For the joy of that first moment when I stepped out the back door and saw all the crocuses blooming in the lawn, it was worth it.

It was worth spending hours planting all those crocus bulbs last fall, and the two falls before that.

It was worth enduring the cold, wind, ice, and snow of winter, including the last snow just ten days ago that covered the back lawn with six inches of snow.

It was worth it.

I thought at first only a few crocus blooms were open, but as I looked across the lawn, I could see hundreds of crocuses blooming.

Spring has arrived.  The crocuses know it, now I know it, too.

It’s hard to capture with a mere camera what the lawn looks and feels like with all the crocuses in bloom.   The blooms are scattered about the lawn, some in groups, some individually.  They practically beam against the greens and browns of the lawn.

I took lots of pictures, trying my best to capture the moment.

But moments in the garden aren’t just what we capture with a camera.  Moments in the gardens include memories and feelings, too, which aren’t always conveyed to others through a picture.

For this one moment, when the sun was shining, and hundreds of crocuses were blooming throughout the back lawn, it was worth it.

If you decide to plant crocuses in your lawn remember…

Buy corms for Crocus tommasinianus, sometimes called tommies, or other crocuses that are noted for naturalizing, not those big crocuses most often sold in the big box stores.

Plant them in the lawn in the fall.  I use a rockery trowel to plant bulbs in my lawn.  Stab it into the ground, pull it back, drop the corm in the hole, pull out the trowel, then pat pat pat, and move on to the next one.

Don’t try to plant an entire lawn of crocuses in one fall. Plant a few hundred each year and before you know it, you’ll have thousands of crocuses in bloom in your lawn.

Wait as long as you can to mow the lawn for the first time after the crocus blooms have faded to give the crocuses a chance to grow a bit and form new corms for next year.

Don’t use herbicides on the lawn once you plant crocuses or other bulbs in it.

Learn to live with a few dandelions as part of the price to pay for that one magical moment when you step outside on the first warm day of spring and see hundreds of crocuses blooming in the lawn, greeting the spring.

It’s worth it.