Crocus tommasinianus Barrs Purple - Early Crocus

Crocus tommasinianus 'Barr's Purple' is a variety of botanical crocus bearing mauve-violet flowers with a silvery underside. Its star-shaped flowers reveal a golden yellow stamen heart, with a very thin white tube at the base. They bloom from late winter, before the Dutch hybrid crocuses, announcing the return of spring. It is one of the easiest species to cultivate and naturalise in the garden, in lawns, meadows, beds and rockeries, even in dry and poor soil.

Crocus tommasinianus, also known as Thomas's Crocus, belongs to the Iridaceae family. It originates from Hungary, Croatia, former Yugoslavia (Serbia, Montenegro), and Bulgaria. This prolific plant forms significant colonies in upright tufts measuring 10 to 15cm (4 to 6in) in height. It has a rapid growth rate. The flowering takes place from February to March.

'Barr's Purple' bears delicate flowers, measuring 2 to 3.5cm (1in) in length. They are cup-shaped and open in a star pattern. They are mauve with a silver sheen on their undersides, with whiter areas inside the petals, down to the throat. The flower's heart is filled with yellow stamens grouped in a 'tube', with a white base. The flowers close at night and in bad weather, opening widely in the sun and even in partial shade. The foliage is deciduous, composed of fine, thick, linear leaves, which are single and alternate. They are a shiny medium green with a white-silver central band. The 'bulbs' here are corms. A corm is, in plant morphology, an underground reserve organ that looks like a bulb but is formed by a swollen stem surrounded by scales.

Crocus tommasinianus 'Barr's Purple' works wonders in a rockery, emerging from stones bleached by the sun, or adorning the edge of a winding path. It will also thrive on the edge of light undergrowth, along a hedge, planted en masse at the base of deciduous trees (lilac, mock orange, viburnums) with Anemone blanda and Cyclamen coum, or even in the middle of a lawn with winter aconites, snowdrops, or a carpet of violets, and of course, with other early-flowering crocuses. This crocus is suitable for planting in outdoor pots and can be used in green roofs.

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