Growing a Crocus Lawn

The first spring after we moved to the acreage, as I was gazing into the lightly snow covered lawn, there were three dainty glimmers of bright purple peeking at me. Instantly, I slipped into my boots to see what it was.

They were Crocus!

‘Crocuses are a genus of low-growing, perennial plants in the iris family (Iridaceae) that bloom from corms, producing showy, cup-like flowers in various colors like purple, yellow, and white, often appearing in early spring.’ The flowers close at night and in overcast weather conditions.

Crocuses are one of the best blooms for naturalizing in a grassy lawn area in our zone 5 since their foliage dies back before it’s time for the first mow of the season. If you want the corms to return and even multiply the next year, you have to give the foliage a chance to feed the corms after they're done blooming. To do this, just allow the foliage to die back naturally prior to mowing.

Source crocus from a reputable dealer to reduce the chance of disease. Crocus varieties are available in early to late bloomers. I recommend early blooming varieties to get the best chance of returning blooms in years to follow.

Planning: In the fall, you can either map out your yard into say, 4’ x 4’ sections and plan for X number corms per section or just plant them haphazardly. We prefer the haphazard approach. ;)

Planting: The general rule of thumb for spring-blooming corms/bulbs is to plant them two to three times as deep as their diameter. Since crocus are so small, they only need an inch or two or soil on top of them. Place the corms pointy end up, an inch or two apart either in clumps or individually depending on your plan.

Using a shovel, you can pry up portions of sod, place the corms, and replace the sod. You can also use an auger bit on a drill to make small holes and place the corms in that way.

No need to water in. The winter moisture will give them what they need.

That’s it! Now we wait for spring to see these little pops of color!