Fall Blooming Crocus

Jane McGary janemcgary@earthlink.net
Fri, 12 Nov 2004 09:17:04 PST
Boyce Tankersley at the Chicago Botanic Garden wrote:///wrote/:
>Do you think Crocus niveus would survive in the Chicago region, blooming 
>as late as it does? We got our first killing frost in late September, then 
>had a couple of nice weeks of Indian summer. Weather since then has been 
>on the cool side but no real dips into the lower 20's yet.

There's really no way to predict from experience on the Pacific coast how a 
given bulb will behave in the upper Midwest. The best way to find out is to 
plant some and see what happens over a period of 3 or 4 years. I can, 
however, attest that the flowers of this species recover without apparent 
harm after frosty nights, since we've had frosts most nights the past 10 
days here, and it's in flower in the rock garden, looking good. It 
increases rapidly in the bulb frame and I should have plenty available next 
summer. As Mary Sue mentioned, it's also one of the easier species to grow 
from seed.

Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA



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