for next spring\u2019s garden, you can still find some discounted ones at many garden centers.\u00a0 Some of the online retailers also have a few left.\u00a0 If you are harboring unplanted ones, now is the time to get outside and install them.\u00a0 Spring is always closer than you think.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You might think that after thousands of years of coming up too soon and getting frozen, the crocus family would have had a little sense knocked into it. The words of twentieth century writer and humorist Robert Benchley make me smile every time I plant my crocus bulbs.\u00a0 Still, as I carve planting holes out … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,5],"tags":[852,372,1761,590,477,1763,1762],"class_list":["post-2267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-winter","tag-container-plants","tag-crocus","tag-crocus-vernus","tag-rock-garden-plants","tag-spring-bulbs","tag-spring-ephemerals","tag-striped-crocus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2267"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2268,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2267\/revisions\/2268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}