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Bulbs => Crocus => Topic started by: HClase on April 02, 2010, 10:39:31 PM

Title: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: HClase on April 02, 2010, 10:39:31 PM
Here in St John's the weather has taken a sudden turn for the better, the snow has mostly gone from the garden, although there's still plenty in the woods; the temperature today (Good Friday) was up to 16 C and it was fairly sunny.  (Cf yesterday 3 C with drizzle and fog.)  More to the point there were suddenly a lot of croci with wide open flowers - nothing to excite the experts, but I was pleased to see that a couple of selected self-seedlings (female parent 'Princess Beatrix') are slowly increasing.  Thomas tells me they are not like any named cultivar he knows of and don't seem to match any in his compilation, so I have named them after my granddaughters.  Any tips for getting them to increase faster, apart from fertilizing them a bit and growing in good soil?
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Janis Ruksans on April 03, 2010, 01:35:27 PM
A pair of days we had sun here and I made some picrures of crocuses in open garden.
As the first is one of my C. chrysanthus group sedlings - still unnamed.
Follows two selections from Crocus korolkowii - LUCKY NUMBER and YELLOW TIGER
Crocus malyi usually blooms much later, but long winter broke its nature...
From my hybrids between Crocus reticulatus and angustifolius Lithuanian nurseryman Leonid Bondarenko selected several nice vultivars. Here pictures of two of them - EGO and JANIS RUKSANS. In my coming book I'm naming this hybrid group as Crocus x leonidii.
And as last - Crocus vernus CROATIA
Janis
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Lesley Cox on April 03, 2010, 10:58:44 PM
It seems a very long season for spring crocus in the north this year, perhaps because the horrid winter has held things up for many gardeners.

I do like the above colour combinations, especially that of 'Imogen.'

Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Janis Ruksans on April 04, 2010, 07:51:46 PM
HAPPY EASTHER to all Crocophiles and others!
Janis
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Guff on April 04, 2010, 09:38:49 PM
Picture 1-3 Vernus Albiflorus . Seems I have 4 corms that got mixed in with the Yalta. I will put a string or rubber band around the leaves, then when they start to yellow I will dig them.
Picture 4 bought as Haarlem Gem.
Picture 5 Twilight. I'm still not convinced this is Negro boy
Picture 6 Prince Claus
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Armin on April 04, 2010, 11:10:52 PM
Happy Easter!

Howard,
nice crosses - congratulations. Every croconut would be glad to see them flowering in the own garden :D

Guff,
the C. albiflorus seem to like your growing conditions.

I've not recognised dark tips on 'Negro Boy' in early flowering stage but do not exclude such as colors change over flowering period. Dark tips sometimes appear in digital photos even contrast is soft for the human eye - a problem of color reproduction of DSCs... ???
Is your 'Twilight' already a cross with one of your vernus ssp. with dark tips? ;D
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Guff on April 04, 2010, 11:40:13 PM
Armin are you asking if I crossed Twilight to the Vernus Albiflorus? I did pab pollen, but I never have had any seeds from the Albiflorus, and I have tried different pollen, even it's own. It's a tiny flower, too bad who knows what the seedlings would be like.

Picturatus
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Ragged Robin on April 05, 2010, 07:45:58 AM
Lovely Guff and a great photo - is your C Picturatus one of several?
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Janis Ruksans on April 05, 2010, 11:06:09 AM
Nice day today and a lot of bees zumming over Crocuses. Few pictures for today:
Crocus albiflorus form from Bavarian Alps
Two pictures of Crocus atticus cv. Michael Hoog's Memory
White form of C. heuffelianus from Lizja pass - there were only such white and deep purple 50/50
Crocus scepusiensis leucostigma has white stigma
Crocus tommasinianus x Yalta
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Ragged Robin on April 05, 2010, 11:11:08 AM
Janis, can you tell me about this one Crocus tommasinianus x Yalta?
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: daveyp1970 on April 05, 2010, 12:50:57 PM
Janis your Crocus albiflorus form from Bavarian Alps is an absolute must have plant stunning,am i right in saying albiflorus are trickier than straight vernus to grow or is that wrong.
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: HClase on April 05, 2010, 03:03:43 PM
Lesley,

It's not that it's a long season, just that here at any rate it starts so much later, and it sounds as though Janis' season is similar.  There are also masses of snowdrops in full flower at present, and since it has got colder again they should last.  Actually it's early for us this year, I sometimes don't see my first crocus until the end of April (or anything else when the snow lasts that long).  I seem to remember posting a crocus in June one year!

My crosses are just haphazard - there's one new one in the Princess B bed this year, but not worth saving.  No-one has offered any suggestions about speeding up the increase of my selections, maybe there isn't any method other than good growing conditions?
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Armin on April 05, 2010, 09:42:15 PM
Armin are you asking if I crossed Twilight to the Vernus Albiflorus? I did pab pollen, but I never have had any seeds from the Albiflorus, and I have tried different pollen, even it's own. It's a tiny flower, too bad who knows what the seedlings would be like.

Picturatus

Guff,
with reference to the dark tipped 'Twilight' I thought about the possibility that iti is a cross with a dark tipped vernus ssp. vernus (heuffelianus, scepusiensis) but not particular albiflorus. I don't know if C. vernus ssp. albiflorus does cross with C. vernus dutch hybrids due different chromosome numbers - according to phylogenetic albiflorus is closer related to C. etruscus then vernus ssp. vernus. I also never got seeds from my albiflorus...
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Janis Ruksans on April 06, 2010, 05:18:16 AM
Lesley,

It's not that it's a long season, just that here at any rate it starts so much later, and it sounds as though Janis' season is similar.  There are also masses of snowdrops in full flower at present, and since it has got colder again they should last.  Actually it's early for us this year, I sometimes don't see my first crocus until the end of April (or anything else when the snow lasts that long).  I seem to remember posting a crocus in June one year!

My crosses are just haphazard - there's one new one in the Princess B bed this year, but not worth saving.  No-one has offered any suggestions about speeding up the increase of my selections, maybe there isn't any method other than good growing conditions?

We have very similar conditions. I had Crocuses in flower at end of May and even in June, although normally they must to end with first days of May or very end of Aprill.
Janis
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Janis Ruksans on April 06, 2010, 01:52:49 PM
Janis, can you tell me about this one Crocus tommasinianus x Yalta?

Crocus tommasinianus YALTA was selected by me. When I worked on my monograph about crocuses in eighties of last century I got seeds of C. tommasinianus from Nikitskyi Botanical Gardens in Yalta (Crimea, now Ukraina). Between those seedlings flowered one plant clearly showing hybridising with some large Dutch crocus vernus cultivar (may be VANGUARD as the color is of same type only contrast in color between outer and inner flower segments iws much more expressed). I marked it and later named by the locality from where came original seeds. It was not a very good name because it was just in Yalta where Josef Stalin forced Winston Churchill and Theodore Roosevelt to sign a treaty that allowed Russia to occupy the Baltic States after the end of the World War II. Now it is too late to change the name as the variety has become well known and now is widely grown in Holland and offered in many catalogues all over the world.  Around 1995 I gave a pair handfuls of corms to my Dutch friend, nurseryman Jan Pennings and from his nursery it found the way to wide market.
Janis
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Ragged Robin on April 06, 2010, 05:04:07 PM
A fascinating history of how one seedling made it to the world wide market through your selection Janis.  In spite of the name 'Yalta' having a less desirable connection with history it remains a beautiful form of Crocus tommasinianus; thank you for explaining all about it.
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: anita on April 08, 2010, 11:57:57 AM
I've posted this in the Southern Hemisphere thread... but just in case crocophiles have forgotten that the autumn crocus are popping up in the SH... I've doubled up (I hope this is not sinful Maggi ;)).
The autumn crocus are in full swing in Adelaide but the highlight's been this cluster/clump of C. goulimyi Mani White. This cluster is based on just three bulbs I bought from Marcus Harvey in 2006. Of the various crocus that I've been trialling in the garden C. goulimyi seems to have adapted best to Adelaide's dry summers and moderate winters. This clump is at the edge of the front lawn where they get a little additional water in summer. The second pic is a wider shot showing outliers to the cluster. Interestingly the flower at the bottom of the cluster seems to have more pointed petals yet it must be a clone of the others in the group as I haven't had any self-sown seedlings (although I did collect seed from this group last year).
For those interested the other autumn-flowering Crocus that have adapted, despite the lack of winter chill, are C. boryi (I posted a pic in the March SH thread and its still in flower, albeit different corms in the same location), C. pallassi, C. pulchellus, C. hadriaticus, C. cartwrightianus, C. niveus.
Cheers Anita
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Lesley Cox on April 08, 2010, 10:00:14 PM
I hope the 'Yalta' I have ordered this year from MH ARE 'Yalta." Last time they were 'Vanguard.'

Anita, only chocolate is sinful, and not even that, to Maggi.
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Maggi Young on April 08, 2010, 10:29:12 PM
I've posted this in the Southern Hemisphere thread... but just in case crocophiles have forgotten that the autumn crocus are popping up in the SH... I've doubled up (I hope this is not sinful Maggi ;)).


Anita, only chocolate is sinful, and not even that, to Maggi.
Couldn't have put it better myself, Lesley.
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Janis Ruksans on April 11, 2010, 07:53:29 PM
Crocus albiflorus form with white flower tube
Crocus biflorus subsp. tauri
Janis
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: annew on April 11, 2010, 09:44:50 PM
What a beautiful crocus Mani White is - such good solid flowers.
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: olegKon on April 12, 2010, 08:19:32 AM
1.Crocus shrysanthus Saturnus
2.Crocus vernus Vangard
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Graeme Strachan on April 12, 2010, 11:17:45 PM
Below are some of my of my last hybrids to flower this year. The photos were taken yesterday (11.4.2010).

            Graeme
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Ragged Robin on April 13, 2010, 07:58:43 AM
Wonderful shots Graeme, all looking lovely in the sunlight - C Chrysanthus Bluebird is my favourite  :)
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Janis Ruksans on April 13, 2010, 09:31:26 AM
Today between seedlings of Crocus veluchensis alba found specimen clearly showing that some pollen from C. cvijicii was involved. Note the nice golden rim on inner petals, but all impression of flower is nicely cream, not visible on picture. Both are the latest bloomers in outside garden and rarely hybridizes. I had seedling of C. cvijicii Cream of Creams with lilac flush (unfortunately lost in very hard winter).
Janis
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Graeme Strachan on April 13, 2010, 11:39:46 PM
Thanks Robin.

      Graeme
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Janis Ruksans on April 17, 2010, 08:01:13 PM
Want to warn all crocophiles - check your stocks of C. atticus (sieberi) Bowles' White. Today checked leaves of 2 stocks - baught in Holland in autumn 2008 and 2009 - both turned 100% virus.  Earlier destroyed one stock on open field, too (by wrinkly flower petals). Fortunately my old corms (stock) turned all healthy.
Just found that corms of Carpathian Wonder baught last year from another grower in Lithuania (as my own stock became too small) turned virus infected for ~70%. Again found that fortunately my own stocks still are healthy. After returning from Georgian trip (if Air Trafic will be restored) will check all my outside grown crocus stocks. Today due cancelling of flights many visitors couldn't came to my Open Door days and I used time to check leaves on pot grown crocuses and 4 pots were destroyed or placed in quarantine for seed crop before destroying - two were pots of Crocus olivieri istanbulensis - all my corms of it. Pity.
Janis
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Janis Ruksans on April 18, 2010, 07:45:35 PM
One of latest in garden - Crocus veluchesis. Here high mountain form with smaller flowers - GIMLIE
Janis
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Sinchets on April 18, 2010, 08:41:01 PM
The snow is now melting enough in the nearby mountains to begin our annual C.veluchensis pilgrimage. Unfortunately last weeks trip was a little early and there was still anow above 1200m.
The two sites we visited were a north facing woodland neighbouring a ski-piste over granite and the second was in humic grassland on a marble peak.
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Sinchets on April 18, 2010, 09:00:18 PM
Photos from the second site of C.veluchensis.
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: annew on April 18, 2010, 09:51:21 PM
Amazing to still see snow when it has been so warm here today. Janis your Crocus veluchensis hybrid is beautiful, with the red stigmata peeping out. Very sorry to hear of your virus problems but thankful that you are so careful.
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: cohan on April 19, 2010, 03:35:27 AM
Photos from the second site of C.veluchensis.

nice colours on these--and i'm glad to see someplace with even more snow than i have ;) --here its nearly all gone except some deep shade places where it was piled up and shady low ground areas in the bush--its been near/over 20C for a few days, and several more to come...
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Janis Ruksans on April 19, 2010, 08:22:11 PM
Two more pictures of Cocus veluchensis in my garden
Janis
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: fermi de Sousa on April 20, 2010, 09:13:47 AM
In our garden it is autumn and the autumn crocus are out in force!
I've posted pics to the "April in the Southern Hemisphere Thread": http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=5185.30 (http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=5185.30) reply #44!

My small clump of Crocus pulchellus was covered up by a rather vigorous Happlopappus coronopifolius!
[attachthumb=1]

cheers
fermi
Title: Re: Crocus in the garden April 2010
Post by: Sinchets on April 20, 2010, 06:21:44 PM
Janis, where are your C.veluchensis from originally? Are they all from the Rodopi?
Flowering here now, where last week children were still sledging- C.veluchensis on the piste  ;)
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