Crocus leonidii Little Amber

Crocus 'Little Amber' is an interesting hybrid with an early flowering, unique colour, and resistance to bad weather. Its star-shaped flowers are a bright and soft amber yellow on the inside, forming a beautiful contrast with the heavily veined violet-purple exterior of the petals. They announce spring at the end of winter before Dutch hybrid crocuses. It often naturalises in lawns or meadows, beds, and rock gardens. It also makes lovely ephemeral pots. It can be grown in full sun or partial shade, in any well-drained, even poor soil.

Crocus 'Little Amber' belongs to the Iridaceae family. It is one of the many horticultural hybrids obtained by crossing C. reticulatus and C. angustifolius. Over time, this variety forms colonies of upright clumps measuring 10 to 12cm (4 to 5in) in height. The flowering takes place from February to March. The plants have delicate flowers composed of 3 petals and 3 sepals. They are cup-shaped and open in a star shape. The heart of the flower is filled with yellow stamens grouped in a tube. The flowers close at night and in bad weather, but open wide in the sun. The foliage is deciduous in summer, composed of thin, thick linear leaves. The leaves are medium green with a central white-silver band. The bulbs are corms. A corm is an underground storage organ that resembles a bulb, but is formed by a swollen stem surrounded by scales.

Crocus 'Little Amber' looks wonderful in a rock garden, with its flowers emerging from stones bleached by the sun. It will also thrive alongside a hedge, planted en masse at the base of deciduous shrubs (lilac, mock orange, viburnums), with anemones blanda and Cyclamen coum, or in the middle of a lawn with snowdrops or a carpet of violets, and of course, combined with other early-flowering crocuses. This crocus is also suitable for outdoor pot planting.

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