{"id":268,"date":"2011-08-16T04:22:56","date_gmt":"2011-08-16T12:22:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/garden\/?p=268"},"modified":"2015-11-24T07:32:34","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T15:32:34","slug":"fall-crocuses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/fall-crocuses\/","title":{"rendered":"Fall Crocuses"},"content":{"rendered":"

FALL CROCUSES
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\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>When the entire world is turning upside down, as it appears to be doing right now, it is essential to take a mental break and focus on the little things that provide joy and diversion.\u00a0 Crocuses fall into that category.\u00a0 Fall-blooming crocuses are available now from catalog vendors and garden centers.\u00a0 They are colorful, relatively cheap and bring something special to the fall garden.\u00a0 Not everyone grows them, but everyone should.\u00a0 One of the best ways to plant the elf-size bulbs is amid ground covers like ivy or vinca, which help support their slender stems.\u00a0 Grow them around the edge of your vegetable garden, use them to fill holes in beds and borders or plant them in pots.\u00a0 The important thing is to get your hands on some fall crocuses.\u00a0 September is just around the corner.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fall blooming crocuses, which are members of the large and varied iris or Iridaceae family, look almost exactly like their spring-blooming relatives.\u00a0 They are larger than the little snow crocuses that appear first in the spring and smaller than the Dutch giants that come along later.\u00a0 The colors include shades of purple, blue-purple, pearl gray and white.\u00a0 Native to the Mediterranean and Central Europe, the crocuses like sunny spots, but can make do with light shade.\u00a0 Once in the ground, they will live happily for years if left undisturbed.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Perhaps the most beautiful of the fall bloomers is Crocus speciosus, which is bright blue-purple with orange stems.\u00a0 In the early fall sunshine, it opens its six large petals wide.\u00a0 The leaves come later, so the unadorned flowers seem truly miraculous.\u00a0 In addition to the species, there are several varieties available commercially, including the white-flowered ‘Albus;’ large, bright blue ‘Conquerer;’ and the large purple ‘Oxonian.’\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Speciosus crocuses make a good complement to Crocus pulchellus, a native of Greece, Turkey, Macedonia and Bulgaria.\u00a0 It loves damp places, but will do fine in ordinary garden soil.\u00a0 Pulchellus is lighter in color than speciosus–lavender to pearly gray with prominent darker purple veins.\u00a0 For a good show, interplant them in groups of five, seven or nine.\u00a0 Crocuses and Nature love uneven numbers.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Admirers of yellow crocuses will find a void among the available fall-blooming species and varieties.\u00a0 Fill the void with Sternbergia lutea, which is not a true crocus, but a crocus look-alike from the amaryllis family.\u00a0 Sternbergia grows from a bulb, just like crocuses; reaches about six inches tall, just like crocuses and blends in with crocuses as if they were all part of the same big, happy family.\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I am intrigued by a crocus with a wonderful name–Crocus hadriaticus.\u00a0 I presume this is after the Roman Emperor Hadrian, who ruled in the first and second centuries AD, and was responsible for building Hadrian’s Wall, which marked the Roman Empire’s northern boundary.\u00a0 Hadrian had a love of all things Greek and fittingly, the hadriaticus species is native to western and southern Greece.\u00a0 Like the emperor, hadriaticus is big and showy.\u00a0 According to Anna Pavord in her comprehensive work, Bulb<\/em>, the species can produce up to five flowers from a single bulb.\u00a0 This is good value for the money.\u00a0 Like many things of good value, hadriaticus is not widely available, but it is worth seeking out.\u00a0 As with many crocuses, it will increase over time.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 All of us who plant bulbs have to worry about predatory animals that will dig up our bulbs and eat them, or simply toss them around.\u00a0 Squirrels will sometimes disinter bulbs and take the trouble to re-bury them, resulting in something my family calls “squirrel landscaping.”\u009d\u00a0 If you find single crocuses or other bulb plants sprouting in places where you know they were not planted, you too have probably been targeted by squirrel landscapers.\u00a0 Their aesthetic sensibility eludes me, but they don’t care what I or any other human thinks.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To stymie digging or burrowing animals, cover freshly dug earth with screening or wire mesh for the first week or so after planting.\u00a0 For problematic burrowing pests, Scott Kunst of Old House Gardens recommends planting bulbs in the ground in soil-filled pots topped with chicken wire.\u00a0 The crocuses grow through the wire mesh, but the burrowing and tunneling creatures can’t get to them.\u00a0 Spray new growth with one of the widely-available repellent sprays, repeating the treatment after rainstorms.\u00a0 All of this may seem like a lot of effort, but it is worth it to have a renewable source of fall color.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fall crocuses should be planted in early September, so order yours now.\u00a0 Selections are available from Brent and Becky’s Bulbs, 7900 Daffodil Lane, Gloucester, VA 23061; (877) 661-2852; www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Free catalog.\u00a0 Another good source is High Country Gardens, 2902 Rufina Street, Santa Fe, NM: 87507; (800) 925-9387; www.highcountrygardens.com<\/font><\/a>.\u00a0 Free catalog.\u00a0 To obtain Crocus hadriaticus, go to Arrowhead Alpines, PO Box 857, 1310 N. Gregory Road, Fowlerville, MI 48836; (517) 223-3581; www.arrowhead-alpines.com<\/font><\/a>.\u00a0 Free c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FALL CROCUSES \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When the entire world is turning upside down, as it appears to be doing right now, it is essential to take a mental break and focus on the little things that provide joy and diversion.\u00a0 Crocuses fall into that category.\u00a0 Fall-blooming crocuses are available now from catalog vendors and garden centers.\u00a0 They … 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":[4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-summer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268","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=268"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1523,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268\/revisions\/1523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}