Crocuses: Planting and Care Guide for Early Spring Blooms

A good sign of spring: a crocus.

Annette McCarthy

When winter seems endless, the dainty goblet-shaped crocus pushes through snow to herald colorful revival. If you're not planting these perennial bulbs, you're missing an early season of delight.

From snow crocuses (earliest to bloom) to giant Dutch crocuses, all stand just 2–4 inches tall yet offer remarkable color range—pinks, reds, oranges, yellows, purples, blues, and more—standing out against the bleak late-winter landscape. Many emit strong perfumes that lure bees from hives in February or March.

Small bulbs like crocus not only provide winter garden color but naturalize readily, spreading and returning year after year with minimal care for ever-larger displays. As a bonus, deer, squirrels, and rabbits rarely bother these early bloomers.

Planting Crocuses

• Plant before ground freezes in fall, anywhere except dense shade on north sides of buildings.
• Ideally, plant corms 6–8 weeks before hard frost when soil is below 60°F (typically September–October in the North, October–November in the South).
• Ensure excellent drainage—bulbs rot in soggy soil.
• Work organic matter (compost, peat, or shredded leaves) to at least 10 inches deep.
• Plant corms 3–4 inches deep, pointy end up. Water well after planting.
• Plant in groups or clusters, not single lines. Single flowers get lost. Space a few inches apart in groups of 10+.
• Naturalize in lawns and meadows for carpet effects, or mass at the front of beds.
• Plant taller bulbs and spring-flowering shrubs behind crocuses for color contrast.

Care Through the Seasons

• Apply balanced fertilizer in early autumn if spring is short and heats up fast; or after flowering if spring is long and temperate. This builds carbohydrate stores.
• Water crocus beds in dry autumn weather, but avoid waterlogging. Mulch before winter.
• In late February, remove mulch from snowdrops and crocuses so shoots emerge.
• Keep plastic milk jugs or other covers handy in February–March to protect early blooms from severe weather returns.
• If crocuses grow in lawns, delay mowing until foliage dies back in mid-spring.

Pests and Diseases

• Mice, voles, and squirrels may eat corms. Use buried wire cages if problematic.
• Birds sometimes pick off flowers.
• Stored corms are prone to rots and molds.

Recommended Varieties

• 'Bowles White' — white flowers with deep golden yellow throats, early spring, 2–3 inches tall.
• 'Flower Record' — single pale violet flowers, spring to early summer, 4–5 inches tall.
• 'Pickwick' — striped with alternating pale and dark lilac and dark purple bases, 4–5 inches, spring to early summer.
• 'Tricolor Crocus' — three distinct bands of lilac, white, and golden yellow, 3 inches, late winter to early spring.
• 'Purpureus Grandiflorus' — abundant violet flowers with purple bases, 4–5 inches, spring to early summer.

Wit & Wisdom

• In the language of flowers, crocus means cheerfulness.

And all the woods are alive with the murmur and sound of Spring,
And the rose-bud breaks into pink on the climbing briar,
And the crocus-bed is a quivering moon of fire
Girdled round with the belt of an amethyst ring.
—Oscar Wilde

E-Cards

Send an e-card of these little blooms as a sign that warm weather is coming!