Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Bulbs => Crocus => Topic started by: Andrew on October 02, 2007, 12:54:46 PM
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I'll start the new month with Crocus goulimyi leucanthus.
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Very nice Andrew. What is it about white Crocuses with yellow anthers that always reminds me of Cadbury's Cream Eggs? ;D
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That's a very Maggi/Lesley type question David :D
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Andrew,
That really is a lovely form of goulimyi. Very nice pics of it too!!
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Still I have nothings open around me.
I have seen only this one yesterday.
Sternbergia lutea.
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I would like to show one more picture which taken behind of a big building, half day suny side.
There are too many leaves and only one flower. I seems light level is realy important
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I agree with you, Ibrahim... Sternbergia needs LOTS of GOOD LIGHT to make decent flowers....we have too many leaves here and not enough flowers!
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Thank you David and Paul.
A couple of C. speciosus.
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Crocus speciosus albus
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Crocus speciosus xantholaimos
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Nice ones Andrew, I particularly like the speciosus xantholaimos.
Here are a few of mine. Crocus speciosus from Thomas; speciosus albus looking a little bit windswept; and because I didn't know which thread to put it on Sterbergia lutea.
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Crocus kotschyanus grow very well in my meadow.
Crocus kotschyanus ssp kotschyanus.
The last picture shows a self seedling of Crocus kotschyanus ssp. kotschyanus.
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Lovely pics from everyone. I almost wish autumn was coming up here. :) (no, don't be silly Lesley!)
Paul, I'm sure Marcus has a couple of white forms of C. goulimyi on offer (this man should be giving me commission, I've recommended him so many times) including `Mani White' but having told you that, I'll have to kill you, in case you get there before I do. I'm hoping to import a few in the summer.
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They look lovely in pots, but look especially lovely in your meadow Franz.
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The crocus are indeed looking very good in your meadow, Franz. It is good that you have the sunshine to enjoy them and to make photos to share.
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All mine in the garden or outside in pots were destroyed by today's downpour
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Lesley,
Yes Marcus does, and Yes I do too for that matter (from Marcus a year or two ago).... so no need to worry about me beating you to them! ;D
Mark,
What is a "downpour"? Is that associated with that stuff I hear bandied abut called "rain"? I think I vaguely remember it, but I'm not entirely sure.
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Franz, I should also start an autumn-crocus-lawn like you have ;)
First time flowering in my garden:
Crocus medius from Liguria/Italy!
View of my rockgarden with different forms of
Crocus speciosus, pulchellus, kotschyanus, hadriaticus.
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That's a nice medius Thomas. If I hadn't just about filled my new bulb bed with Irises I would have filled it with Crocuses, maybe I should build another one!
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David, don't just think about building a new crocusbed - do it !!! ;D
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Ah but!!! I have to take into account an opposing view in the household that objects to my filling the garden with Autumn/Spring flowering plants-maybe I should buy her some chocolates!
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What is a "downpour"? Is that associated with that stuff I hear bandied abut called "rain"? I think I vaguely remember it, but I'm not entirely sure.
Paul, I could send you some, would a couple of tankers full do?
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Yep, send em on over!! ;D
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If I make one or add lots to my new rockery it will have to have a temporary roof
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Bulbs population in my meadow.
C.-nivalis,-cancellatus,
C.-goulimyi,-hadriaticus.jpg
C.-nivalis,-goulimyi.jpg
C.-goulimyi.jpg
C.-meadow.jpg
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If I hadn't just about filled my new bulb bed with Irises I would have filled it with Crocuses, maybe I should build another one!
Well a new one of course (yes please she says, chocolates!) but you can also push lots of crocuses among the irises. If they're autumn flowering species, you'll have twice as much flower power over a longer period, and spring flowering as well would be even better. As the BD says, why grow one bulb when you can grow 2 - or 100 :D
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Lovely crocuses Franz and Thomas. Those in the meadow remind me of some of Janis Ruksans' photos in the new book, of bulbs in the wild, en masse. How wonderful to look out the window and see a sight like these.
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looks great Franz
Here is the first flush from my over crowded clump of medius. I was to divide them this year but forgot. There were 17 if I remember right and that's from 5 corms bought three years ago. I hope one of them has a minor fault and not the start of virus
Also my white banaticus is finally out. Someone recently thought they were too white to photograph
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Franz your meadow is beautiful!
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Wonderful Franz! We hope to move to a new house next year then I shall start to plant a bulb lawn of my own. It will be hard to match the beauty of your meadow.
Mark - I think it is just mechanical damage, doesn't look like virus to me. (Sadly I am a bit too familiar with that problem, currently trying to purge all suspect plants from the collection .... and raising lots of new ones from seed!)
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Franz your meadow is very nice. I did not understand what do you mean with nivalis? Galanthus nivalis or crocus niveus!.
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Franz and Thomas, don't you know you make people green with envy ???? and grateful to let us have a look at your beauties ;)
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Ibrahim,
Oops my mistake. It is Crocus niveus. Thank you.
Thank you all together for the kind comments.
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Hans,
I feel always great pleasure when seeing your crocus meadow and web pages.
How long many years do you already collect and grow alpine plants and in particular crocus?
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Here my crocus disaster in contrast >:(
Poison for the snails! (spread now - just too late)
But where is shadow there must be light!
C.speciosus seedling
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In flower today:
goulimyi ssp. goulimyi
hadriaticus
speciosus 'Artabir' 2x
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Thes are a few in the greenhouse now. Cc. kotschyanus, laevigatus, serotinus clusii, cambessedesii and pulchellus.
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Nice show Anthony
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Don't you just love Crocus cambessedesii ? So tiny it is barely visible to the naked eye!
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Cripes, I didn't even see it till I 'exploded' (is there a technical term?) the photo! :o
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yes it's very cute and on my hit/wants list after seeing it for the first time at the Pitlochery weekend
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Feeling more and more Croconutty (apprentice ;D)
Flowering since a couple of days here :
Crocus speciosus 'Oxonian'
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Some photos of my crocuses.
Crocus pulchellus 'Zephyr', one of my most favourite cultivars. I am adored by its special beauty. A large and tall growing cultivar and very floriferous.
A question for Thomas. As you grow the variety 'Michael Hoog', you would certainly tell me if it is larger and taller than 'Zephyr'. I am very curious as I get very hightly excited with large sizes.
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Another cutty - crocus serotinus salzmanii 'El Torcal', very tender one.
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crocus goulimyi leucanthus has very pale blue flush and somewhat longer inner petals than those of 'Mani White'.
crocus kotschyanus - a form smaller and tenderer than ordinary trade ones, but being quite floriferous.
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Zhirair, pulchellus "Michael Hoog", or at least what I have as that,
is somewhat smaller than "Zephyr".
Having a look in my garden I have to worry about my plants: There
is still NO sign of life from my pulchellus MH :-\
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Zhirair - interesting that you find some of these crocus 'tender'. At what temperature do they suffer? What are your winter conditions? I guess you have some prolonged severe cold.
Good to see them looking so nice!
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Tony
saying tender I meant that they have very thin tubes and petal constitutin and can be easily damaged from winds and rains.
Anyway, I see that there is something wrong with my crocus kotschyanus, as their surface of petals is not smooth. Maybe it is caused by wrong cultivation; who knows? (excessive moister in summer or whatever).
Winters are quite cold here and sometimes prolonged. The temperature in February can get even below 25 C for a short period of time. But I keep my crocus pots under cold glass or on the window seal of an unheated room, where the temperature during winter doesn't get below 0 C (from +2 to +5).
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Aha! Now I understand. Thanks for clarifying that - I should have remembered where you grow your crocuses as I think I have been told before :)
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Tony,
Actually most of the autumn crocuses do well in our climate. But there are three reasons that I prefer growing them in pots and keep them during winter under cold glass:
1. I plant them in a rich leafy soil and they considerably increase their rate of propagation;
2. they are protected from unfavourable weather conditions (rain, wind), and so I enjoy the blooms as much and as long as possible;
3. the species and cultivars, I have few, are isolated from bees and so the risk of catching virus is minimized.
Though some, which are enough propagated, are grown in the garden without any problems.
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Crocus cartwrightiamus 'White Form'.
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Crocus tournefortii.
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The oldest flower has a darker style.
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up to the last few days I was quite worried that my Crocus were going to skip a year. Many are now up and flowering or have noses pushing through
This pulchellus 'Albus' has very small anthers that are only just visible to the eye. I've said it before , I think white Crocus are lovely
Is it too early to give them a general purpose liquid feed?
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Crocus speciosus is a very lovely autumn flowering crocus and it is also one of the easiest in my garden.
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Franz,
Love the electric contrasts in the second last photo. The strong orange/red styles always look so good, whichever species they're attached to! ;D
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C.goulimyi ssp. goulimyi opened today.
It was sunny but not so warm (+4°C morning, +13°C afternoon).
Thanks Thomas for this tiny present!
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Mark, perhaps some insects have chewed the anthers of your pulchellus?
Franz - impressive speciosus lawn!!
Some more photos from my garden after a wonderful sunshine-weekend:
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And some single plants:
- Crocus cartwrightianus cretensis - the Cretan form of this variable species.
- Crocus hadriaticus chrysobelonicus, the most beautiful form I have, thanks to the beautiful York-Lady!
- Crocus thomasii from Gargano/Italy, received as longiflorus, but I'm pretty sure it is thomasii!
- extreme long style on a speciosus hybrid
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Is it too early to give them a general purpose liquid feed?
I would say 'Yes', wait until the leaves are growing well.
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Very impressive scenery Thomas !
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Wow! Thomas! I dunno what to say!!! You live in a Crocus paradise!!!
Those gigantic rocks!! When you bought your house, they were already there or you ...?
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Just catching up after a few days away. Some gorgeous pictures posted of some (all!) beautiful plants.
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Mike, the rockgarden is handmade by myself!
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It's a beautiful sight, especially with the sun coming through the crocus flowers.
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Some pics from me.
Crocus speciosus 'Oxoninan', which highly impreeses me. It's a real smashing show stopper. I would say one of the best speciosus cultivars. It produces very large showy flowers and is the largest among all my speciosus forms.
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Crocus speciosus Albus
Crocus niveus - good-sized white form with strong tubes
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Some pics from me.
Crocus speciosus 'Oxoninan', which highly impreeses me. It's a real smashing show stopper. I would say one of the best speciosus cultivars. It produces very large showy flowers and is the largest among all my speciosus forms.
I agree, it is a lovely cultivar and is one of my favourites. It may be our cameras but your version looks a little bit lighter than mine (see reply 131 September 22nd.)
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Here are a couple of pictures of my Crocus serotinus salzmannii.
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Zhirair, are your Oxonian from Bondarenko? I agree with David, that this one looks
somewhat lighter than my other Oxonian.
David - sorry to disappoint you, but this is clearly Crocus speciosus. It seems like
all the Dutch salzmanii stocks are untrue >:(
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Thomas,
My C. speciosus Oxonian is from Bondarenko (see post 39 of october 9th).
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Hmmm - its really hard to say from a photo :-\
My Bondarenko flowers were somewhat later flowering due to later
planting. Will compare them next year side by side!
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David - sorry to disappoint you, but this is clearly Crocus speciosus. It seems like
all the Dutch salzmanii stocks are untrue >:(
Hi Thomas, I had a little nagging doubt in my mind when it first started to open but thought I would leave it for the experts to comment. This one came from Potterton's so it is highly likely to be from a Dutch source. Thanks for your help.
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Some pics from me.
Crocus speciosus 'Oxoninan', which highly impreeses me. It's a real smashing show stopper. I would say one of the best speciosus cultivars. It produces very large showy flowers and is the largest among all my speciosus forms.
Great show - indeed :o.
Would be vary happy to have such flowering sizes in my open garden. Must try harder... :P
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Mark, perhaps some insects have chewed the anthers of your pulchellus?
Franz - impressive speciosus lawn!!
Some more photos from my garden after a wonderful sunshine-weekend:
Thomas, just amazing! Must visit your garden...
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The anthers are there OK but very reduced
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The anthers are there OK but very reduced
Mark, ????? ;D
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just popped in to my head that the styles are missing also idiot! of course they are present. I just looked again
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just popped in to my head that the styles are missing also idiot! of course they are present. I just looked again
Yes, but which plant?
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pulchellus 'Albus'. I'm calling myself idiot
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I didnt get to see my medius at it's best. 27 flowers last year and only 21 this year. No feeding this year so someone can remind me in the spring
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David, it was Reply #49 on: October 13, 2007, 07:15:32 PM ťon page four of this thread. Here are the pix again
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Crocus pulchellus albus
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Click the pix to enlarge, of course.
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David, it was Reply #49 on: October 13, 2007, 07:15:32 PM ťon page four of this thread. Here are the pix again
Ah! I see now. I have trouble remembering what happened five minutes ago never mind four days ago ::)
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Really? Me too: what DID happen five minutes ago?
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That is a very large C pulchellus albus. Sometimes plants of hybrid origin have reduced anthers ... yours appear to be missing, given that C pulchellus should have white anthers/pollen.
Now ... are you going to tell me that I sent it to you :-[ ?
Here is a pic of my version - those at the conference will have seen this one before :)
PS like David I could not see the plant referred to as it was on an earlier page in the thread.
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Zhirair, are your Oxonian from Bondarenko? I agree with David, that this one looks
somewhat lighter than my other Oxonian.
David - sorry to disappoint you, but this is clearly Crocus speciosus. It seems like
all the Dutch salzmanii stocks are untrue >:(
Not direrctly, but its Bondarenko stock. Indeed, flowers seems to be lighter, but have the same dark tube. Anyway, they look great.
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Tony,
The shape, along with the deep orange centre is absolutely stunning. Very nice flower!!
Mark,
I quite like the uninterrupted look of your flower without the stamen. Looks rather clean, although not as striking as Tony's bright red-orange centre. Still definitely not to be sneezed at. Lovely!!
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no stamens.... not to be sneezed at...... ;D ;D I love it!
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This time I need the help of the crocus expert. Are the leaves of this Crocus diseased.
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Franz - I have seen similar occasionally and I do not think it is disease. I think it happens when the foliage develops too fast within the cataphylls or when there is an obstruction to the growing point. The leaves should gradually extend with the lower parts (yet to appear above ground) much straighter. If it is virus disease I would expect badly distorted, streaky flowers.
Crocus niveus and Crocus imperati seem most susceptible to the 'crinkly leaves' problem.
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Franz
There is nothing to add to what's our crocus expert Tony said. Just again would like to tell you that you shouldn't worry about such kind of leaves at all. It happens with crocuses quite often, but it is temporary thing and the odd-leafed smaples look perfect the following years.
Indeed, the plant is virus-free, as the leaves are colored smothly (no lighter green stripes). Just want to mention that crocus samples infected with leaf mosaic usually produce normal looking not distorted and streaky flowers, but the leaves ???? So the crocuses, which procuce leaves in spring should be carefuly observed against mosaic at that time.
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David,
Interesting, I was planning to order crocus speciosus 'Artabir' and 'Cassiope' from Pottretons. Sad to know that the crocus you odreded from them, was not tru to name. Anyway, I'll give a try, maybe i'll succeeed. I know that presently it is not that easy to get truecrocus speciosus named cultivars.
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David,
Interesting, I was planning to order crocus speciosus 'Artabir' and 'Cassiope' from Pottretons. Sad to know that the crocus you odreded from them, was not tru to name. Anyway, I'll give a try, maybe i'll succeeed. I know that presently it is not that easy to get truecrocus speciosus named cultivars.
Zhirair, as Thomas has said the problem appears to be that Dutch nursery stock is at fault. I contacted Potterton's who immediately offered me a refund so you have nothing at all to fear about ordering from them. I shall certainly order again next year.
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refund! I wasnt offered one last year only "I'll contact my supplier"
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Tony and Zhirair,
Thanks, for the comprehensive help. I observed these unusual leaves only with two Crocuses. However I had always Crocuses with such unusual leaves in the past years and sometimes I removed this Crocus. Fortunately it gives now the forum.
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Crocus tournefortii, in the Alpine House at Kew, yesterday.
Chloë
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This is a picture of our well chewed Crocus cartwrightianus. It is sharing a sand plunge with 15 or more autumn flowering crocus and this is the only one that has been chewed; every flower has suffered the same fate, some having been comletely eaten away. I have searched for slugs and snails etc but found nothing. Any idea what this selective beastie might be?
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David, I see some of the leaves in the background look a bit crinkled ( see Franz' post earlier in this thread on this subject)..... are you surethe flowers HAVE been chewed... might they not have been caught up in the cataphylls as the shoots were emerging and have become torn as they opened?
If they have been truly munched, then I suspect a sparrow.
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Maggie, I would say no and no. The flowers strted off well formed and have slowly been attacked. The one at the top of the picture, left of centre, has nothing left at all. Sparrows, I would not have thought would be so selective and the openings on the greenhouse are mostly screened. Anyway, that is why we love CATS ;) Thanks for the effort.
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Oh dear, that's not so good then is it? I see the one at the back left now, well chewed. It's out there with a head torch and a glass of gin for you for the next couple of nights, till you catch the culprit.
Cheers!
M
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David - I would suspect cutworm. They lurk unseen in the topdressing or just below the surface of the compost - and not necessarily in the pot which is attacked. Here is a pic of one at 'rest'. Not sure if they are usually nocturnal but suspect they would be safer if they were!
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And now to pick up an even more distressing thread. Virus. Notably the mosaic virus that Zhirair has shared his knowledge of. Here are some images (taken here today) of plants carrying a virus. The leaf image has been 'altered' slightly to highlight the blotchy nature of the leaves but it is visible to the naked eye in real life. I still believe that this also reveals itself in the flowers, see the other images below. The Crocus longiflorus are the flowers above the virused leaves - not quite perfect. The Crocus serotinus has noticeably streaky flowers.
I am rigorously checking all my crocuses (and other bulbs) as the flowers/leaves appear. ANY that are suspect are being removed to a quarantine area away from the rest of the collection. If seed is produced I will collect and sow it then the plants will be burnt. I want to collect and sow seed from plants known to be virused to test the theory that seed is 'clean'.
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It is not all doom and gloom!!
Although flowering this autumn has been a bit subdued there are some nice things to share. I am sure that the relatively poor flowering is largely due to the very hot weather in late March and April which pushed the plants into early dormancy just at the time when new buds were being formed in the developing corms.
Crocus niveus - 2 forms, one tall the other short.
Crocus medius - ex Martin Baxendale
Crocus unknown taxa - perhaps a white C thomasii but not the C cartwrightianus that it resembles - the style divides in the wrong place!
Crocus biflorus melanthreus - 2 forms in same pot. Note the black anthers.
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One last post - I'm home alone tonight, won't have this much time again for a while ;)
Zhirair has made it clear he likes his crocus large flowered. How does this compare in the contest where big is beautiful (:-* for Maggi :))
Crocus speciosus in the garden with Colchicum Rosy Dawn. This is the biggest crocus flower that I have ever seen!
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??? I thought C biflorus was a spring flowerer?
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And now to pick up an even more distressing thread. Virus. Notably the mosaic virus that Zhirair has shared his knowledge of. Here are some images (taken here today) of plants carrying a virus. The leaf image has been 'altered' slightly to highlight the blotchy nature of the leaves but it is visible to the naked eye in real life. I still believe that this also reveals itself in the flowers, see the other images below. The Crocus longiflorus are the flowers above the virused leaves - not quite perfect. The Crocus serotinus has noticeably streaky flowers.
I am rigorously checking all my crocuses (and other bulbs) as the flowers/leaves appear. ANY that are suspect are being removed to a quarantine area away from the rest of the collection. If seed is produced I will collect and sow it then the plants will be burnt. I want to collect and sow seed from plants known to be virused to test the theory that seed is 'clean'.
Tony,
thanks for posting a close picture of the virused leaf and the flower images. I'll remember it and keep an closer eye on it. The flower of C. serotinus is obvious unnormal while the C.longiflorus flowers looks still fine to me. Hhm difficult... I hope you can prove viruses are not spread by seed. Good luck!
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Aah - it is except for this one subspecies.
Mind you, take nothing for granted, Steve Keeble has found a Spring flowering form of Crocus biflorus subspecies melantherus .... complete with black anthers .... which maintains the flowering time in cultivation. (Raised from wild seed - no wild plants were hurt in this exercise :))
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Tony,
I learned from your crocus pages C. biflorus wattiorum is also late autuum flowering...
There are two autuum biflorus subspecies - right?
Just want to add. the C. biflorus melantherus is a very beautiful subspecies.
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Yes and No! Yes, Crocus wattiorum is autumn flowering but it has now been separated from Crocus biflorus as a distinct species which leaves the biflorus group with just the one autumn flowering subspecies ... unless someone else knows differently :)
The Crocus Pages web site needs some revision ... and I need to buy some time ::)
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If you want help with a new one I would be happy to put it together for you. All forms of thecrocuspages. are available
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There are anoher autumn flowering from biflorus series. It is very nice one but I couldn't see yet.
C. biflorus nerimaniae from sw. Turkey where Kees planning to go.
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I have not seen C nerimanae yet either ... and in the UK it is accorded full species status rather than subspecies status. From the little I know it has affinities with C wattiorum and of course both are in series biflori which links them closely to Crocus biflorus.
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Some crocus from the last days:
Cr.hadriaticus semi plena
Cr.mathewii rose' form
Cr.tournefortii x boryi , thanks Tony
Cr.tournefortii 'Alba'
Cr.biflorus ssp.melantherus
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I must cross pollinate some of mine
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Hi. Tony!
You are also right. I did not see C. nerimania closely. I have only some pictures. It looks to me near to biflorus with yellow center. But if you take out C. biflorus wattiorum from biflorus group then You need to take out C. biflorus nerimaniae too. These are very close to each other. They have located in the same mountain and C. nerimaniae has another location also from south west Tr. They might be relative.
Here are some links.
http://www.istanbul.edu.tr/fen/biyoloji/akademik/AlbumGoster.php?islem=goster&AlbumNo=4
http://www.edgewoodgardens.net/Plants_album/The%20Complete%20Collection/Iridaceae/Crocus/Subgen%20Nudiscapus%20Ser%20Biflori/C.%20nerimaniae/index.html
http://www.geocities.com/anatolianwildirisis/crocus_cancellatus_ssp_mazziaricus.html
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Dirk!
What a strange hadriaticus that one.
Thanks to every one for nice postings.
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Ibrahim
Thanks for the additional information. The Geocities site has a wealth of interesting pictures - and not just crocuses!
All the biflorus group crocuses in this region are so beautiful. The names may be a challenge for us to work out but the plants are what matter and they are fantastic. It is great to be able to share information in this way. One day I shall come and see them for myself.
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Mark!
If I was instead of you. I would not do that!
It hurts me to disturb the originalty of plants like Dirk's mathewii!!
The beauty of plans came from of evolition by polinateur thousands of years.
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Great series of pix Udo !
That C. mathewii rose form looks fabulous !
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No luck yet in finding the nasty little bug eating my crocus. On a happier note here are some pics that I took yesterday in the sun.
Crocus pulchellus
Crocus medius
Crocus goulimyi
A happy bee pollinating C. goulimyi
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David your bee is what us common folk would call a hoverfly but the experts, like Anthony, would call a drone fly
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Wasn'ae doin much hoverin' when I saw it!
I agree that it is a hoverfly rather than a bee but still doing the same good work.
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Hi. Tony!
You are also right. I did not see C. nerimania closely. I have only some pictures. It looks to me near to biflorus with yellow center. But if you take out C. biflorus wattiorum from biflorus group then You need to take out C. biflorus nerimaniae too. These are very close to each other. They have located in the same mountain and C. nerimaniae has another location also from south west Tr. They might be relative.
Here are some links.
http://www.istanbul.edu.tr/fen/biyoloji/akademik/AlbumGoster.php?islem=goster&AlbumNo=4
http://www.edgewoodgardens.net/Plants_album/The%20Complete%20Collection/Iridaceae/Crocus/Subgen%20Nudiscapus%20Ser%20Biflori/C.%20nerimaniae/index.html
http://www.geocities.com/anatolianwildirisis/crocus_cancellatus_ssp_mazziaricus.html
Tony thanks for the clarification and thanks Ibrahim to the link of C. biflorus nerimaniae - its very beautiful :o
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Some crocus from the last days:
Cr.hadriaticus semi plena
Cr.mathewii rose' form
Cr.tournefortii x boryi , thanks Tony
Cr.tournefortii 'Alba'
Cr.biflorus ssp.melantherus
Dirk, super pictures. But I like most Cr.biflorus ssp.melantherus.
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A nice friend in Australia has sent me a good packet of seeds from his C. goulimyi `Mani White' and a separate packet with a single, solitary seed from C. minimus albus - his entire crop from many capsules. This form apparently reached Australia quite a few years ago, to Otto Fauser from Brian Mathew. It is minimus-like, except for colour, but flowers as a winter or very early spring form, unlike the usual C. minimus which with me is mid spring and continuing quite late as it flowers for a long time and very freely.
The white form is around among the dedicated Australian crocusus growers and at least some of them refer to it as Crocus `Minibus.' I'll have to sow the seed in its own pot but maybe with a very small narcissus or something, so that it has identifiable company. They say that `One' is the lonliest number.
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Seems like I've missed some interesting discussions during my weekend-absence!!
David, I would have a look at your chewed crocus tonight with the pocket lamp! Nice medius ;)
Tony, thanks for your virus-photos - will have to look careful at mine today, too! I have a few ugly
flowers, from which I have to check the leaves for virus! Interesting, that you also notice poor
flowering in your collection - mine show the same effect this autumn!
Re wattiorum and nerimaniae: Kerndorff and Pasche have choosen to give both interim species-status,
until they have finished their inquiries
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Crocus laevigatus albus and Crocus laevigatus CEH612.
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I harvested the first time safran! :)
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Wonderful pics everyone.
Udo, the double hadriaticus is fascinating, but the rose mathewii is just glorious!!!!! :o Beautiful!
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I'm giving a bulb lecture tonight so the car is packed with everything that is looking good. I've been out to wind down the windows because it's very warm here today. Crocus pulchellus 'Zephyr' that were not open yesterday are now open and showing deformities. One flower has very small anthers c 2mm with a normal style. The other has normal anthers but a very small style. If I sneak home for the camera ....
I bought speciosus Alba from John Amand at the discussion weekend. He wasnt sure if they would be alwight (!). They are.
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I'd like to come to your bulb lecture tonight, Mark, but I can't as I'm hoping to drop in to surprise Franz so he can make me a delicious pilau rice with his saffron! ;) Just having a little trouble with a good flight time :-\ So annoying that there is no direct flight from Aberdeen to Vienna. :'(
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but there is one to Belfast City airport
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The things I/we do!!
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What gorgeous flowers, though, eh? Even with bits missing! Something about a white crocus that I just love.
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Back at work now. Did anyone miss me, nah!
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White? I would call these blue
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Tsk! Tsk! You are naughty :-X Hope the plants in the car aren't getting too hot and bothered.
I'd have thought that by now you would ALWAYS take your camera everywhere with you? You KNOW you always need it! ???
Blue? I'll look again.
I was looking at a crocus here earlier and thought it had a blue tinge, though really white... now I'm maybe seeing these back to front, so to speak. I do admit I am overdue an eye test :-[ ???
Okay, I see blue now... I must have had a transitory attack of whitefever.... I'll lie down, it'll soon pass.
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I know I know you never know when the camera is needed
Tomorrow I photograph one of these against the white form or someone can do so
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The temperature just now is 16c. All the windows are down in the car. Some of the Crocus are too far open
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Here.
Now is the time for C. pulchellus.
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I harvested the first time safran! :)
Franz,
very beautiful C. sativus.
Do you treat your saffron crocus differently to the other species?
What kind and how much fertilizer do you feed them?
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Here.
Now is the time for C. pulchellus.
Ibrahim,
beautiful pictures from the wild C.puchellus.
The wild form will be put on my next wish list.
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Maggi,
It is not a problem for me to make a delicious pilau rice. I can cook.
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Armin,
I treat all Crocuses similar. In the meadow I cannot fertilize because otherwise the grass strongly would grow.
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Franz, I do not have the 1000 euros for the flight to Vienna, so I will not be able to enjoy your saffron pilau ... what a pity. Maybe one day? I will make it here, with bought saffron, and Ian and I will drink a toast to you and your lovely meadow.
Ibrahim's wild crocus are very beautiful and, as we can see from one of the photos, not very far from the town. We love your photos, Ibrahim, thank you for sharing with us.
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Maggi,
What a shame! Thanks for the toast.
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The grannies loved me! Kept asking about my unusual coloured late flowering Agapanthus
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Ibrahim,
Great colour to the pulchellus. I've definitely never seen a pulchellus anywhere NEAR that deep a blue, always extremely pale. The stronger colouration is really beautiful.
Mark,
What actually WERE your "Agapanthus"?
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Your crocuses are beautiful as always Franz. About $20 worth of saffron on the platter!
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Ibrahim, your photos are really beautiful - I love'em!!! Would be great to see more from your part of the world!!
Paul - you will soon see such a blue pulchellus in YOUR garden - from the pulchellus "Inspiration" seeds I sent you last summer!
Maggi - I had hope to have you on the phone, too , when I phoned with Franz last night - very disappointing :-[
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Paul my pulchellus are the same colour as Ibrahims.
Thomas is 'Inspiation' a stable double?
The unusual Agapanthus on my display table last night were my Nerines.
People have to touch flowers and lift pots even though I had a sign that said "Please do not handle the flowers or lift the pots. Accidents happen!"
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No Mark, its generally not double, I've choosen this photos because it shows the blue from its best site!
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Thomas,
Cool!! I'd always seen pale mauve or white with the fine stripes. Didn't realise that they were "supposed" to be stronger coloured than that. That will definitely make a wonderful addition when it flowers, and until then it'll be a wonderful addition "in anticipation" of it flowering! ;D I do SO like growing from seed as the surprises at the end are so much fun. Thank You!!
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Crocus pallasii subsp. dispathaceus
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Crocus thomasii
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tomasii is a lovely looking Crocus.
So how white is white?
Here is pulchellus 'Zephyr' (L), pulchellus 'Alba' (M) and goulimyi 'Alba'
All my pulchellus 'Alba' have stunted styles
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Another sunny day in Scotland and opportunity to admire some more crocus.
Crocus biflorus melantherus showing markings beneath the petals
Crocus biflorus melantherus with a delicious yellow throat and 'not very' black anthers. Will the black develop with age? (I see now, it is covered in pollen. Come on little bee)
Crocus serotinus salzmanii
Crocus serotinus salzmanii with pollinator (it is so a bee). Note all the pollen splattered on the petals.
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Nice bee there, David!
The black anthers of Crocus biflorus melantherus are actually black at first, turning golden as they dehisce. This is the case in some other plants with black anthers, though, of course, I cannot for the life of me think of any right this minute :-[
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Some Geraniums and Hemerocallis
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I think Crocus pulchelus has an inclination for such unusual blooms but it is not stable.
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These are lovely Franz, very "acceptable" doubles, compared with many.
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I agree, Lesley and so well pictured, also.
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I'm with the other two. When does Franz ever show a dud photo!?
Can I mention a pet hate here or do I go for a moan?
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No, Mark, go for a moan !
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Franz, I think you're right - Crocus pulchellus is inclined to throw double flowers which later return to singles. I've had two instances of just that in my garden in different years. Of course I carefully selected them both out only to find the next year they were singles again! :-\
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Mark, I hope not at any time!
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I take a month vacation to plant my tulips and am rarely in the internet lately. So I see I miss lots of interersting dicussions.
I have some wonderful photos I 'd like to share.
One of my favourite corocuses -
crocus niveus bicolour form, which has lots of decorative features- special beauty and nice colour combination, good sizes (including the corm size), strong tube and firm constitution of petals, being floriferous (one corm produces more than 5 blooms), long lasting qualities, high increasing rate, etc
Once (3 years ago) I had only 3 flowering-sized corms, but now I have more than 30. I think my growing method proves to be effective for crocuses. I harvest them annualy, each year plant in a fresh rich leafy soil, use very large and deep pots, during winter keep under the temperature from +3 to +10 C, etc. And I should mention that I don't use any fertilizers at all.
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Tony,
thanks for your useful tips and pictures relating viruses. This topic is very interesting for me and I have been studying viruses during all my gardening experience making lots of different tests and experiments to understand their nature. Now I can easily identify any virus-infected samples, even the ones that cought virus ricently and in which the simptoms are not so easily observed. I also infect some crocus cultivars with virus on a purpose to see how each varietiy or species behaves itself when infected. My experiments started with tulips and continued with crocuses.
I would like to add also some information relating virus mosaic. The samples infected with virus mosaic during some period of time (after flowering, during vegetation) can have some brown stripes on their leaves as if the leaves were slightly burnt. You are deffinately right, mosaic infected plants rarely can also have slightly destorted flowers, which I mentioned during my growing experience.
Your comparison picture of crocus speciousus and colchicum 'Rosy Dawn' is very impressive. My crocus speciosus 'Pambak' also grows very tall up to 26 cm, but has flowers slightly smaller than those of 'Oxonian'. But in my opinion, it has very serious bonus camparing to some Dutch cultivars - very strong tubes.
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Tony,
I always enjoy your crocus pictures very much. You show many interesting species, cultivars and variations. Your crocus niveus forms look quite nice.
Your crocus niveus white form is blooming now and it resembles the ones shown in your pics. Some of my samles also have slight lilac flush. They have normal sizes, equalling to crocus goulimyi by height and flowers size. In general I liked them, but they have one serious shortcoming - flowers are not long lasting, they last only for 2-3 days. Anyway, thanks a lot for that beauty. Here are the pics.
The seedlings are about to bloom. I will show the pics as soon as possible.
P.C. I would very appriciate if you place a pic of your crocus niveus white largest form, especially a comaprison picture if avalable. I am especially interested how large the flowers are.
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And some other pictures
crocus goulimyi 'Mani White'
crocus goulimyi - nice form from Tony, which blooms earlier than my other stock and has wider petals. Thanks Tony for this beauty!!!
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Here is a pic of my Crocus laevigatus Fontenayi (thank you Thomas, it's lovely)
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Beautiful crocus and a nice picture, David.
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:o :o :o I just LOOOOve those orange
anthers stamens!!!
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Beautiful crocus and a nice picture, David.
Thank you David it was taken using the flower setting on SP1/SP2 on the Fuji s 5700-I'm getting more used to it now (I think!)
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Fantastic bicolor form of Crocus niveus Zhirair. Very interesting to hear that you are getting such good increase with your growing methods. Two points seem significant. The winter growing conditions are clearly very much liked by the plants. Here I tend to grow them 'hard', in cold frames, exposing them to some frost. This is in part to combat aphids which thrive in warmer conditions here and also to avoid the higher temperatures in early spring that occur in a greenhouse. I grow too many to be 'shuffling' them around at different seasons but perhaps a soil warming cable, in the sand below, to keep frost away from the roots would be advantageous. You talk of using a rich leafy soil. I think this is good, my compost has added nutrients to compensate for the absence of leaf mould which is not easily found here. (No trees in this garden!)
I cannot promise a comparison shot for the C niveus white form - flowers mostly over here .
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Here are two Crocus goulimyi flowering from SRGC seed.
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yesterday at work I tested my Nikon Coolpix 500 and my Canon 900Ti again with a few subjects taken with me
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same again
C. robertianus taken with the canon and then the Nikon
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C. goulimyi
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C. speciosus 'Alba'
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C. speciosus 'Alba'
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and just to keep the comparisons together here's Nerine flexuosa
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and to show how good the Nikon is
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Mark - as a Nikon owner I sometimes think that my camera makes the flowers look better than they really are 8)
Seriously though - the best comparison is between the actual plant and the photo.
The nikon pics are more 'contrasty' and very striking. I like them .... but perhaps the Canon pics are truer to life?
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I prefer the Canon pics myself.
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:o :o :o I just LOOOOve those orange anthers stamens!!!
Hehe... thanks for correcting, but i think we got both wrong... It seems that the orange stuff is (unfortunately ;) ) part of the female organs (pistils)
Yes, sorry!!
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the lone robertianus flower is now over so I cant do a post comparison comparison
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Here is a pic of a C. laevigatus from a greek island - plants recieved from a nice friend ;D
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You are correct Mike, the orange bits form the stigma, part of the carpel or pistil.
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I think it is the Canon pix which are the more "contrasty"... because in the Nikon pix we can see the texture of the background and I think the crystalline texture of the flowers is better shown. Pays your money, I suppose, and takes your choice. Both sets of pix are perfectly acceptable, after all. :D
PS, Having a busy morning, getting my pistils straight from my anthers......no comments about my lack of children, please :-\ :-[
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I like the Nikon. It is quite a bulky camera now since buying and using the slim Canon.
I'll experiment more as flowers emerge though I'm not expecting much. By this time last year I had a plunged filled with flowers but alas not this year. Some chrysanthus cultivars are already above ground - four months early! I have a Narcissus 'Cedric Morris' out but like last year it's a micro unlike those I saw at Ian Y's
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Mark Nikon looks better to me. When I was thinking to change my old one. In my mind canon was better
but in your pictures say Nicon.
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This pics are from my garden. This is another C. pulchellus from another location.
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And here is my C. pallasii ssp. pallasii
It looks quite bigger than wild.
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Ibrahim I dont know very much about Crocus but your pulchellus looks like my speciosus
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Ibrahims C pulchellus has pure white anthers ... as it should have! The outer petal markings do resemble some forms of C speciosus but I suspect this is just a variable feature in the wild populations of both species.
The C pallasii is a very nice form. I assume these plants are growing in your garden Ibrahim? If that form of C pallasii sets seed I would be very interested in obtaining some.
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Great photos, ibrahim... glad to see the weather is good in Istanbul. 8)
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told you I didnt know much!
I have a Crocus flowering now labelled C. cancellatus with a collection number. I'll get the collection number on here in the morning. To me they look like small goulimyi flowers but are a solid colour, lilac/purple, with pale orange styles. I had them at work today waiting for the sun to come out but it didnt. There is always tomorrow
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This time I need the help of the crocus expert. Are the leaves of this Crocus diseased.
It isn't virus. I quite often met such problem when in spring soil surface still are frosen not allowing for leaves to go through. In early eighties of last century I gave samples to virus laboratory and they didn't find anything.
Janis