Crocus - tomasinianus

Description: Walk along Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. In summer the shade is so heavy from a double row of sycamores and maples, the roots are so thick and foot traffic so intense that not even a blade of grass will grow. On a sunny day in March, see the flowers bloom - everywhere; in the barren earth, amongst tree roots, where chinks of sidewalk are missing, even in the ancient potholes at the edge of the curb. A solid sheet of lilac crocus blooms almost cheek to cheek. Oh, there are a few white ones and some dark purple ones, but most are silvery mauve with golden orange stigmata and anthers. These are all escapees; on the other side of the big iron fence is the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Many years ago someone planted Crocus tomasinianus at the top of the hill where they proceeded to do as Crocus t. always does - self-sow. Tumbling down the hillside, through the lawn, under the fence, across the sidewalk and out into the street, it has spread a distance of perhaps 50 feet. Here's a crocus that is so vigorous it grows in sun or deciduous shade, damp or dry. So prolific from seed and cormlets that it can outgrow the rampage of squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, and voles. (The tactile root which pulls the seedling corms down 2" into the hardiest of soil certainly helps.) It's so floriferous that it blooms from an immature bulb the size of a small pea. And, it's one of the earliest crocus to bloom. Try it in deciduous woodlands amongst wild flowers, plant it in the lawn or let it naturalize in the perennial garden - anywhere except amongst the choicest of alpines, which might be crowded out by Crocus t.'s vigor, or where the sun never shines. By mid-April, the very fine diminutive foliage is totally gone. It's particularly nice in the sunny perennial garden because it can be interplanted with the larger flowering Dutch crocus which bloom after Crocus t. has passed. Clumps of daffodil can add a third bloom period, even before the first perennial shows any color. We send a mixture of the true species and named selections in shades of lavender and purple.

Crocus - tomasinianus (Bulbs)
Product ID: 420-05-12409