Crocus: Flowering, Cultivation & Care

The crocus impresses with its strong colors and attractive flowers at the beginning of the garden year. Here you can find out everything about crocus cultivation in your own garden.

The Crocus (Crocus) belongs to the iris family (Iridaceae), with its colorful flowers, marks the end of the gray winter and heralds the beginning of the colorful spring. With a flowering period that begins as early as February, it is not uncommon to see it cautiously peeking out from the last layers of snow. The lilac, blue, white, yellow or multicolored banded dashes of color of the petals make everyone's heart soar after the dreary season.

Crocus flower: characteristics and flowering time

The flower of the crocus makes up almost the entire aerial part of the plant until pollination. Pollination heralds fruit formation. Only then does a short capsule stalk form, which is important for seed dispersal. The individual leaves of the flower are colored in shades of white, purple or blue. The first thing that comes to mind when you think of crocuses is the dainty little plants that bring the world back to life from their hibernation with their impressive flowers in late winter or spring. But you can also admire their hustle and bustle in autumn. Autumn crocuses - as the name suggests - are in full bloom in autumn. An example is the magnificent crocus (Crocus speciosus).

Crocus blossom in spring

The flowering period for spring crocuses begins in February and extends into April for some varieties. They belong to the early bloomers and are not only the harbingers of spring, but also provide bumblebees and bees with nectar and pollen in a still barren environment.

The most important ornamental varieties are: Spring Crocus (Crocus vernus), large-flowered breeding hybrid of small crocus/ gold crocus (Crocus chrysanthus), Kalkan crocus (Crocus flavus), Sieber-Krokus (Crocus sieberi) and fairy crocus (Crocus tommasinianus).

Crocus blossom in autumn

Autumn crocuses bloom from August to October. Fruiting does not occur until the following spring. belongs to them Crocus banaticus, but also the coveted spice saffron (Crocus sativus). Autumn crocuses can easily with autumn crocus be confused. However, their highly poisonous counterparts have six instead of three stamens.

The island of Husum dedicates its own festival to the crocus flower

The people of Husum do everything they can to care for the crocuses in their palace gardens. So that the seeds and plants can recover after flowering, mowing of the lawns does not start again until June. In addition, the pH value of the soil is checked every three years and fertilized if necessary. At the Husum Crocus Blossom Festival, residents and tourists celebrate the beauty of the millions of purple crocuses in the city's palace gardens. The flower spectacle can be admired from March to April. Incidentally, the abundance of flowers in Husum is probably due to a mix-up in the 15th century. century perished. The then resident monks thought it was saffron. The dates for the festival and further information can be found here here.

Crocus bulb or crocus tuber?

The crocus is a bulbous plant. The difference lies in the outlasting organ of the plants. In the bulbous plants, thickened bracts serve as storage organs for the winter. In the case of tubers, thickened, subterranean stem parts represent the overwintering organ. Annual plants form one or two daughter tubers in spring. You can get the daughter tubers out of the ground in summer and use them for propagation.

Planting crocus: location, timing and procedure

The plants usually experience three flowering phases before new crocuses have to be planted. This is done either by planting new bulbs or, in the case of varieties such as the elf crocus, by breeding bulbs or self-sowing. Such varieties are particularly beautiful for releasing them into the wild or for designing lawns.

Plant crocus: The ideal location

The early bloomers prefer to stretch out in a beautiful, sunny location towards the sun. A partially shaded location is also acceptable. In the spring, the soil should be kept nice and moist. In the resting phase in autumn, dry soil is preferred. A permeable, sandy subsoil should be used to prevent waterlogging. But it must not be too easy either. Otherwise you can let your creativity run free. Crocuses do well in beds, rock gardens or pots. Spring crocuses can also be planted well in lawns. They are particularly beautiful under deciduous hedges when their little heads reach towards the sun under the sparse hedges in spring. Autumn crocuses cannot be planted in the lawn because of their flowering rhythm.

Summary: The ideal location

• Sunny to semi-shady location
• Moist soil in spring and dry soil in autumn
• Well-drained, sandy but not too light soil
• Plant in beds, pots, lawns or rock gardens

Combine crocuses with other early bloomers

If you want to offer the crocus a little company, combine it with early-flowering bulbs such as snowdrops (Galanthus), hyacinths (Hyacinthus), lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis) and daffodils (Narcissus). Early-flowering perennials such as the felty tomentosum (Cerastium tomentosum) or Christmas roses (Helleborus) are good companions.

The ideal planting time for crocus

The bulbs of the spring crocuses are planted between September and November so that they can form roots before the frost. In the case of autumn crocuses, the tuber finds its way into the ground between May and August.

Plant crocus in a pot

With crocuses in pots you bring spring to your front door or into your house. When planting in a pot, simply proceed as follows:

• Pot of mix of peat-free organic potting soil and fill with sand
• Plant tubers in groups 5-10 cm deep and apart in the ground
• Cover the planting hole loosely with soil
• Location: dark place at 4 °C
• Keep soil consistently slightly moist
• Put outside after germination or look for another lighter, cool location

Mixing it with sand makes the potting soil nice and loose and permeable. After a month, the crocuses are ready to beautify your home. They prefer a bright spot indoors at 15 °C. The flower will pop open after a few days.

Repot crocus

After the leaves of the crocus have fallen off around June, the bulbs are removed from the soil and dried. In autumn, the tubers are put back into fresh substrate.

care for crocus

Crocuses don't require much care, even though they give so much back to us. But you can note a few things.

• Only cut off the leaves after the petals have wilted
• Spring - when leaves sprout: fertilization with primarily organic Organic flower fertilizer
• Keep soil only slightly moist, avoid dry bulbs

notice: During wilting, the crocus transfers nutrients from the foliage to the bulb for the next year. When planting in lawns, you should therefore wait until the flowers have withered before mowing for the first time. Mowing too early weakens the plants.

Saffron: A famous and valuable crocus

The saffron (Crocus sativus) is probably one of the most expensive spices of all. However, it is also used as a coloring agent and is used in medicine because of its mood-enhancing effect. This crocus with its purple flowers and coveted long stigmas has been cultivated in Greece, for example, for over 3000 years. The Greek word krókos (κρόκος) for saffron even gives its name to the German word crocus. You can find out more about this very special autumn crocus in our special article on the subject saffron.