"Shelley" wrote in message news:82h7c.53549$_w.851264@attbi_s53...
Hi there. While out walking yesterday my husband and I passed by a lawn
that was full of crocus flowers and we just loved it. I was just wondering.
Are there any downfalls to planting these little bulbs in your lawn? Do
they spread like the dickens and we'd eventually have only crocuses? It
just looked so nice and so colorful for the brown-lawn time of year so I had
to ask. Also, if we decide to plant these little bulbs next fall so that we
can have a lawn like this, how deep do you plant them? I visited a number
of websites but nobody said how deep to put the bulbs. Thanks for your
help!

Shelley

be aware that crocuses will multiply and form drifts only in part to
full sun. They will not multiply if there is shade, even bright shade,
though they will survive. Also, given that the background color (the
lawn) is brown, light purple varieties are almost invisible. Stick to
larger crocuses, deep violet (best) or yellow and white. These will
cost more. You may pay $100 for 300 crocuses, but you will need to
wait a few years for them to fill in the drifts and truly make a show.
If you have acid soil shade, like I have, you will be much better off
with scilla (which is blue), which spreads slowly but spreads, is
undestructible, and can be mowed ten days earlier. Its drifts are just
as lovely.

As the other poster pointed out, if you do have crocuses in full sun,
by the time you can finally mow (early June in michigan) the grass can
be quite tall (unacceptably tall if you have non-cooperating
neighbors). They will otherwise not suffocate the grass, which has the
lawn five months all by itself. Crocus does well in well drained soil,
and will die in waterlogged parts of the yard, but does not require
much feeding. I am unaware of whether weed and feed (or other lawn
pesticides) will kill it. The squirrels will get it, so I hear, though
at my place, with an abundance of nut and seed trees, I have never
seen a squirrel dig up a crocus bulb. You can provide some early
protection by planting bulbs just before the ground freezes in
november.