Every year, for the past seven or eight years, I’ve been planting Crocus corms and glory-of-the-snow bulbs in my back lawn.
This year, I planted 1,000 crocus corms, Crocus tommasinianus and another 500 glory-of-the-snow bulbs, Chionodoxa sardensis.
It took me about two and a half hours, split between two planting sessions.
I am a planting machine.
I kneel on a mat and grab five corms/bulbs because that’s how many I can hold without dropping one. Then I stab a hole in the ground with the rockery trowel, drop a corm/bulb behind the trowel, pull out the trowel and move on to the next one.
Repeat every five corms/bulbs until you are finished!
Over the seven or eight years since I’ve been planting crocuses and other flowers in the lawn, I’ve planted about 1,000 per year, give or take. Sadly, I don’t have a complete record to know exactly how many I’ve planted in my back lawn, but I would guess around 8,000 or so crocuses and 2,000 or so glory-of-the-snows.
I know that some come back every year, and I suspect a few disappear each year. Some get eaten by chipmunks or squirrels, but I plant enough that there is no way they can eat them all. I also do not use weed killers on the back lawn because it would kill the flowers.
Yes, that means I have dandelions, clover, wild strawberries, plantain, violets and who knows what else growing in the lawn, but I think it is worth it to see the crocuses and glory-of-the-snow blooming in early spring.
In all the years of just randomly planting corms and bulbs all over the lawn, this is the first year I’ve accidentally dug up a corm from a previous year, and it happened about 10 minutes before I finished planting.
I’m looking forward now to spring!
Ah spring. It comes much faster now that I'm older. ~~Dee
So you just don't mow until they are done blooming?? That sounds like a win-win to me!
Yikes! I'm not sure a real machine could do that faster.
Wow – I'm so impressed…and inspired!
Wow!
I needed a laugh…you're a crazy lady lol. 8000 crocuses must look great ! Wait, do you still have a lawn when their spent?
Crocuses and snowdrops are awesome plants that i appreciate much but we cannot grow them in the tropics. In fact i've seen them only once in person. I smiled when i saw the lots of small bulbs, and how were you able to count all those! I can't imagine. Moreover, i also cannot imagine the work put in gathering and cleaning all those. Not unless you really asked the help of all the fairies in collecting and cleaning them! hahaha
Where do you buy your bulk bulbs?
I generally buy from Van Engelen bulbs when I buy in bulk. I also buy bulbs from Brent & Becky’s Bulbs.
No after pics of all the crocuses in bloom??? PS – Thanks for this post. I woke up this morning with the thought “I want to plant 1000 crocuses this fall” did some googling and your post was the first thing to turn up. Now I’m on a hunt to find them for under 30 cents a bulb 😉
Where do you buy 1,000 crocus bulbs a year, without breaking the bank. Please let me know how you plant in bulk
I usually buy from Van Engelen Wholesale bulbs. They sell in larger quantities for less per bulb.