Crocus vernus Jeanne dArc

Crocus 'Jeanne d'Arc' is a particularly bright "mammoth" variety with large flowers. It is the only white crocus with large flowers that has survived among dozens of cultivars of this colour and is still cultivated and marketed today. It is an old variety with large pure white, diaphanous flowers, open on a small bouquet of orange stamens. They bloom in February-March, just in time to pierce the winter gloom in lawns, rockeries, and containers. It is extremely easy to grow.

Crocus 'Jeanne d'Arc' is a variety dating back to the 1940s, derived from Crocus 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, as such, is extremely hardy. 'Jeanne d'Arc' forms a clump of dark green linear leaves with a white median, from which solitary flowers emerge in February-March from a whitish spathe, about 10cm (4in) in height. A few barely purplish veins can be seen on each white corolla. The flowers close at night and in bad weather, opening in the sun to reveal vivid orange stamens.

Crocuses are undisputed stars of the garden, as they are the first heralds of spring. 'Jeanne d'Arc' is a robust "mammoth" variety that takes over from the flowering of Crocus chrysanthus, for example. When planted in large groups, it forms magnificent snowy carpets in lawns and awakens rockeries. It also grows very well in pots or containers, to brighten up patios. Crocuses prefer to stay in place where they naturalise easily and increase in size year after year. Do not remove the leaves until they have yellowed and withered. The leaves help the bulb replenish its reserves for the next year's flowering.

There are also autumn-flowering crocuses, such as saffron or colchicums, which are just as charming and easy to grow.