Crocus korolkowii

Crocus korolkowii is a botanical species native to the mountains of Central Asia. It is easy to grow if it is planted in well-drained soil that dries out in summer. This species bears beautifully sized, pleasantly scented and truly radiant flowers, combining bright yellow, orange, and bronze colours from the first days of spring. It can be planted in a rock garden, a gravel garden, a raised bed, or even in a lawn in a favourable climate. This crocus is the most tolerant of all species native to Central Asia.

Crocus korolkowii belongs to the Iridaceae, like all crocuses. This species grows in rocky places between 600 and 3150m (1968 and 10335ft) altitude in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Russia. It is perfectly adapted to cold and snowy winters and hot and dry summers. In cultivation, the plant blooms in February-March. Each bulb produces up to 20 flowers, 7 to 8cm (3in) tall, emerging from the ground before the leaves elongate. The cup-shaped flowers first display their bright yellow reverse marked with a wide bronze to purple variegation. Then they open into a star with 6 branches. The bronze-orange heart of the flower is filled with yellow stamens grouped in a 'tube'. The flowers close at night and in bad weather, and open wide in the sun and even in partial shade. The foliage is deciduous in summer, composed of fine linear leaves, which are single and alternate. They are marked with a central vein. The 'bulbs' here are corms covered by a tunic with parallel fibres. A corm is, in plant morphology, an underground storage organ that looks like a bulb, but is formed by a swollen stem surrounded by scales.

Crocus korolkowii, like other botanical species, is irreplaceable in rock gardens and at the base of bushes, when its radiant flowering bursts forth as a delightful surprise in early spring. It thrives in the sun in any well-drained soil without excessive limestone. You can plant the bulbs in a rock garden, along a path, or en masse at the base of deciduous trees, with Anemone blanda and Cyclamen coum, for example. In a raised bed, it can be combined with other early-flowering crocuses, and other small spring bulbs like tulips and botanical narcissus. This variety is well-suited to alpine or mountain gardens.

Crocus roots can contract like a spring, allowing the plant to settle at its ideal depth.