THE CROCUS 
HE yearly return of the first Crocus, and of all early spring 
flowers, varies very much with the season; in a mild winter 
they may be seen in February, yet the sketch which 
illustrates a really picturesque way of planting them, was painted 
between showers of snow in a biting March wind; this year, 
on the other hand, the flowers have suffered from too much sun, 
and one has had to pay for the rush of bloom and the few days 
of exquisite beauty by their quick exhaustion. The flowers are 
so fragile that it is always as well to plant them where they 
will get shade part of the day, this making an extra reason for 
using the bare places under trees, and the many waste spots in a 
garden, and so transforming them for at least one month in the 
year; they are amenable enough to grow under Beech trees, 
where even grass refuses to thrive. If planted at the edge of a 
shrubbery, the formal line can be broken by running them on to 
the grass, so that as pretty a natural effect is gained as if they had 
sown themselves. In a wood, patches of mauve and purple 
Crocus may rise charmingly above the bed of warm brown 
leaves, or there may be groups of white and yellow ones, though 
greener surroundings suit these better. 
Several of the early blossoming trees are out at the same 
time, and the effect of an Almond on the lawn will be much 
enhanced by carpeting the ground below with mauve and purple 
or pure white crocus. The boughs of Prunus cerasifera will be 
loaded too with white stars, and could be given a carpet of either 
yellow or violet. In rough grass the white, or the dark purple, look 
87 
The 
Planting 
of Crocus 
Bulbs 
