Crocus · Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
When to sow crocuses in Bannu
Main outdoor window
not outdoors here
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
29 January
In Bannu, on your chosen risk.
First autumn frost
no autumn frost
The far end of the outdoor season.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Bannu
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Crocuses through the year
Against the frost risk in Bannu
Why these dates
Plant in early autumn, six to eight weeks before the first frost, 8cm deep. Naturalising in grass is the best use of them: they flower and set seed before the first cut of the season is due, so the lawn can be left uncut until the leaves yellow in late spring.
Hardy to -30C and among the most frost-indifferent flowers grown - blooms freeze solid overnight and reopen the same morning. Needs a cold winter to flower well and fails in zone 9 and warmer.
Crocuses are anchored to the first autumn frost rather than the last spring one, so the planting window on this page counts backwards from the end of the season in Bannu instead of forwards from its start.
Bannu sits in zone 10a, which is milder than this crop wants, and a winter that never really arrives is its own problem. The dates below still describe the right time of year; the open question is survival rather than timing.
Also in Bannu
Other flowers to time
Growing crocuses in Bannu
How much frost will crocuses tolerate?
Hardy to -30C and among the most frost-indifferent flowers grown - blooms freeze solid overnight and reopen the same morning. Needs a cold winter to flower well and fails in zone 9 and warmer.