Crocuses in the Asparagus Bed

 

Crocus tomasinianus (Ruby Giant)



The predominant colour in April in the Cariboo is brown.  The patches of glowing colour made by the snow crocuses are so welcome in the garden.  These are little species crocuses, closer to the original wildflowers than the big Dutch crocuses that bloom a bit later. 



C. sieberi (Firefly)

 

I grow a mix of species and varieties and love them all.  I've started to tuck them into all kinds of spots in the garden.  They pop up between raspberry canes when these are just brown sticks and light up the ground under the apple tree.  They edge the flower bed, share space with strawberries, and line the vegetable garden, where I'll plant greens later in the spring.  By the time the other plants need space, the crocuses are finished.



The yellow are C. chrysanthus (Crean Beauty)



Last year, I planted a few bulbs in the asparagus bed.  Asparagus are planted deeply, while the little crocus bulbs are close to the soil surface, so there is no competition.  Again, the flowers have faded and the leaves are dying back before the asparagus starts to come up in May.  I'm pretty sure the plants will get along together even after the crocuses have multiplied.  At one end of the bed, there's a clump of irises.  I'm not sure how it came to be there, but the strongest, fattest asparagus spears I've ever seen come pushing through the mat of iris rhizomes every year. Each fall, I ease out some of the rhizomes, carefully, so as not to disturb the asparagus roots, but the crocus bulbs are so small that they couldn't hinder those strong asparagus shoots.