Description
A VERY unusual Crocus from the Sar Planina of Macedonia. The only Crocus with a colour combination of golden yellow flowers with a purple throat and tube.
In addition it has tiny, flattened corms and thread-like leaves which lack the central white stripe of most species. It is NOT your average garden Crocus as regards cultivation either. This is a true alpine, in the wild can be under snow until June. It then emerges and flowers within days, grows through summer and goes dormant in autumn. Treat this as a ‘normal’ garden Crocus, and you will kill it.
Gritty, well-drained, fertile, neutral to acid soil and think ‘alpine’ over winter. Give it low temperatures throughout the winter, for as long as possible and almost no water. In spring (which should be as manipulated to be late as possible) provide an inundation of water (containing fertiliser) and plenty of light. Water through summer, keeping it shaded and try and keep it green for as long as you can, then drier in Oct., but never wants to be totally dry. Tricky? yes!, impossible? – no, the ‘secrets’ of success are above, a long cold winter, then allowing the plants to grow as much as possible in good light with good feeding.
