Planting a Bowl of Crocus
Create a Crocus Bowl to Provide Early Spring Colour
Crocus are one of our earliest spring flowering bulbs, their flowers providing welcome colour and pollen and nectar for the bees in the early months of the year. They will flower as early as February and they are available in a range of colours from white, yellow, orange through to purple, in plain colour or striped. Technically Crocus are corms and not bulbs. Corms are actually modified stems that store food and this stored food kickstarts the Crocus into growth in spring. Crocus are easy to grow in a pot or container. This guide shows you how to plant Crocus in a bulb bowl or other container of your choice.
Step 1
Choose your pot or container. Make sure it has drainage holes as the pot will be outside. If it is a plastic pot you may need to drill your own holes, there are normally guide holes to show you where to drill. We have chosen a bulb bowl. Bulb bowls are just shallower than normal pots so are good for smaller bulbs. They give a pleasing proportion between pot size and flower height.
Step 2
Put a layer of compost in the bottom of the bowl. The best product for this is a Bulb Fibre which is a compost specifically designed for bulbs and corms in containers. Alternatively you could use a multipurpose compost.
Bulb Fibre is used for growing bulbs and corms in indoor and outdoor containers, it is not used for planting bulbs and corms in the ground. The difference between bulb fibre and multipurpose compost is that bulb fibre has a very open and free draining structure so the bulbs or corms don't rot. Bulb Fibre has few or no nutrients as bulb or corms don't require them if they are only being grown short term in containers (you can feed them later if needed), and it has a soil 'sweetener' which is usually charcoal. The charcoal keeps the compost from becoming sour.
Step 3
Place the Crocus corms pointed end upwards. As we are growing these in a container we are placing the bulbs closer together than you would if planting the corms in the ground, to give a more impressive floral display. However, ensure the corms do not actually touch. This bulb bowl is 45 cm (18 inch) diameter so is an impressive sized bowl, we have planted around 90 Crocus corms in this space. Crocus are readily available in large sized mixed packs and are one of the cheapest bulbs to buy in bulk . They make an economical purchase, especially as you will be able to enjoy them for years to come.
Step 4
Once you have placed all your bulbs in your chosen bowl or container cover over the Crocus corms completely with Bulb Fibre or multipurpose compost. You can either give your container a water now to settle the compost in the bowl or wait until the rain does it for you. Place your Crocus bowl in sun or partial shade. And all you need to do now is wait for the Crocus to emerge in late winter or early spring.
