Autumn-Blooming Crocuses and Their Allies— By wilhelm Miller, el 



HOW TO GLORIFY OUR LAWNS FROM SEPTEMBER TO THANKSGIVING— A CHEAP AND EASY WAY TO HAVE 

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IN ALL parts of the country last fall, 

 the autumn-blooming crocuses excited 

 admiration and delight. None of us expects 

 to see any flowers (other than chrysanthe- 

 mums) out of doors in November amid a 

 desolate landscape. Yet you can have 

 dozens of them springing up in your lawn, 

 which makes an exquisite setting for these 

 otherwise naked flowers.* It amazes beginners 

 that these bulbs should bloom within three 

 or jour weeks after planting. 



That we can enjoy them every day for two 

 months after a killing jrost seems too good 

 to be true. And when you consider that all 

 this can be accomplished at a cost of two 

 cents a bulb (if bought in quantity), there 

 is really nothing to be done but to try a few, 

 for even if the bulbs never bloom a second 

 season, you will reap abundant reward this 

 very autumn. 



These statements may sound extravagant, 

 but they are already supported by a con- 

 siderable number of readers of The Garden 

 Magazine. 



Last fall, an enterprising seedsman who 

 wished to introduce these bulbs on a great 

 scale asked The Garden Magazine to 

 supply names of leading amateurs in all 

 parts of the country, to whom he might send 

 these crocuses for trial. He was given the 

 addresses of the members of "The Investi- 

 gators' Club" (a body of skilled amateurs 

 who make conscientious reports on new 

 things), and, in spite of unfavorable con- 

 ditions, the results have been very gratifying 

 indeed. 



Probably the only reason why these bulbs 

 are not immensely popular is that they have 

 to be secured at an unusual time. They 

 must be ordered in August and planted then 

 or in early September. Otherwise they 

 may bloom in the paper bags while in transit. 

 The members of "The Investigators' Club" 

 did not receive their bulbs until the eighth 

 of October, by which time Crocus speciosus 

 had made a growth of an inch or two, while 

 Crocus zonatus was in full bud. Theoret- 

 ically this ought to be a disadvantage. One 

 would naturally suppose that such bulbs 

 could not make enough root growth during 

 the fall to enable them to survive the winter, 

 yet my own plants were growing lustily 

 the next spring when I reluctantly moved 

 away from them. Practically the only 

 disappointment was that I could not see 

 the tips of the new growth emerge from the 

 ground, and this was more than offset by 

 the peculiar sensation of having a bulb 

 bloom in less than a week after planting! 

 I never heard of anything so " quick on th e 



*I may be quite wrong in urging that bulbs should be 

 scattered in the lawn. Mv friend, Mr. Leonard Barron, assures 

 me that I am. He says they should be planted on the edge of 

 shrubbery ; that the only thing you want in a lawn isgrass ; that 

 flowers destroy the unity ot a greensward; and, that the lawn 

 is a part of the "dressed" garden, while the naturalizing of 

 bulbs is for the wild garden or park. I confess that I am a 

 barbarian and a mere lover of color, but I can't help liking 

 crocuses scattered in the lawn! 



trigger" except the Texas rain lilies (Zephyr- 

 anthes) which bloom in three days after a 

 rain! 



I was surprised to learn how many species 

 of crocus are offered in Europe that we never 

 hear of in America. An Irish bulb grower 

 offers thirty-five kinds of autumn-blooming 

 crocuses, twenty-one winter bloomers and 

 twenty-five spring-blooming species, to say 

 nothing of the common Dutch or garden 

 crocuses. Outdoor winter flowers of any 

 kind are essentially a gamble, but the autumn- 

 blooming crocuses are thoroughly satisfactory, 

 and on looking up the literature of the sub- 

 ject I find that three of the four species dis- 

 tributed last fall are undoubtedly the best 

 of the thirty-five autumn-blooming crocuses 

 for general cultivation. 



A fair test of the relative merits of various 

 bulbs for general cultivation is to see which 

 species have been offered by the thousand 

 for a considerable period by the majority 

 of the European catalogues. These are, 

 as a rule, the cheapest, longest-lived and 

 most satisfactory, to the general public, 

 whereas the high-priced things that are 

 offered irregularly may be technically superior 

 and therefore of great interest to fanciers, 

 but they are slow to propagate, subject to 

 disease or have some "kink" in their 

 cultivation. 



The only species of autumn-blooming 

 crocus that stand this test are Crocus zonatus, 

 speciosus and sativus, which could be had 

 in this country last fall for $15 and $20 a 

 thousand. This may seem a very large 

 sum, but it is really rather small when you 

 take a comparative viewpoint. It is not a 

 cent more than you would pay for new 

 varieties of spring crocuses, such as Dorothy, 

 Golden Yellow, and Distinction. True, you 

 can get mixed spring-blooming crocuses 

 (the cheapest of all bulbs) as low as $2.50 

 a thousand, but how much more wonderful 

 it is to have flowers in November! You can 

 cause your friends more surprise and delight 

 with a dozen autumn-blooming crocuses 

 for thirty cents than if you spent ten times 

 that sum on spring-blooming crocuses! 



The earliest of these autumn-blooming 

 crocuses is Q. zonatus, so called from the 

 orange zone inside the flower which is its 

 distinctive feature. It might be called the 

 orange-zoned crocus. It is a rosy-lilac 

 flower with purple veins, just like any spring 

 crocus. It is sure to flower in October. 



The next to bloom is the saffron crocus, 

 C. sativus. "Sativus" means cultivated, 

 referring to the fact that the corm is grown 

 for medicinal use and also the gorgeous 

 orange anthers are used to make saffron 

 dye. This is one of the oldest flowers in 

 cultivation, yet most people have never 

 seen it. It is a bright lilac flower, not blue 

 as the catalogues often state. (I do not 

 believe there is any true blue in the genus.) 

 74 



This species blooms from the middle of 

 October to the middle of November. It 

 did not behave as well as the others last fall. 

 It is probably the commonest and certainly 

 the cheapest. 



The most reliable bloomer for later fall 

 is Crocus speciosus which ought to have a 

 distinctive English name. I therefore pro- 

 pose to call it the "Thanksgiving crocus." 

 This also the catalogues call "bright blue," 

 but it is lilac, veined with purple. I had a 

 brave show of these all through November. 

 One day toward Thanksgiving I counted 

 forty-two blossoms in my lawn — the product 

 of a dozen bulbs. Yet anything I plant 

 usually dies ! All I did was to pound a dozen 

 holes in the turf with a hammer and a pointed 

 piece of iron, plant the corms and cover them 

 with fine soil. The whole job took perhaps- 

 fifteen minutes and the cost of the bulbs- 

 was thirty cents. 



Crocuses always look much prettier in the 

 lawn than in the garden because they have 

 no foliage of their own when their blossoms- 

 first appear. If they come out of the bare 

 earth they do not have a beautiful back- 

 ground. In the grass they look like wild 

 flowers. There is no question that these 

 autumn crocuses are hardy, but I do not 

 believe they will increase. The seedsmen 

 say they will and that you can cut the crocus 

 leaves with a lawn mower in spring without 

 harming the bulbs. Personally, I shall be 

 satisfied if they bloom only once and I 

 intend to buy them every year I live. 



A thousand crocuses makes such a splendid 

 sight that after seeing it you will never be 

 content with less. It is not too many for 

 an ordinary city or suburban yard, because 

 you can put them four inches apart in the 

 lawn wherever you want a mass effect. (Be 

 careful not to put them in straight lines, and 

 scatter them more and more loosely as you 

 go away from the places where they are 

 massed.) 



But if you cannot afford $15 for 1,000 

 bulbs then buy 250 bulbs for $3.75. This 

 is the smallest quantity which dealers will 

 usually sell at the thousand rate. If you 

 bought 250 at the hundred rate they would 

 cost you $4.50. Thus you save 17 per cent. 



This illustrates an important principle 

 of economy. Buy the minimum quantity 

 at which you can get the minimum rate. 

 Another example that may come nearer home 

 is this. Fifty crocuses at the rate per dozen 

 would cost you $1.20. The same number 

 at the rate per hundred will cost you only 

 -$i — another saving of 17 per cent. 



Another way you can save money, while 

 still attaining your goal of 1,000 crocuses, is 

 to buy 100 and propagate them yourself. 

 This means a three years' wait, during which 

 you cannot have them in your lawn, though 

 you can enjoy them in your garden. You will 

 have to raise them from seed, which takes 



