Crocus kosaninii April View

Crocus kosaninii 'April View' is a beautiful Dutch selection of a native botanical crocus from Kosovo, which is reliable, easy to grow, and a beautiful colour. The plant produces nicely shaped, bright flowers in two shades of lilac-blue, enhanced by a yellow throat and stamens. As its name suggests, this crocus blooms in the April sun, at the same time as the first tulips and daffodils. It naturalises quite easily in lawns or meadows, flower beds, and rockeries. It is also ideal for growing in containers. Grow the bulbs in the sun or even in partial shade, in any light and well-drained soil.

Crocus kosaninii 'April View' belongs to the Iridaceae family. Its ancestor blooms in the south of Serbia in deciduous oak woods and thickets, at low altitudes. Over time, it forms colonies of upright tillers 14cm (6in) high. The flowering takes place in April-May, depending on the climate. The plants have delicate flowers, composed of 3 elongated petals and 3 sepals. They are cup-shaped, star-shaped, in a soft mauve-blue shade on the inside, with blue-violet veins on the outside of the petals. The golden yellow heart of the flower is adorned with yellow stamens and an orange pistil. The flowers close at night and in bad weather, opening widely in the sun. The medium green foliage is deciduous in summer and winter, composed of thin, thick linear leaves. The bulbs here are corms covered with a tunic of parallel fibres, slightly reticulated at the base. A corm is, in plant morphology, an underground reserve organ resembling a bulb, but formed of a swollen stem surrounded by scales.

Crocus kosaninii 'April View' looks wonderful in a rockery, when its flowering emerges from stones bleached by the sun. It will also thrive in the edge of a woodland, along a hedge, planted en masse at the base of deciduous bushes (lilac, mock orange, viburnums) with Anemone blanda and Cyclamen coum, or even in the middle of a lawn with snowdrops or a carpet of violets. It also looks beautiful with other early flowering crocuses. This crocus is suitable for planting in outdoor pots.

Crocus roots can contract like a spring, helping the plant to settle at its ideal depth.