Fall Blooming Crocus
Jane McGary (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