Crocus tommasinianus changed colour

[deee]

Hi -- im a gardener and not a crocus expert.

I planted 2000 Crocus tommasianus for two clients 2 autumns ago.  Year 1 all came up and looked as i believe it to look - a nice light blue mauve with silvery elements deep within the petals.

Year 2 ( now) at both sites the majority or them are now really deep purple and dont look anything like what i feel 'straight' tommasianus looks like , they now look like mostly a barrs purple colour.

Has anyone had experience of such a colour change -- theres only two things i can think of.

No1 -- we applied autumn/winter grass food with fairly high Iron levels -- i know Iron can exaggerate or intensify colours.

No2 -- bulk dutch bulbs -- tommasianus is now one of the more expensive varieties -- i suppose it may not be a pure order and year 2 theres a greater development of a cheaper variety such as barrs purple.

Neither client cares -- in fact they probably prefer the 'new' crocus -- but im a little curious.

[annew]

There may have been some immature corms of darker forms such as Whitewell Purple among the original planting, and these have only just got to flowering size. One of the delights of 'Tommies' are that if you have a few different cultivars to start with, the bees will give some lovely new variants. Put in some 'Bobbo' and 'Pictus' and you will have a lot of variation to choose from.

[zephirine]

Don't you think it could be the result of the type of soil they are planted in?
Such characteristics as Ph do influence the colour of flowers, not only for Hydrangea! Acidic soils intensify blues and purples.
Do you know the Ph of your customers'gardens?
- The "first year" colour would have been mostly resulting from the soil where the bulbs had been grown before you bought them (colour elements stored in the bulbs themselves)
- Then the "second year" colour would be the result of the culture in their new soil.

[deee]

Thanks for both the replies :

Soil is cotswold brash mostly -- so leaning away from acid -- ive planted them next door and they are looking normal year 3.

Both answers make sense -- we did heavily apply autumn lawn feed on this site and a separate one and its was moss control with 10 % added iron -- this would give a temporary acidification that could have changed the colour.

But seriously these are deep deep deep purple -- absolutely intense and not tommasianus colour at all.

I also wonder whether the heat wave effected some of the bulbs here in uk -- its certainly wasnt an average year. My girlfriend has said on her walk to work that the crocuses are purple this year where as they are usually blue. Or again maybe that favoured some Barrs purple types over the tommasianus types so they are just making a better show ?