Crocus and companion plants in the garden February 2010

[Thomas Huber]

It's not only small plants that can keep the corms dry during summer. Like Mark I also plant my crocus near shrubs
or trees, like seen below. First photo shows my 2nd rockgarden where a butterfly bush and a Corylus avellana suck
all the summer's rain away. In the second photo a very thirsty Robinia pseudoacacia 'Friesia' dries out the soil in summer.
But of course Simon's cushion plants make the garden look much better than only dry soil - hope my cushions will
do so in this years photos.

Tony, I agree, that summer wetness can lead to rot the corms, but when you have a good drainage plus a thirsty shrub
you can grow them well in the open garden - I'm sure if you only use pots you will also have rot, won't you  
Our winters are generally like yours, warm and cold and warm.....and so on. Only this year and especially last year
we had very hard frost of -24°C for many weeks and I have to admit, that some tender ones like laevigatus have
suffered hardly from the cold. Also some other species had losses, but never completely. The remainings and the
seedlings will soon bulk up my stock with plants that are well adapted to my climate.

[johnw]

Thanks everyone for the reports on Crocus spp. outdoors.  I would seem planting near a vigorous shrub might give the dryness required by some species.  Beautiful clumps there Mark and a wonderful planting Thomas.

johnw - -12c and overcast.

[Thomas Huber]

Some more photos from my garden. Between these shrubs I planted my first crocus in 2001 and they all do well.
5 meters away we have the local park with an acer alley (~50 years old), which also reduces moisture in summer.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Very interesting topic gents ! 
Your borders look great like this - I don't think you showed us this before in this manner.
Great display !

[I.S.]

Thomas,
mm.. I see why you have put that ring on the neck of leader!.

[TheOnionMan]

Welcome to the club, Mark - there are not many of us, trying their gems outside, but like you I have
never had bad experiences with growing my crocus outside. Our experiences will hopefully bring more
croconuts away from potgrowing 

Like Ibrahim I don't think your blue crocus is pulchricolor, it looks like the plant I received as Crocus kosaninii.
Please compare with my photo.

Thanks Thomas, my crocus do indeed look like your C. kosaninii... thanks for the suggestion.  I love the dark reddish-purple color on the exterior of the floral tubes, contrasting nicely with the goblet shaped flowers.  Your C. kosaninii looks to be a bit darker than mine.

Your mixed shrub-bulb planting are very attractive and harmonious, based on your photos I think I need to diversify more and add in some Eranthus and more snowdrops.  Another advantage to the combined shrub-bulb plantings, after the bulbs are all dormant, one still has a good looking shrub planting all summer, no worry about bare ground.  Lets hear it for Outdoor Croconuts!!!

[TheOnionMan]

Hello "Outsiders growers"    do you grow your Crocus in pots or directly in mother earth ??
and what's about mice ??

I dont use baskets or wire screening of any type, just plant directly in the ground.  I should mention, that since my soil is so bad, dense rocky subsoil, I do hand excavate with a trowel a planting hole about 12" (30 cm) across x 8-10" (20-25 cm) deep, then throw in a 3-4" (7.5-10 cm) layer of sand mixed with soil, plant the crocus on that mix, and cover with the same sandy mix, then fill in the hole with original soil amended with sand and decomposed pine back mulch.

Mice only tunnel along the surface of the frozen ground in winter, leaving a network of damage in the lawn and garden in spring, much more of a threat to perennating plants than to bulbs much deeper beneath the soil surface.  Mice are not a problem the rest of the year.  Deeper tunneling by moles, voles, shrews can be a serious problem, all are in the area, they're known to use each others tunnels, and some moles and shrews which are basically insectivores, are also reported as eating roots and vegetation.  I sometimes lose a few hosta, where there is nothing left to the root, finding tunnels right below.

[Sinchets]

We also have problems with mice and voles. By planting the bulbs in soil to which a lot of stone and rubble as been added, we have so far managed to exclude these pests from the areas of the garden where we now grow bulbs. As this rubble is also needed to help with drainage for the rest of the plants it hasn't really been a problem. Bulbs in the woodland garden where the voles are still a problem are planted deeper than the voles burrow and although there are still losses there it is not as much of a problem now. Where we did have losses- for example my C.banaticus had bulked up from 1 to 3 bulb- this was because the voles had a run underneath which left the bulbs floating in the air and they desiccated before I realised there was a problem. Luckily the 'mother' bulb survived this and was moved to its current location, which is a stony but humic soil.

[Heinz Meyer]

Sieht ja großartig aus Thomas, echt super.

[tonyg]

Great thread, lots of useful feedback.  Thomas is right - the 'pets in pots' regime can be fraught with problems.  The very variable and changeable UK climate, warm wet, cold wet, hot dry, hot wet ... all in the same month sometimes, will always make it a bit more of a challenge to grow a wide range of species outside here.  However I will be planting a lot more out this summer.  I'll report on how they get on next year!

[Sinchets]

I grew all of my Crocus in the garden in Lincolnshire, because I never imagined them as being potplants. The planting positions and soils were chosen depending on the species in question.

[tonyg]

Simon.  I would be interested to know which species you grew in Lincs.  Successes and failures if any.  What did you learn about soil and site?  It's just up the coast from here so there will be strong similarities. 

[Thomas Huber]

Mark, I think the darker colour in my photo is just a trick of light. In fact the flowers are somewhat brighter. (see posts in Crocus February 2010 pages re pix by Mark McDonough)

Heinz, a warm welcome to another German plant maniac.

Tony, I think it will be the best way to make your own experiences. Plant some corms out, adapt the soil to
their need, or at least what you think they will need and see what happens. You should still have some
"backups" in pots if the wild ones fail.

Luc, I've never managed to show my mixed bed so far - didn't realize that there is need  
The ones who are interested, please feel free to have a look at the following photos of my
wild bed during last years spring, when I didn't have time for posting photos here: (see posts in Crocus February 2010 pages leading up to these posts!)

[TheOnionMan]

The ones who are interested, please feel free to have a look at the following photos of my
wild bed during last years spring, when I didn't have time for posting photos here:

Thomas, you are totally POSSESSED!  And I mean that in a good way     Just look at that lawn, or it it a garden, no, it's a lawn.... I'm confused    I just love how your garden borders just spill over to bulbs in the lawn, brilliant!  Your front yard is unbelievable... flowers poking out from ever nook and cranny, passersby must certainly make nice comments... do you charge admission? 

Thanks for sharing these, it makes my "tree rings" look drab by comparison, but you've given me some grand ideas!

[Thomas Huber]

Thomas, you are totally POSSESSED!

Yes, I know - but I love to be  

Here some more from late spring:
Last photo shows my lawn before the mower came.