Crocus
Crocus vernus
Among the first flowers of spring, purple cups that open in the March sun, lovely in drifts along a path or naturalized in a lawn, and deer leave them alone. Plant the corms in fall in sun and well-drained soil; squirrels and voles dig them up, so cover new plantings with wire mesh.
- Mature size
- 5 × 3 in
- 0.1 m × 8 cm, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 3a–8b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade
- Water
- Medium
- Blooms
- Mar–Apr
Crocus at its mature size
A mature Crocus grows to about 5 in tall and 3 in wide.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: NC State Extension, Chicago Botanic Garden, Eden Brothers.
Through the year
What Crocus looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
Below ground · Jun–Feb
Dormant below ground from early summer until late winter; draw nothing.
In flower · Mar–Apr
A few purple goblet flowers among grassy leaves, open in the sun.
In leaf · May
Flowers gone, the grassy leaves lengthening and yellowing.
Growing Crocus
- Grows well in
- The Northeast, the Midwest, the Plains and Mountain West, and the Pacific Northwest.
- Good for
- Deer resistant
- Leaves
- Dies back in winter
- Native to
- Central Europe and Southern Europe
Spacing
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Crocus, that’s about 3 in apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Crocus in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.