Remarks from the Weekly KAVB Flower Show - Lisse

[Joakim B]

Very nice Hyacinthus Double Delights, Hyacinthus Florence and Hyacinthus Purple Sensation I will be on the look out if I see them  

Thanks for these weekly reports Luit. It is great to have these information.
Maybe a bit off topic but I bought hyacinthus bulbs where the package says that they are harmful to the skin. Just one brand had it and I have not seen it before. Have anyone heard of this before. Are the bulbs treated to last longer on the shelves or is that a natural harmfulness?
Second
I have always believed that the colour of the bulb for hyacinthus has something to do with the coulor of the flower but once I bought 4-5 different coloured bulbs that was supposed to be of several colours but all were pale peach. They were planted with Rhododendron so maybe the acid soil had something to do with it?

All the best
Joakim

[Lvandelft]

Joakim, In the Bulb Industries it is very well known that dust of dried Hyacinthus bulbs can be cause of itching. When scratching your skin it gets worse.
Many people don’t want to work with dry bulbs of Hyacinthus because of this.
When picking Narcissus flowers for trade all day you might get Narcissus fingers, which is very painful. This is caused by the slimy stems.
And cleaning Tulip bulbs may also be harmful when you are susceptible.

You see, working in the Bulb Industry is not such a pleasant job like the pictures of the flowering fields might suggest…

[Joakim B]

Luit thanks for this information
I did not know this and will be more carefull handling bulbs in the future.

Joakim, In the Bulb Industries it is very well known that dust of dried Hyacinthus bulbs can be cause of itching. When scratching your skin it gets worse.
Many people don’t want to work with dry bulbs of Hyacinthus because of this.
When picking Narcissus flowers for trade all day you might get Narcissus fingers, which is very painful. This is caused by the slimy stems.
And cleaning Tulip bulbs may also be harmful when you are susceptible.

You see, working in the Bulb Industry is not such a pleasant job like the pictures of the flowering fields might suggest…

Luit it is just a small snake in the Paradise (The itching from bulbs)
And like in Paradise one should not work just enjoy. That make it much nicer!
Through You we have the option of just enjoying (the bulb industry) without working

All the best
Joakim

[Lvandelft]

Probably I will show sometimes pictures of bulbs, which I did show
last year already, but controlling everything would cause lots of work.

This week I start with a nice little buttercup.
Then some Iris.

Ranunculus kochii         
         
Iris reticulata Halkis         
Iris reticulata Palm Springs       
Iris histrio

And I noticed amongst many others the following tulips:
The first is a good compact looking Tulipa for pots

Tulipa Baby Blue 

Then there was a very dark one, which was difficult to show the real colour.
The aim of many breeders is to get a tulip of a nearly black colour, or
let's say as dark as possible.

Tulipa Ronaldo 1             
Tulipa Ronaldo 2 

And two special colours with a good performance for the time of year:

Tulipa Alexander Pushkin       
Tulipa Sugar Love 

[Boyed]

Luit,

Relating 'black' tulips', I would also like to add that breeders also try to get realtively large flowered dark tulips, as all the 'black tulips' are quite very small-flowered.

Though knowing well the assortment of tulips, I want to mention that among non-commercial tulips there are 2 large-flowered and tall very dark purple and pirplish-brown cultivars, which are 'Faust' (Darwin Group) and 'Toean' (Cottage Croup). 'Toean' is darkest purplish-brown, sport of famous 'Golden Harvest', which has quite good sizes.

'Ronaldo' is not a bad tulip, being slightly lighter than the famous 'Queen of Night' and the other relatively newer introduction 'Paul Sherer'. It doesn't surpasses by its decorative features these two mentioned cultivars, but I suppose is cultivated for good industrial qualities (mainly forcing qualities).

'Aleksandr Pushkin' is an interesting one, well known and easily avalable in Russia.

On the whole, I would say that new assortment of classic-shaped tulips is mainly evaluated for their forcing qualities; but as to decorativeness they are far worse than the existing older cultivars.

[Lvandelft]

Two weeks ago I showed  two pictures of Ipheion, where I was
wondering if there was any difference.
Today the plants were shown again and the flowers were opened to
see if there was any difference.
Since last time’s entries the Committee now was able to read the article
of Brian Mathew in the Plantsman, from where was quoted the following:

Ipheion dialystemon is very similar, in fact from a purely ornamental point of view
there is no real reason for cultivating both.
They differ mainly in that the stamens are joined together at the base in
Ipheion sellowiana but are free from each other in Ipheion dialystemon. Edit L.
The latter name is a compound Greek-derived epithet meaning
‘with separate stamens’.                                                                                                

(very similar is meant to “I. sellowianum”)

The Committee decided that both plants were Ipheion dialystemon,
because in both flowers the stamens were totally separated.

Here you can see it yourself

Ipheion dialystemon 01             
Ipheion dialystemon 02           
Ipheion sellowianum 01  (= Ipheion dialystemon)
Ipheion sellowianum 02  (= Ipheion dialystemon)

Edit L.:
 I corrected the names of the pictures because I managed to take over just
a little mistake in the Mathew article. The real name is Ipheion sellowianum
So the pictures might not be in the right follwing up

[Lvandelft]

And then are here some other interesting entries from today:

Fritillaria Ole Sonderhausen     
Fritillaria reuteri             
Tulipa Golden Tycoon           
Tulipa humilis Lilliput       
Tulipa Purple Crystal             
Tulipa Spryng       

[Maggi Young]

More Spring Gems, Luit! The Frits are especially interesting to me, of course ......but the tulips speak of a change in season.... I hope they speak the truth    These red 'Spryng' are  perfect.

[annew]

Thank you for the information on the Ipheions, Luit.

[Lvandelft]

More Spring Gems, Luit! The Frits are especially interesting to me, of course ......but the tulips speak of a change in season.... I hope they speak the truth    These red 'Spryng' are  perfect.

Spring is far still away Maggi, though not complaining about the weather.
No snow or ice here at the moment.
After much raining during the night temps raised to 7 C. and fell to 2 C. just now.

[Lvandelft]

I noted this week a plant which I have shown already
last year. Only this time the flower is much nicer.
The grower told me that he kept it a bit warmer than
last year so the flower was much more developed.
It was not so high as last year so I made some shots of
the inside, for which I used flash for the last picture.
   
Amorphophallus rivieri 1           
Amorphophallus rivieri 2               
Amorphophallus rivieri 3               

Then a few Hyacinths and one of them astonishing yellow.
And some Narcissus:
Hyacinthus Yellowstone
Hyacinthus Blue Eyes
Narcissus Eaton Song 
Narcissus Douglasbank 

[Lvandelft]

In this second batch I show two vases with Galanthus.
One vase with only named cultivars in the more expensive range.
And one vase with just unnamed Galanthus in the cheaper range.
You will understand that for me, as "Non Galanthophile" the
cheaper ones are looking as good as the more expensive ones
in the garden.

Galanthus more expensive named Cultivars   
Galanthus cheap  unnamed Cultivars               

And there was a Dutch raised Galanthus which until now I did
not spot before (But I have not seen so many!)
I would like to know what specialists mean about it, so I will place
the pictures in Galanthus February Thread too.

Galanthus Green Brush 1                 
Galanthus Green Brush 2               

[Lvandelft]

In the last batch some varied other bulbous flowers:

Colchicum trigynum               
Corydalis incisa       Edit L.: = Corydalis solida ssp. incisa           
Fritillaria minuta               
Scilla litardieri 
Lachenalia aloides var. quadricolor   

[David Nicholson]

Lovely stuff as usual Luit, you will have set the Galanthophiles hearts fluttering. I love Narcissus 'Douglasbank'. That pot of Lachenalia aloides var. quadricolor is a little larger than mine

[ChrisB]

Lovely plants Luit, I'm with you on the snowdrop front - all green and white and the perfectly 'ordinary' ones are good enough for me.  They are looking very jolly in the garden just now.