With a welcome, cheerful burst of much-needed spring color and fragrance after a long winter, the Crocus, Siberian Squill, and Snowdrops are a joy to see in any landscape! The first spring bulbs to pop up - sometimes before the snow has completely retreated - these small yet wonderfully impactful spring ephemerals are a sure sign that spring is here!
These are space-saving spring flowers and a must-have in all USDA planting zones! Check out some of NatureHills.com's newest bulbs and some old-fashioned garden standards you need to include in your container gardens, forced winter pots indoors, and outdoor landscaping beds this coming year!
All About Crocus
Members of the Iris family (Iridaceae), these plants consist of about 100 species that grow from bulb-like structures underground called corms.
The spiky green foliage shoots up around the single flower each corm produces, which is relatively large in comparison to its corm! Freely spreading and multiplying, Crocus can colonize an area and naturalize politely in the areas they are planted.
Not just a sight for our sore eyes, but early-emerging pollinators rely on these spring blooms for food! Plus there are several varieties of autumn-flowering Crocus available to bring double the joy!
Native to Southern Europe to the Middle East, Crocus have been cherished by gardeners since the 1500s. In fact, the most expensive and sought-after spice - Saffron - is derived from the pollen anthers of Crocus sativus!
Whether you want an heirloom favorite Crocus speciosus (Snow Crocus) or a fancy new variety of Crocus, Nature Hills has you covered!
Heirloom Favorites
- Yellow Mammoth Crocus - large yellow blooms
- Blue Pearl Crocus - lavender blue pastel
- Jeanne d’Arc Crocus - snow white blossoms
- Vanguard Crocus - pretty purples
New Varieties At Nature Hills
- Orange Monarch Crocus - bright orange with burgundy streaked petals
- Spring Beauty Crocus - showy lavender, light purple, and dark purple petals
- Tricolor Crocus - pretty white, yellow, and lavender blooms
- Advance Crocus - buttery yellow and purple
- Saffron Crocus - cheerful lavender hue
Pretty Blue Stars - Siberian Squills
Siberian Squills (Scilla) are darling little blue starry flowers with one or more blue blooms per stem and naturalize freely in lawns and throughout gardens in the early spring. Not as early as Crocus and Snowdrops, Squill can flower as early as March, making it another great little bulb plant for pollinators and early color.
Also known as Wood Squill, these Asparagus family flowers are native to Russia, Caucasus, and Turkey, and despite their name, they are not from Siberia.
Find Portuguese Squill and Siberian Squill for your garden at Nature Hills!
Early Bells - All About Snowdrops
Darling white drop-like bells, the nodding white blossoms of the Snowdrop (Galanthus) can be seen emerging through a layer of snow in the very early spring and sometimes late winter! Members of the Amaryllis family, there are about 2,500 varieties of these bulbs that are native to the alpine mountains of Southern Europe and Asia Minor.
Appearing singly on their stem, unlike Leucojum which have multiple flowers per stem, Snowdrops are tiny blossoms with just two slender leaves.
The reason they can come up in the winter despite the snow? Snowdrops can actually produce enough heat to melt little circles in the snow in a process called thermogenesis!
White Carpets - Glory of the Snow
Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa bulbs) shoots up glistening white blossoms as if made from the snow itself, appearing to be growing through the snow and frost! Featuring star-shaped clusters of mildly fragrant blooms with tiny yellow centers. Appearing above clumps of Crocus-like spiky green foliage. Great for Rock Gardens and naturalizing under trees and shrubs, these small bulbs are native to Turkey and are closely related to Siberian Squills.
Spring Flurries - Summer Snowflake
Summer Snowflake (Leucojum) are actually late winter to early spring flowering bulbs despite their name and resemble Lily of the Valley and Snowdrops with their dainty white fairy bells with green-tipped petals. Native to a wide swath of Europe, these little beauties have naturalized throughout the US and beyond!
Sunny Yellow - Winter Aconite
Winter Aconite (Eranthis) are vibrant Buttercup-like or Anemone-like blooms that can flower before Crocus in the spring! Featuring buttery-yellow blooms with a fringe of green sepals, you’ll love the cuppy flowers and their tuberous bulbs in your garden! These heavy bulbs are native to Europe France to Bulgaria.
Beautiful Dutch Iris
Also known as Netted Iris and Species Iris, Dutch Iris (Iris reticulata) are tiny versions of their larger cousins and are very colorful little forms with the classic Iris shape but upright spiky little groupings of greenery that flower in the spring. Not quite as early as Crocus, these are very easy to force indoors and bridge the gap between the earliest flowering bulbs and the next round of Tulips, Hyacinths, and Daffodils!
Get Ready For Spring - Now!
While we’re still gearing up for the holidays, now is actually the time to prepare for spring with fall-planted bulbs from NatureHills.com! Fall-planted bulbs must be planted a few weeks before the ground freezes in your growing zone and Nature Hills does all the planning for you by shipping to your hardiness zone at the proper planting time!
Indoors, you can start any bulb to grow by forcing in the winter! Fill your home with Paperwhites, Daffodils, Tulips, Muscari, Hyacinths, and more by reading our Blog Here!
Mix these spring ephemerals with other early spring plants like Hellebores, Creeping Phlox, Forsythia, and Bleeding Hearts for an early display of unexpected flowers as early as March this year!
Make your landscape a place where pollinators and neighbors who are also hungry for a break from the winter doldrums are sure to gravitate towards!
Happy Planting!
