Crocus vernus Flower Record

Crocus 'Flower Record' is an ornamental small bulbous plant that heralds the return of spring with its early and beautifully coloured flowering. Standing at the top of deep red peduncles, its very large flowers, with a slightly truncated appearance, display a dark blue-violet-purplish hue, enhanced by a white throat and yellow-orange stamens. Extremely vigorous and long-lasting, this crocus quickly naturalises in lawns and rockeries.

Crocus 'Flower Record' is an old variety, derived from C. vernus, the spring crocus, a perennial plant with a corm from the Iridaceae family. Like many horticultural hybrids with spring flowering, this variety produces large flowers. The species itself is native to central and eastern Europe and is extremely hardy. 'Flower Record' forms a clump of dark green linear leaves with a white-silver median, from which solitary flowers emerge 10 to 15cm (4 to 6in) from the ground. They bloom in March-April for 3 weeks. The deep violet flowers close at night and in bad weather, opening in the sun to reveal a white throat and yellow-orange stamens. The foliage dries up and disappears in late spring or early summer.

Crocuses are undisputed stars of the garden as they are the first heralds of spring. 'Flower Record' is a robust "mammoth" variety that blooms after Crocus chrysanthus, for example. When planted in large groups, it forms magnificent carpets of colour in lawns, along paths, and rockeries. It also grows very well in pots or planters to brighten up patios. Crocuses prefer to stay in place where they easily naturalise and grow year after year. Do not remove the leaves before they have withered, as they are how the bulb replenishes its reserves after flowering.

There are also autumn-flowering crocuses, such as saffron crocus or colchicums, which are just as charming and easy to cultivate. Sternbergia lutea, on the other hand, is a small bulbous plant that resembles a golden yellow crocus but blooms in September, along with colchicums.