garden adventurer
Impatient? Plant Autumn Crocus WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY L.A. JACKSON
118 SEPTEMBER 2021
FOR ANY IMPATIENT GARDENER, crocuses are great bulbs to grow. Planted in the fall, their thin leaves start peeping out of the ground at the beginning of February. If the winter is mild and bright, cup-shaped flowers soon follow, serving as extra early beacons that, indeed, another spring is on the way. However, for the really, really impatient gardener who doesn’t want to wait until winter to enjoy cheerful, spring-like blooms from fall-planted bulbs, there are crocuses. No, I didn’t just repeat myself. While most gardeners typically grow the common crocuses that pop up in late winter, backyard growers in the know double their pleasure and also plant a special cousin known as autumn crocus (Crocus sativus). As advertised, planted this month, autumn crocus bulbs won’t dally in the dirt because they will usually be in bloom before Thanksgiving. No kidding — last September, I dug in a handful and had flowers by early November.
