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The unusually wet weather has been very destructive to the crocuses this year. I don’t have many here, and those that have flowered have been quickly flattened by the rain. They end up looking like tiny scraps of brightly-coloured silk lying on the ground.
Luckily, other years have been kinder to these late-winter flowers and to the early bumblebees that were able to enjoy their nectar. (Crocuses are nicely timed to feed bumble bee queens that have just come out of hibernation.) The photographs here are from a sunny February a couple of years ago: at the top is ‘Prins Claus’, while the flower below is ‘Pickwick’.
Right now there is still one relatively undamaged group of purple crocuses which haven’t yet been rained flat. I can’t get at them to photograph them without tramping on a lot of wet soil (and thereby compressing it), so I’m unlikely to photograph them this year. But I can at least enjoy the sight of them and maybe the weather next year will allow me to photograph them then. Here’s hoping!
Ann Mackay: Inspired by Nature 
beautiful colors…best wishes! 🌺🌱
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Thank you! And my best wishes to you too! 🙂
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Too bad all that rain made your crocus croak [which in American English, if not in yours, means ‘to die’]. At least you have pretty pictures from a more temperate February.
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Hehe, yes Steve, croak means the same here. 🙂 I’ve learned that you have to photograph plants when you see them…they may not be there the next year!
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Prins Claus is a beauty. None of my white crocuses appeared this year and they have all gone over now. The purple stripy ones do seem to be more rain resistant. Beautiful photos Ann.
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Thanks Jude! Prins Claus is one I’d plant more of in future. My yellow crocuses seem to have pretty much disappeared but that’s probably due to disruption when other plants have to be moved.
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These look so nice in close up. It’s so annoying to have flowers flattened by rain, but I know how you feel. My little garden is muddy and compressed. I never seem to have crocuses. Some bulb is poking up from a pot but I don’t know what yet.
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It seems to be especially wet and muddy this year, Jill. For us in the dry east, it does feel like climate change. Hope your bulb turns out to be something lovely!
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Well nothing there as yet.
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Fingers crossed…
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Sorry that this year’s crocuses are a disappointment, but your photos from previous years hopefully offer you some consolation. And there’s always next year…
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Hopefully that will be the case! 🙂
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I’ve learned the same lesson you mentioned: photograph now, in case the flowers disappear. Of course, I had to learn the hard way that it can be only a day or two before the flowers are gone: mowers and such can shorten a season considerably!
I really like your description of the ‘remnants’ as scraps of silk. That’s so evocative; I think I can see exactly what they look like!
I recently learned that crocus aren’t native to any part of the United States. I also learned that they’re part of the Iridaceae, just like our early blooming prairie nymphs and blue-eyed grasses. One more bit of learning: Crocus is the middle English word for “saffron plant,” as saffron comes from the dried stigmas of Crocus sativus. In your second photo, that saffron color certainly stands out!
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I didn’t know that crocuses were in the Iridaceae family…how interesting it is to find out which plants are related! We actually have a town called Saffron Walden in the neighbouring county. As you might guess from the name, a lot of saffron crocuses were grown around the town in the past. (It’s a nice place to visit, but haven’t been there for a while. We used to get a bit lost coming out of there on the way home, hehe!)
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“Saffron Walden” made me laugh. It evoked Thoreau hosting some saffron-robed Buddhist monks out at Walden Pond. What a day that would have been!
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Hehe!
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Beautiful photos, I love ‘Pickwick’ in particular. There is always something about those glowing stamens that makes my heart sing. No wonder the bumblebees love them so much! 😊 The story is the same here in northern France, I managed some crocus photos in sunshine a couple of weeks ago but they are soggy little rags now. The daffies have been flattened, too, and it feels like I’m swimming across the garden. Here’s to drier things! 🤞🌞🌷
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Luckily our daffs aren’t out yet, so maybe the weather will be kinder to them. The weather is a bit disconcerting…usually it’s too dry and we’re thinking about drought-gardening. But recent times have brought much more rain than normal, so it’s hard to know how to cope with it!
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I’m trying to imagine how it would be to put up a roof or a number of umbrellas to cover some of your flowers to protect them from too much rain. Maybe with a few small holes to allow some rain drops to fall through, but not too many. And high enough to allow some sunshine to reach the plants. 🌞☔
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That might be an idea, hehe! I think the crocuses would have been grateful! 🙂
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Gorgeous beauties, Ann! Nice write-up!
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Thank you Indira – glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
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