Crocus tommasinianus - beloved by rodents

Jane McGary janemcgary@earthlink.net
Fri, 18 Jul 2003 15:54:17 PDT
Tony Goode wrote,

>In situations where rodent predation makes successful crocus
>cultivation marginal Crocus tommasinianus would be the most likely
>survivor owing to its propensity to increase by seed and cormlet
>production.  It may be that enough survive predation to maintain the
>population despite rodent activity.

Another possibility is that this cheap, easy species is often naturalized 
in lawn grass, as I have done with it. It's good to grow that way because 
its leaves tend to lie flat, rather than erect as in C. vernus types, so 
they don't succumb to mowing too early. Voles and field mice (the main 
predators of crocuses here, anyway) have a hard time tunneling through the 
compacted, rooty soil in the lawn.

Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon


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