These wonderful plants established themselves very easily the shade of my rhododendrons but it took nearly 15 years before they started spreading all over the yard.
Now they grown in the gravel along the driveway, in the grass in the shade outside the dining room, under the Doug Firs and even out by the compost piles.
They start blooming in late December or early January depending upon how cold a winter it is. In 2008-2009 we had a really cold snowy December and they didn't start blooming until mid-January. Whenever they start, they keep blooming steadily for a good 3 months. How many plants can you say do that and with no care!
In rare warm winters my snow crocus may start blooming in the last week of January and in 2009 they didn't start to bloom until the second week of February but most years they appear like clockwork in the first week of February. If it's snowed and then gotten sunny they will pop up right through the snow--thus their name.
I planted 50 or so in a sunny stretch of lawn every year for a the first few years that we were here. Then Mother Nature took charge. They haven't spread much where I planted them but seedlings have come up along the edges of the main garden. In the last few years, they've just gone crazy.
The original bulbs came in purple, white, cream and yellow and each color opens at a separate time here. The seedlings are almost entirely lavender.
When we lived in Portland, OR I saw these little flowers naturalized in a rolling sweep of lawn at Bishop's Close. I planted mine with that in mind. They've done exactly what I wanted them to do, just not WHERE I'd thought they should!
A few weeks after the snow crocus start blooming the standard crocus open up. Each color opens at a different time--just like the snow crocuses do but more of them overlap so that you can actually get clusters of colors together. They've naturalized too and again the seedlings are mostly light purple.
After the crocuses, come the dwarf Jonquils. I love these little guys and have planted them in little groups to peak up here in there in amongst my day lilies. They're also great in pots with primroses.
By the middle of March, the grape hyacinths have usually begun to come into bloom. They are very reliable naturalizers so if you don't like them and don't want them all over the place --including in your lawn--don't plant them!
I love their color and have even planted a swath of them in a new area across the driveway from my kitchen so I can see them from my kitchen window.
At about the same time, the species tulips come into bloom too.
