Crocuses

"Come and look! Come and look!" yelled Edward, running in from the garden. The other teddy bears looked up from what they were doing.

"What's going on, Edward?" asked Richard. "Is there an emergency? It sounds like there is," and he laughed.

When Edward stopped and got his breath back, he smiled at them all. "No, sorry," he apologised. "I've just found something wonderful in the garden and thought you all might like to come and look."

The teddy bears all dutifully trooped outside. It was one of those sunny, but cold, early Spring mornings. Edward rushed over to a part of their wildflower meadow and pointed excitedly.

"Look! Look!" he shouted eagerly.

The bears all gathered round to see just what Edward was pointing at.

"I can't see anything" complained Tommy who, to be honest, could only look UP at anything in the garden.

"You might have to look very carefully," said Edward, lifting Tommy up in his paws. "Can you see anything now?"

"Oooh! Yes!" Tommy called out. "Tiny yellow flowers. What are they, Edward?"

"I think they are the first crocuses of Spring!" announced Edward.

The other bears peered over Edward's shoulder. Yes, they could see now. Tiny yellow flowers were growing amongst the short grass.

"They certainly are crocuses," announced Bubbles, who had cleverly thought to bring his book of wildflowers out with him. "Aren't they lovely?" he murmured.

"So pretty!" exclaimed Lizzie. "One of my favourite Spring flowers, and already out in bloom. Are there any more?"

Edward had come running in when he'd seen the first flower so he wasn't sure if there were any more about. The other bears walked around, looking carefully at the ground for any other crocuses that might be out.

"Look over here!" called Boo. "Are these crocuses too? They're not yellow, but they look like the same shape."

The others walked over whilst Bubbles consulted his book. "Why, yes!" he answered. "Apparently, crocuses come in all sorts of colours, not just yellow, but purple, lavender, cream and white."

They found lots of groups of crocuses all over the meadow. Teddy stopped, puzzled. "There seem to be a lot more of them than last year," he said. "I don't remember us planting any more."

"Well, actually," said Bubbles, reading from his book, "it seems that, over time, the crocus bulbs we plant will multiply on their own to produce more flowers every year."

"That's great!" said Teddy. "Soon the meadow will be full of them! I like crocuses."

"Apparently, we could also have planted the bulbs on the rockery, or even just in the flowerbeds," continued Bubbles. "We'd soon have them everywhere!"

"That would be lovely," said Charlie cautiously, "but we need room for all the other flowers we love too!"

"They're also an early source of food for bees," resumed Bubbles. "But, unfortunately, the local squirrels like the bulbs too and will dig them up and eat them and then we won't have so many. But when we plant any more, we'll have to remember to cover them with wire netting and then the squirrels won't be able to get at them."

"And I think they also sneak up onto the bird feeders and steal the peanuts!" Henry added. "Though I do like squirrels actually so maybe we'll just put extra peanuts out on the ground for them instead." Everyone agreed - they all liked watching the squirrels and their acrobatics too.

"I can't believe they live underground all through the very cold Winter, and then pop up again regularly every Spring," mused Lizzie. "I wonder how they survive?"

Bubbles consulted his book again. "Their leaves and petals are covered by a waxy shield" he read. "And, do you know that the red stamens in the middle of the flowers are harvested and used for colouring and seasoning in one of our favourite dishes, paella! It's called saffron."

"Well, I never knew that!" exclaimed Lizzie. "That is a surprise."

"Anything else interesting in your flower book?" Charlie asked Bubbles.

"It apparently takes 4,000 flowers to make just one ounce of saffron. We couldn't fit that many in our garden! And this is interesting too - the name crocus comes from the Latin adjective crocatus, meaning saffron yellow, and the Greek word for saffron is krokus and the Arabic word saffron means yellow. Everything connects together."

Whilst Bubbles was reading out loud, Vicki had bent down to see if the crocus flowers had any scent. She declared the fragrance delightful. And Bubbles went on to tell them that the ancient Romans were so fond of the smell that they created a device to give out a fine spray of the scent onto their guests as they arrived at their homes. The perfume was thought to inspire love and they believed that crocuses bloomed at midnight on Valentine's Day. How romantic - especially with Valentine's Day not too long away!