{"id":8233,"date":"2015-10-29T12:00:21","date_gmt":"2015-10-29T16:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=8233"},"modified":"2015-10-29T11:39:23","modified_gmt":"2015-10-29T15:39:23","slug":"crocus-a-fine-start-to-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2015\/10\/29\/crocus-a-fine-start-to-spring\/","title":{"rendered":"Crocus: A Fine Start To Spring"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Fall<\/a>

Fall blooming crocus at Atlanta Botanical Gardens<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Spring<\/a>

Spring flowering crocus planted around stewartia<\/p><\/div>\n

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Crocus (Crocus spp<\/em>.) can be your wake-up reminder that winter is coming to an end (USDA hardiness zones 3- 8).\u00a0They bloom in late winter (in the south); fall blooming varieties are also\u00a0available. Bulbs (they’re actually “corms”) are available in flower colors from blue, purple, white, yellow, and mixed shades.<\/p>\n

Choose from\u00a0large and small flowered types. Six petal, cup shaped flowers\u00a0stand tall above the\u00a0foliage which emerges\u00a0as bright green blades of grass with a center white stripe. The grassy foliage grows taller after flowers wither away.<\/p>\n

Crocus thrive in full sun and tend to bloom earlier than those planted\u00a0in partial shade. They prefer a well-drained soil with pH of 6.0 – 7.0. Crocus generally fail\u00a0sown\u00a0in\u00a0soggy ground. Flower buds open to warming early morning\u00a0sunlight,\u00a0and close up\u00a0in cloudy weather and in the evening.\u00a0Crocus bloom and easily naturalize\u00a0where winters are cold. Sow corms in mid-fall because they\u00a0require 12-15 weeks planted in cold soil (35 – 45 \u00b0F) to initiate\u00a0blooms.<\/p>\n

Crocus grow 3-\u00a08 inches high depending on variety. Sow drifts of crocus in several places around the garden, under trees, sprinkled in the lawn, in alpine and rock gardens, and in containers. Interplant crocus with short growing narcissus, hyacinths\u00a0and tulips, and pansies and violas. Plant them where perennials emerge\u00a0in mid-spring\u00a0and\u00a0crocus foliage\u00a0has died back.<\/p>\n

Crocus grow\u00a0carefree for many years. They may become susceptible to virus diseases which cause leaf distortions and\u00a0streaking; bloom buds fail to open. Dig up and dispose of virus infected plants to prevent spreading\u00a0diseases. Crocus may be menaced by deer, chipmunks, rabbits and squirrels which eat the corms, leaves and flowers. Voles feed on the corms.<\/p>\n

The ancient Greeks collected and dried the stigmas from autumn-flowering crocus (C. sativus<\/em>) to make saffron herb used in food dishes.<\/p>\n

Crocus may be purchased at most garden centers in the fall. For\u00a0wider choice of varieties, including\u00a0hard to find fall crocus, buy from a mail order supplier like Brent and Becky’s Bulbs in Gloucester, VA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              Crocus (Crocus spp.) can be your wake-up reminder that winter is coming to an end (USDA hardiness zones 3- 8).\u00a0They bloom in late winter (in the south); fall blooming varieties are also\u00a0available. Bulbs (they’re actually “corms”) are available in flower colors from blue, purple, white, yellow, and mixed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,707,1226,710,1271,1065,674,806,1131,626,602,625,843,812,729,933,777,630,785,754,861,819,708,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8233"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8233"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8237,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8233\/revisions\/8237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}