Crocus in cans

Susan Hayek susanann@sbcglobal.net
Fri, 03 Sep 2004 15:58:26 PDT
From http://www.oldhousegardens.com/

>>Do RODENTS Eat Your Crocus? Here’s a Solution!

         Joe Eck, writing in Horticulture 
(March/April 2004), says “Crocuses can be 
heartbreakers, since far less benign creatures 
than bees are partial to their corms. . . . For 
this reason, we learned years ago to plant all 
our crocuses in black plastic nursery cans, each 
covered with a lid of hardware cloth, its corners 
bent down to clasp the edges. The cans are buried 
so that the rims and lids lie about two inches 
below the surface of the soil, and the crocus 
corms are planted deep, up to eight inches, which 
prevents them from splitting into tiny cormlets 
too small to flower. A two-gallon can will hold a 
dozen species crocus corms comfortably and still 
leave room for multiplying. Our oldest crocuses 
planted in this way have been in their cans for 
15 years undisturbed, and still flower abundantly 
each spring. Also, the perennials that come later 
grow happily over and into the cans, seeming to 
cause the crocuses no discomfort at all.”

Is this accurate?


-- 
susan, who is.....
owned by Jasper & Schubert the Standard Poodles, 
Gracie the Rhodesian, Pup-Quiz the Basenji and 
their Basenji brother, Jones.... on the North 
Coast of CA, USA
susanann@sbcglobal.net, copyright 2004


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