Crocuses

Crocus is one of the most famous spring small-bellied flowers of the iris family. The plant is up to 10 cm high, with a bunch of hard leaves. Leaves appear during flowering. In the genus there are about 80 species. Crocus is also called spring saffron. This is a short, steppe-less strawberry-flowering plant that blossoms after the snowdrop, among the half-grown snow, but before the tulips, although very briefly, only 7-10 days, but very impressive. The time of flowering of crocus falls on the period from the beginning to the middle of April.

Crocuses belong to the family of cotyctic, they have a small corms flat, flat-rounded and spherical, covered with a filmy membrane. The stem of crocus is greatly shortened, so the plants are completely unsuitable for cutting. Crocus flowers appear almost from under the snow. Leaves are narrow-line, dark green with a silvery-white strip in the middle. appears over the soil in approximately one time with flowers or later, but their main growth is observed after the plants bloom. Flowers in crocus goblets,

directed up, with 6 petals. Blossoming flowers can have a star-shaped or cup-shaped shape reminiscent of the flower of the tulip in miniature. The color of the crocus flowers smears to be the most diverse: spectacular bronze, thick yellow, white, pale blue, lilac, lilac. In addition, there are varieties with a two-color color, spotted, striped. Leaves of crocuses narrow, green. Dutch breeders produced varieties with very large, up to 13 cm tall flowers. Beautiful flowering crocuses in the spring look beautiful on the lawn, under the crowns of deciduous trees and shrubs that have not yet blossomed at this time, in flower gardens, where they are planted in the foreground with monochrome small curtains. Without them, it is difficult to imagine rock gardens, mixborders, flower beds and flower beds with other early-flowering miniature plants.

Crocus forms flower buds at the end of the growing season, when the bulbs are removed from the ground and stored.

Therefore, by the early winter forcing the bulbs are fully formed and are in forced rest. For an early forcing, the bulbs are consistently aged at certain temperatures: bulbs dug in the second half of June, during the week - at a temperature of 34 ° C;the next two weeks - at a temperature of 20 ° C, and then at a temperature of 10 ° C until the moment of landing in the pots.

In pots, put on 3-5 bulbs( depending on their size and pot sizes).The embankment depth is 4 cm. The bulbs are planted 10 weeks before the proposed placement in warm rooms and kept in the cellar. Soil in pots should be easy, so that it does not accumulate too much water. Bulbs are best rooted at a temperature of 8-10 ° C.

Crocuses are evicted at a temperature of 7-8 ° C, and from the beginning of staining of the buds, the temperature is maintained at 10-12 ° C.At a higher temperature, especially at the beginning of the forcing, the plants do not bloom at all. Lasts forcing crocuses 10( in March) - 20( in December) days.

The best grades are: Remembrance( purple-violet), Jeanne dArc( white), King of Striped( white with purple dashes).For late forcing, all varieties of crocus are suitable.

Varieties

All variety of species and varieties of crocuses can be divided into two main groups: spring-springing and autumn-sprouting crocuses, including species crocuses and hybrids derived from them.

Spring-springing crocuses - flowering time: beginning of April - May inclusive. They have dark green leaves with a silvery white strip, narrow leaves that appear during flowering, and die in May-June at a height of 10-13 cm. Flowers are lilac or white, sometimes striped, with pubescence, among 1-2, come directly from the bulb of the stem. The height of the flower is about 3 cm, the diameter is 3.5-5 cm. The anthers are lemon-yellow. Transplanted in 5-6 years. The depth of planting bulbs - 6-8 cm. Requires an open solar location and permeable soil. There are many hybrid large-flowered varieties of different colors.

Crocus goldfish: is a compact bulbous plant 8-10 cm high, flowers are not large, the predominant colors are yellow and blue, cup-shaped, on the outer side of the petals darker, anthers orange. From one tuber grows several flowers. Blooms in April. It requires an open solar location and a well-drained, humus-rich soil. Propagated by daughter bulbs and seeds. The bulbs are planted to a depth of 5-7 cm. Hybrids of crocus gold-flowered are distinguished by a larger flower and a greater variety of colors. Blue Pearl ( blue and yellow), Crim Biuty ( light yellow with orange), Snowbinding ( white withyellow).

Crocus narrow-leaved: height of the plant is 8 cm, flowers are not large, the predominant color is brownish-yellow( bronze).

Crocus Michelson: plant height 6-8 cm, flowers are not large, the predominant color is blue.

Crocus Alatava: height of the plant is 8 cm, flowers are not large, the predominant color is white.

Large-flowered crocuses, or Dutch hybrids: plant height 10-15 cm, flowers very large, spectrum of colors - from white, golden and dark yellow to blue, purple and dark purple; Queen of Blue ( light purple), Rimembrens ( dark purple), grind Uellou ( yellow), Jeanne d'Arc ( white), Sky Blue ( blue), Straypd byut ( striped, purple with white).

Autumnnetting crocuses

Flowering time: beginning of September - October inclusive.

Crocus is beautiful: - is a magnificent bulbous plant, similar to all other crocuses, except for the time of flowering. Leaves grow in the spring by 20-30 cm with a width of 0.6-1.3 cm, die in June. The flowers are pale violet-blue, large up to 7 cm in diameter with a dark venation and white middle, outside the base are purple. Anthers yellow, stigma orange. There are garden forms with white flowers. Requires well-drained soil, rich in humus, and an open, sunny location. Propagated by daughter corms and seeds. The tubers are planted to a depth of 5-7 cm.

Crocus valley: plant height 10-15 cm, medium flowers, predominant color - white. These species of Autumn-Barking Crocuses are very unpretentious.

Cultivation and care. Crocuses grow on dry, well-lit and sun-warmed areas, but they bloom well in the penumbra.

A well-drained, light, nutritious soil, filled with the necessary amount of organic fertilizers, will suit crocuses. Crocuses do not tolerate fresh manure, wetlands and acid soils. Under the digging of soil for crocuses it is recommended to add sand, mature compost and old, well-repaired manure. It is necessary to make drainage on soaked soils. They breed crocuses with corms and babies, which are planted in August-September, and excavated in June-July, when leaves turn yellow, dried, sorted and stored until planted indoors. For faster reproduction, the bulbs are dug out every year, as the corms are replaced every year: the old one dies, and in its place 2-5 new corms and babies are formed.

Crocuses can grow in one place without transplantation for more than 5 years, but it is better to dig them out and plant them in 3-4 years, since the thickening of the planting leads to the mincing of flowers. The depth of planting corms crocuses depends on their size: for large - 8-10 cm, medium - 4-6, small and for babies - 2-3 cm. The distance between bulbs varies from 5 to 10 cm.

Corms of spring-bearing crocuses are planted in September-October, Autumn-Binding - in July-August.

Crocuses are very responsive to mineral fertilizers. The first top dressing is carried out in the early spring on snow, the second - during flowering. In both cases a full mineral fertilizer is applied at the rate of 30-40 g / m2.