Family: Iridaceae

Popular names: Snow crocus and Botanical crocus

Flower colour: yellow, white, purple, blue

Flowering period: February – March

Average plant height: 10 cm

Planting depth to base of bulb: 12.5 cm

Spacing between bulbs: 2.5 cm

Type of bulb: corm

Light requirements: full sun to partial shade

Landscape uses: borders, rock gardens, in lawns, under shrubs and trees, and for indoor forcing

This crocus, which grows wild in such places as Greece, has smaller corms and also produces smaller flowers. Their flowers, however, appear in greater numbers than those of the familiar ‘Dutch crocuses’. Many cultivars have bicoloured petals and a striking yellow centre. This species is available in a very wide assortment.

Most significant varieties:

• ‘Ard Schenk’: white
• ‘Cream Beauty’: creamy yellow
• ‘Blue Bird’: tender blue outside, cream inside
• ‘Blue Pearl’: bright blue outside, white inside
• ‘Dorothy’: light yellow, purple feathers
• ‘E.A. Bowles’: golden yellow
• ‘Fuscotinctus’: bronze, violet-striped
• ‘Goldilocks’: deep yellow, purple-brown centre
• ‘Gypsy Girl’: dark yellow, purple striped
• ‘Ladykiller’: blue-violet with white veins outside, yellow inside
• ‘Prince Claus’: blue with white
• ‘Romance’: lemon yellow inside, bluish-grey outside
• ‘Saturnus’: golden-yellow, brownish-purple striped with light blue and darker accents
• ‘Snowbunting’: pure white inside, purple-violet veined outside, orange base