Crocus December 2019

[Janis Ruksans]

The first spring crocus started blooming in greenhouse - it is one of the Crocus hittiticus gatherings. Inside greenhouse now is very dark due snow cover and flowers not open. I checked my notes about this gathering and so I add picture from 2013, when this crocus was open on sunny day. This stock (JJVV-028B) is real autumn blooming. Principally C. hittiticus must be listed between winter blooming species, as most of stocks push out flowers at end of December, first half of January, but they all continue blooming in March after removing of winter cover.
On the first two pictures Crocus hittiticus
Still are blooming Crocus laevigatus (and some others, too)
And some reticulata irises hurry to come out - here Iranian 18IRS-090
But outside snowing and snowing - our nursery today on the last picture

[Janis Ruksans]

Still are blooming Crocus ochroleucus which I got from Oron. Pot was brought inside for pollination and immediately replaced back to greenhouse. New root tips were already out of pot through bottom holes - my pots are 20 cm deep and corms are planted at 5 cm depth.
Greenhouse is very dark, due snow cover on its roof, but blooms several Iranian reticulata irises and even one of McMurtries hybrids.

[Maggi Young]

No snow  here  yet-  just  damp.

[Janis Ruksans]

No snow  here  yet-  just  damp.

Damp will come when all this will melt at weekend... Far too much water after enormously dry summer. Average is normal as well as average temperature of patients in hospital...

[Janis Ruksans]

Snowing and snowing outside. In night was minus 6 C, but in greenhouse minus 2.5 C. Now in greenhouse is +2 C (outside minus 3) and I noted two more spring runners - large buds (1-2 days to open if sun will come) has Crocus fauseri and Crocus stridii.

[Yann]

Yes weather is damp, the deshumifier is working nights and days in the greenhouse.
The first spring crocuses are just showing spikes but the last frosts has slowed the growth.
December is usually the month when watering and ventilating are a subtle mix 

[Janis Ruksans]

Crocus season almost finished (although spring bloomers are running). Still are blooming melantherus, laevigatus, some last flowers of niveus, caspius, aleppicus. Now main job is collect and delete old flowers - in dark and wet air they quickly get mould which goes down to corms and can kill them. Yesterday I maid current checking and cleaning. Only one crocus - new species from Jordan - still are not in bloom, but finally buds came out of leaf rosette. So not so much to work in greenhouse and I can prepare herbariums which still stay in herbarium press. On pictures preparing of herbarium and herbarium sheet, still without printed label, because could be new species; only original field slip inserted and written by pencil on outside.

[Diane Whitehead]

Janis,

I have never had a close look at a herbarium sheet that contains a bulb.

Do you slice it in half before you press it?

[Janis Ruksans]

Janis,

I have never had a close look at a herbarium sheet that contains a bulb.

Do you slice it in half before you press it?

No, I'm not slicing or cutting bulbs/corms (although I think that twice I did this with Puschkinia and Scilla) for herbarium. I put the bulb or corm on table and press it down with another hard surface up to hear the first "crk" and then it is sufficiently damaged for quick drying out. I learned it in Gothenburg Botanic garden from Henrik Zetterlund who put the bulb/corm between 2 hardwood planks and use hammer, but I think that then the bulb/corm can became too damaged. In my way I'm keeping approhimate natural size of it.
On attached pictures samples of cutted and squeezed bulb and squeezed crocus corms.

[Janis Ruksans]

Today weather became lighter, some sun shines through thin clouds, so again I worked some time in greenhouse cleaning old flowers and registering development of plants. Still are blooming 9 autumn crocuses (caspius, niveus, longiflorus, aleppicus, hyemalis, laevigatus, melantherus and some cancellatus from Syria and SE Turkey) and the last blooming new species from Jordan now has already half-grown buds, so I hope that when I will bring it inside before next short frost wave will come, it will bloom with me allowing to make herbarium.
To normally spring bloomers, which started flowering I must add one more species - Crocus demirizianus - the form grown from seeds collected by Ibrahim. By his opinion it is late autumn blooming sample, may be even different species as was collected around 50 km to east from locus classicus of demirizianus. After discovering of autumn blooming Crocus heilbronniorum in NE Turkey, would not be great surprise that there would be another one autumn blooming annulate crocus. Now I will give to it greater attention. Crocus vitellinus from Syria showed flower bud in rosette of leaves.
Already blooms 6 spring blooming Colchicums, Gymnospermium altaicum, Muscari adilii, Hyacinthella sirtensis and spring blooming yellow Sternbergia fischeriana has large flower-buds.

[Janis Ruksans]

Few days ago during some sunshine I visited another greenhouse where I'm growing apricots and peaches and next year will be planted some grapes, but there still are some bulbs planted directly in ground and some containers, between those few with crocuses. They were planted late and so blooms later, too. On pictures Crocus goulimyi Alba and Crocus melantherus (the last still blooms in pots, too).
Some more of reticulata irises showed noses out of pots, too.
Here Iris sophenensis and McMurtries hybrid 98-MN-1

[Yann]

Crocus cambessedesii started to bloom this morning, same date as 2018,2017 and 2016 it's funny

[Janis Ruksans]

After extremely strong wind yesterday, this morning I checked greenhouses, some 8 windows required repairing, but not serious damage were done. Weather unusually warm - yesterday was registered highest temperature for 18th December - +9 C. Today sky something cleared and so became cooler - now only +4 C but a lot of crocuses feel as in spring. More and more large flowerbuds recorded and if the doors of greenhouse will be closed, most likely they would open, but I don't want rising of inside temperature. So I will give here only list of species without pictures.
From autumn crocuses still are blooming aleppicus, cambessedesii, melantherus and laevigatus. Still last flowers of niveus stay fresh - unusually late for this species. Today deleted last flowers from caspius, ochroleucus, serotinus, moabiticus, some of cancellatus group.
More and more flowers of spring crocuses come out. Always the first was hittiticus, but this year only 3 samples already are blooming and just C. fleischeri from Chios joined them. Surprisingly that only now came out first flower of C. michelsonii which traditionally is one of the earliest when real spring comes, but even more I was surprised with first flower of Crocus ancyrensis which usually is mid-spring bloomer. Another yellow flower which already is out is traditionally very early blooming C. chrysanthus. Now the first is sample from Greek Macedonia, from nr. vil. Ossa, from where autumn blooming C. macedonicus was published by me. Both there were growing almost side by side. Flowers are out in C. biflorus form from Basilicata in Italy. Very nice are flower buds of annulate crocus from Malatya region in Turkey, still grown under number BATM-385. Those listed and pictured earlier - fauseri, stridii showed more and more flowers - still tightly closed, but I brought inside C. aleppicus aff. from Jordan, which opened its flowers after 10 minutes!

[Janis Ruksans]

Yesterday we had sunny day and for the first time some crocuses more or less opened flowers. In this entry - autumn bloomers which still are in full bloom, only cambessedesii flowers were of poor quality to be pictured.
Crocus sp. nova aleppicus aff. from Jordan I brought inside, so flowers are something too widely opened, but I needed them for herbarium.
From other autumn bloomers here dark form of Crocus laevigatus and Crocus melantherus got from John Fielding as Double form, but double flowers appear quite rarely, not this season at all.

[Janis Ruksans]

Yesterdays sun opened some spring bloomer's flowers, too - not so much as I would like (with very few exceptions), but few pictures are quite good. Flowerbuds are out in much more species - kangalensis, taseliensis, alatavicus, michelsonii, two samples of adamii from Armenia, athous, fleischeri and some others, not yet registered in my diary.
Here pictures of Crocus fauseri in morning and in early afternoon
Crocus ancyrensis LST-124 (IV citotype)
and 2 pictures of Iranian crocus from near Anemone field - could be sanandajensis, but I didn't checked yet all features for comparing.