Crocus sieberi Firefly

Crocus sieberi 'Firefly' is a stunning form of Sieber crocus. Its small cup-shaped flowers boast a remarkably fresh combination of colours. Sky-blue petals surround a throat speckled with gold and adorned with orange stamens. This crocus blooms from the end of winter, before the Dutch hybrid crocuses, heralding the return of spring. It is a very easy plant to grow and often naturalises in lawns, meadows, flower beds, and rock gardens. It is also perfect in containers. It should be planted in full sun or partial shade, in any well-drained soil that is dry in summer.

Crocus sieberi belongs to the Iridaceae family. It originates from Greece, Crete, and the Balkans, and is often found at high altitudes, near the last snow. The 'Firefly' variety is a recent horticultural selection derived from this prolific crocus. It quickly forms significant colonies of upright clumps, reaching 12cm (5in) in height. It flowers from February to March. The plants produce elongated buds with a golden yellow base, in a light and pure blue. Then they open into cups of a slightly paler blue on the inside, marked by a beautiful golden area at the base. The flowers close at night and in bad weather, opening in the sun and even in partial shade to reveal their pollen-covered orange stamens. The foliage is deciduous after flowering, reappearing in winter. This is an adaptation to dry summers, during which the "bulb" enters dormancy. The thin, simple, and alternate linear leaves are a bright medium green, with a silver midline. The 'bulbs' here are corms. A corm is, in plant morphology, an underground storage organ that looks like a bulb, but is formed by a swollen stem surrounded by a fibrous tunic that forms a kind of lattice.

Crocus sieberi 'Firefly' makes a striking display in rock gardens, when its flowers emerge from the sun-bleached stones. It will also thrive in the edge of light woodland, along a hedge, planted en masse at the base of deciduous trees (lilacs, mock oranges, viburnums) with blue anemones and Cyclamen coum. It also flourishes in the middle of a lawn alongside winter aconites, snowdrops, or a carpet of violets, and of course, with other early-flowering crocuses. This crocus is also suitable for outdoor pot planting and can be used on green roofs.

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