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Author Topic: Crocus January 2015  (Read 24744 times)

Maggi Young

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Re: Crocus January 2015
« Reply #30 on: January 10, 2015, 10:57:39 AM »
Kath's Crocus
(
Crocus danfordiae blue form)


I got this bonny wee crocus many years ago (1994) as a gift from Kath Dryden. I subsequently lost interest in growing plants for over 15 years and during that time I lost many plants. This one declined to a single tiny corm with no label and when it flowered last year (the first for many years) I didn't know what it was. I have recently refurbished the bulb frame that it was rescued from and found the old faded label with Kath's name.

Forum photo  size advice - forum recommended size :

While a large photo  can be  glorious and can look very good when it is displayed alone on a page,  in the Forum the restrictions of the text boxes etc do mean that photos larger that 760 pixels wide will not be seen to their best advantage.
 I take this opportunity to once more urge members to re-size their photos to a maximum of 760 pixels wide  - it is possible, as is made clear by the number of very excellent photos on the forum which adhere to this ruling, to have perfectly good quality photos displaying the details and beauty of a plant while remaining within the 760 pixels wide and under 200kb limits.

Look at Steves' photo - perfect! and it  is 760 x 581 pixels in size and 93.5KB  !

Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

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Yann

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Re: Crocus January 2015
« Reply #31 on: January 10, 2015, 12:34:03 PM »
Very dark day, not the best shots

Crocus chrysanthus 'USCHAK ORANGE'
Crocus biflorus ssp nubigena mv 3136 Got
Crocus korolkowii 'MOUNTAINS GLORY'
Crocus biflorus ssp pseudonubigena
North of France

Melvyn Jope

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Re: Crocus January 2015
« Reply #32 on: January 10, 2015, 02:05:29 PM »
Kath's Crocus
(
Crocus danfordiae blue form)


I got this bonny wee crocus many years ago (1994) as a gift from Kath Dryden. I subsequently lost interest in growing plants for over 15 years and during that time I lost many plants. This one declined to a single tiny corm with no label and when it flowered last year (the first for many years) I didn't know what it was. I have recently refurbished the bulb frame that it was rescued from and found the old faded label with Kath's name.

Fabulous photo Steve, thanks for posting it.

Melvyn Jope

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Re: Crocus January 2015
« Reply #33 on: January 10, 2015, 10:08:00 PM »
Kath's Crocus
(
Crocus danfordiae blue form)


I got this bonny wee crocus many years ago (1994) as a gift from Kath Dryden. I subsequently lost interest in growing plants for over 15 years and during that time I lost many plants. This one declined to a single tiny corm with no label and when it flowered last year (the first for many years) I didn't know what it was. I have recently refurbished the bulb frame that it was rescued from and found the old faded label with Kath's name.

Fabulous photo Steve, thanks for posting it.

Yann

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Re: Crocus January 2015
« Reply #34 on: January 11, 2015, 12:51:03 PM »
A sunny day, 21°c in the greenhouse, it's spring inside  :D

Crocus biflorus ssp stridii
Crocus dalmaticus 'Petrovac' CEH 537
Crocus fleischeri
North of France

Yann

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Re: Crocus January 2015
« Reply #35 on: January 11, 2015, 12:52:44 PM »
Crocus sieberi 'Hubert Edelsten'
Crocus Sieberi 'Violet Queen'
Crocus chrysanthus 'Saturnus'
North of France

ruben

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Re: Crocus January 2015
« Reply #36 on: January 11, 2015, 03:52:36 PM »
Very nice Yann!

I grow all my crocusses outside in open ground. Today its was windy but Sunny. A lot of crocusses where in flower.

Crocus biflorus ssp. nubigena (from another source with very dark anthers).
Crocus crysanthus 'Uschak Orange' (is this one a species now? Crocus uschakensis? ).

ruben

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Re: Crocus January 2015
« Reply #37 on: January 11, 2015, 03:54:44 PM »
Crocus sieberii atticus ssp. sublimis
Crocus crysanthus 'Goldene Sonne' - With very dark buds
Crocus sieberii atticus 'Firefly'
Crocus biflorus ssp. stridii (someone said this could be a late crocus biflorus melantherus)? Can someone help me with this.

ruben

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Re: Crocus January 2015
« Reply #38 on: January 11, 2015, 03:56:09 PM »
Crocus reticulatis ex. moldavia
Crocus biflorus ssp. isauricus

Steve Garvie

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Re: Crocus January 2015
« Reply #39 on: January 11, 2015, 05:35:36 PM »
Light levels here have been dire for the last 5-6 days with the brief sunny spells being too short to have any impact. As a result many crocus flowers are failing to open.
I can persuade the flower buds to open by placing the plants under a small halogen lamp for about 30 minutes but this light source is of no use for photography resulting in a very false colour balance to the image.

The same issue of light quality arises when trying to photograph flowers in poor winter light -especially when there is thick cloud cover, rain or snow. In these situations the longer wavelength colours (particularly red and to a lesser extent yellow) penetrate poorly whilst the short wavelength high energy colours of blue and violet penetrate well and create an almost phosphorescent effect. In such situations red flowers appear dark or even almost black whilst those with a hint of blue or violet in the flower will almost "fluoresce" these colours. The Crocus chrysanthus Sunspot images below were taken during a brief sunny spell. The images are a fairly accurate reflection of the flower colour:





In comparison the series of this (admittedly quite bluish) clone of Crocus biflorus ssp. nubigena were taken under a very heavy sky just as it started to snow. The effect was to produce marked enhancement of the blue/indigo/violet. This is not a fault of the camera (Canon and Nikon SLRs have excellent colour balance algorithms) it is simply that the ambient conditions have effectively filtered out the long wavelength colours.






You can check this effect out for yourself.
Crocus aerius, Crocus abantensis, Crocus baytopiorum and some of the C. biflorus spp are ideal. You may need to use an artificial light/heat source to keep the flower open until dusk but if you can achieve this then check out the colour of the flowers in these Crocus -there is a hidden beauty that is visible to insect eyes but can barely be appreciated by us except for that short-lived magical time just before dusk (or under very heavy skies -especially when raining/snowing).

To see what Crocus biflorus ssp. nubigena should look like in normal daylight check out Ruben's excellent images above.
WILDLIFE PHOTOSTREAM: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rainbirder/


Steve
West Fife, Scotland.

krisderaeymaeker

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Re: Crocus January 2015
« Reply #40 on: January 11, 2015, 07:42:56 PM »
Great pictures  guys ,thanks for sharing, Crocus season is starting here to .
Crocus fleisheri
Kris De Raeymaeker
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krisderaeymaeker

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Re: Crocus January 2015
« Reply #41 on: January 11, 2015, 07:45:11 PM »
Just one more ......Crocus fleisheri

Kris De Raeymaeker
from an ancient Roman settlement near the Rupel
Belgium

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"Small plants make great friends"

Yann

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Re: Crocus January 2015
« Reply #42 on: January 11, 2015, 07:54:14 PM »
wonderfull photos from all Croconuts ;)
North of France

krisderaeymaeker

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Re: Crocus January 2015
« Reply #43 on: January 11, 2015, 08:19:12 PM »
I got this bonny wee crocus many years ago (1994) as a gift from Kath Dryden. I subsequently lost interest in growing plants for over 15 years and during that time I lost many plants. This one declined to a single tiny corm with no label and when it flowered last year (the first for many years) I didn't know what it was. I have recently refurbished the bulb frame that it was rescued from and found the old faded label with Kath's name.

So good that is rescued Steve.  Wonderful , do I see some dots on the outside of the petals ?   
Kris De Raeymaeker
from an ancient Roman settlement near the Rupel
Belgium

"even the truth is very often only perception"

"Small plants make great friends"

krisderaeymaeker

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Re: Crocus January 2015
« Reply #44 on: January 11, 2015, 08:21:25 PM »
Light levels here have been dire for the last 5-6 days with the brief sunny spells being too short to have any impact. As a result many crocus flowers are failing to open.
I can persuade the flower buds to open by placing the plants under a small halogen lamp for about 30 minutes but this light source is of no use for photography resulting in a very false colour balance to the image.
The same issue of light quality arises when trying to photograph flowers in poor winter light -especially when there is thick cloud cover, rain or snow. In these situations the longer wavelength colours (particularly red and to a lesser extent yellow) penetrate poorly whilst the short wavelength high energy colours of blue and violet penetrate well and create an almost phosphorescent effect. In such situations red flowers appear dark or even almost black whilst those with a hint of blue or violet in the flower will almost "fluoresce" these colours.
In comparison the series of this (admittedly quite bluish) clone of Crocus biflorus ssp. nubigena were taken under a very heavy sky just as it started to snow. The effect was to produce marked enhancement of the blue/indigo/violet. This is not a fault of the camera (Canon and Nikon SLRs have excellent colour balance algorithms) it is simply that the ambient conditions have effectively filtered out the long wavelength colours.
You can check this effect out for yourself.
Crocus aerius, Crocus abantensis, Crocus baytopiorum and some of the C. biflorus spp are ideal. You may need to use an artificial light/heat source to keep the flower open until dusk but if you can achieve this then check out the colour of the flowers in these Crocus -there is a hidden beauty that is visible to insect eyes but can barely be appreciated by us except for that short-lived magical time just before dusk (or under very heavy skies -especially when raining/snowing).

Interesting to know Steve and that 'Sunspot' is irresistible....
Kris De Raeymaeker
from an ancient Roman settlement near the Rupel
Belgium

"even the truth is very often only perception"

"Small plants make great friends"

 


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