Crocus chrysanthus Zwanenburg Bronze

Crocus chrysanthus 'Zwanenburg Bronze' is a superb variety of golden crocus, a vigorous botanical species that is easy to grow. Its bi-coloured flowers are highly fragrant and vividly coloured with deep yellow striped with bronze markings, embellishing fine dark green foliage in late winter. This small bulb blooms with remarkable generosity, faithfully returning each year with dozens of brightly coloured cups in flower beds or rockeries. It thrives in the sun, in well-drained soil.

Crocus chrysanthus 'Zwanenburg Bronze' belongs to the Iridaceae family. Its ancestor, the golden crocus, originates from Turkey and the Balkan Peninsula. 'Zwanenburg Bronze' is a Dutch horticultural hybrid with many qualities that has received the prestigious Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society in England. This prolific plant forms significant colonies in upright clumps measuring 12cm (5in) tall. It has a rapid rate of growth and multiplication. Flowering occurs from February to March, depending on the climate. The plants bear a multitude of cup-shaped flowers that open into stars. The exterior of the corolla is bicoloured, widely striped and mottled with bronze and purple hues on a golden yellow background. The throat is bright yellow, filled with bright orange-yellow stamens grouped in a 'tube'. The flowers are pleasantly fragrant. They close at night and in bad weather, opening wide in the sun and even in semi-shade. The foliage is deciduous, composed of very thin linear leaves, which are simple and alternate. They are a shiny dark green with a white-silver central stripe. The 'bulbs' here are corms. A corm is, in plant morphology, an underground storage organ that resembles a bulb but is formed by a swollen stem surrounded by scales.

Crocuses are undisputed stars of the garden, as they are the first heralds of spring. Crocus chrysanthus 'Zwanenburg Bronze' works wonders in rockeries, flower beds, and along pathways. It also thrives on the edge of lightly wooded areas with primroses, along a hedge, planted en masse at the base of deciduous trees (lilacs, mock oranges, viburnums) with hellebores and Cyclamen coum, or in the middle of a lawn with winter aconites, snowdrops, or a carpet of violets, and of course, alongside other early-flowering crocuses. This crocus is well-suited for outdoor pot planting and is suitable for green roofs.

Crocus roots can contract like a spring, allowing the plant to settle at its ideal depth.