Crocus
January Jubilation: Coo-Coo for Crocus
by Andrea Sprott
My husband enjoys the irony of my preoccupation with “smalls” in the garden. He’s quick to point out how we live and garden on two acres, and I keep bringing home dwarf, miniature, and sometimes downright minuscule, plants. “The tinier, the better,” he ribs, “We have all this room, and she loves the ‘smalls’.”
He’s not wrong; I do love the smalls. They are understated treasures so often overlooked in favor of more braggadocios bloomers. (Don’t get me wrong, I love most of those flashy plants too.) Dutch crocus, Crocus vernus and Snow Crocus, C. chrysanthus have long been mainstay “smalls” of winter and spring gardens, but the genus crocus offers so much more than just those. A bulb enthusiast could probably go broke collecting all the different species, varieties and cultivars of crocus alone! One highly collectible winter garden “small” is the incredibly delicate but striking Fontenay Winter Crocus, C. laevigatus ‘Fontenayi’
Crocus springing up in the Demonstration Gardens. Photo by EMGVs.
One of the twentieth century’s preeminent little bulb champions, Elizabeth Lawrence, in her book A Rock Garden in the South, has this to say about this little winter wonder:
"C. laevigatus ends the year in my garden, with bloom beginning in December and lingering through the first weeks of the new year. One single corm produced eight or ten flowers between mid-December and late January…. The blossoms of variety fontenayi are small cups of gray violet; the inner segments are pale mauve, the outer ones ageratum violet with precise feathering of a darker tone on the outside. They are lighted from within by the golden throat and style. Along with the flowers come the very fine, grassy leaves that mature in spring. The corms of this lovely species should be planted in full sun with sandy loam and lime " (Lawrence 50).
Wonderful Fragrance
Omitted from this passage is mention of this flower’s wonderful fragrance, which is said to be reminiscent of honey or freesias, depending on whose nose is doing the smelling. Native to Greece, this winter crocus is hardy in USDA Growing Zones 6-9. Plant the tiny corms 5 inches deep. This stunning “small” still blooms in Miss Lawrence’s garden, although now in a mostly shaded spot. The first picture I snapped of this diminutive dame was on December 30. Apparently it was so chilly that day that I could not stop shaking, which is why the picture above was borrowed from a lovely German woman’s blog. But despite the wickedly crisp winter air, several nearly translucent starry flowers were open, with numerous darkly striped buds waiting in the wings. The little ethereally colorful flowers stood in such stark contrast to the fallen willow oak leaves on the ground around them that they seemed to be subtle harbingers of the promise of spring’s glory.
It’s the unexpected “smalls” like Crocus laevigatus ‘Fontenayi’ that keep me outside most every day, visually scouring gardens like I’ve lost a contact lens. The collector in me is always searching for something unique, perhaps as yet unseen. Although Fontenay’s Winter Crocus is known in cultivation, it doesn’t seem to be very widely grown, and it most definitely should be. Plant it en masse for the best effect . . . a field of this sweet early bloomer will greatly improve your winter landscape—“smalls” and all! © Andrea Sprott 2011 all rights reserved
Andrea Sprott was an Extension Master Gardener Volunteer with Mecklenburg County, NC. Her low-maintenance suburban garden is home to a vast inventory of plant material both large and small.
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