Crocus · Cairo, Cairo, Egypt
When to sow crocuses in Cairo
Main outdoor window
not outdoors here
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
no spring frost
In Cairo, 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 Cairo
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 Cairo
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 Cairo instead of forwards from its start.
Cairo sits in zone 10b, 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 Cairo
Other flowers to time
Growing crocuses in Cairo
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.