These tiny beauties appeared along my front walk yesterday. They caught me by surprise because, as you can see, hardly any foliage has poked up.

Yes, these are the cheap crocus bulbs I bought at WinCo and planted in the fall of 2010. I complained a couple of times last year because they just sent up foliage and never bloomed. I'm sorry, WinCo.Well, kind of. They really should have bloomed the first year.

As I wrote the headline for this post, I wasn't sure about the plural of "crocus." I first checked my gardening bible, the Sunset Western Garden Book. It seemed to use "crocus" as the plural.

To be sure, I checked the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Its first choice is "crocuses," but it also gives "crocus" and "croci" as plural. That means I'm covered no matter what I do. I still don't think I'll ever use the word "croci."

Speaking of the Sunset guide, I recently found out they're publishing an updated edition! I can't wait to check it out and review it here.