Crocus 'Polar Bear'

Crocus 'Polar Bear' is a little spring miracle with the calm confidence of fresh snow and the good manners to arrive just when spirits need lifting. Its neat, goblet-shaped flowers open in luminous white, revealing a warm golden throat that glows like lamplight against slim green leaves. In rockeries, lawn edges, pots or woodland-style planting, Crocus 'Polar Bear' creates a crisp, natural-looking scatter of early colour, especially when planted in generous drifts. The effect is pure and quietly theatrical, rather like finding porcelain cups set out for a party hosted by the frost. Compact, reliable and easy to grow, Crocus 'Polar Bear' is made for brightening the garden before spring has quite gathered itself.

Plant Crocus 'Polar Bear' in autumn in free-draining soil, choosing sun or light shade where the flowers can open fully on fine days. It is lovely under deciduous shrubs, at the front of borders or tucked into containers with miniature narcissi, hellebores and early muscari for a cool, fresh palette. Bees often welcome early crocuses too, which gives this snowy beauty a pleasingly practical side beneath all that polished charm. Allow the foliage to die back naturally after flowering and the corms will settle in, often returning with increasing ease. For gardeners who appreciate subtlety with a wink of sunshine, Crocus 'Polar Bear' is a beautifully poised choice, small in stature but remarkably effective in spirit.