Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Bulbs => Crocus => Topic started by: Boyed on April 02, 2008, 06:10:51 AM
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In most of the European countries crocus season has already finished or is about to finish this year, but here in our place it is a high time of their blooming
Some pics from me
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Zhirair,
Yet another nice adamii. Wonderful species by the look of it. The 'King of Striped' reminds me too much of 'Pickwick' every time I see it. Sort of like a pale imitation of it.
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Paul,
'Pickwick' and 'King of Striped' have distinct differences, which is especially seen when they grow side by side. The difference is that outer and inner petals of 'King of Striped' are coloured differently, while the colour of 'Pickwick' is uniform (all 6 petals have the same pattern).
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I hadn't picked that up from the pictures. Thanks for the clarification. I realise that King is also apparently paler than Pickwick, at least it appears so in the pics I've seen here.
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the colour intensity depends on the flowering stage the plants were photographed. In most cases they ten to get darker as the flowers mature, or sometimes paler, depending on the variety.
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some from my last crocusses for this spring:
Crocus candidus, form with more leaves ( up to five ) and many flowers per bulb
Crocus minimus, from Col de Bavella, Corsica
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Great pictures!
Zhirair,
this C.biflorus ssp. adami is extraordinary. Wunderful.
Where is the location of this C.vernus form? Do you know?
Dirk,
is the white style typically for this form of C.minimus, Col de Bavella? Super.
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I agrre with Armin - great pictures
Zhirair
I do not think I have seen a better adamii
Dirk
The minimus 'Bavella' is wonderful. I lost/killed the corms given to me by Alan Edwards, who I think was the person who discovered this crocus.
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Dirk,
The Crocus minimus, from Col de Bavella, Corsica is stunning. Great outer colouring, strong colour otherwise, and that white style to set it all off. Very, very desirable!! ;D Thanks for showing us.
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Does anyone mind me inserting a couple of Southern Hemisphere pics? Hopefully not.....
This little clump of Crocus pulchellus have popped up in my new crocus garden. The shade they were in when the picture was taken intensifies the colour a little, but they are a lovely delicate lavender colour. There was one flower a couple of weeks ago and I thought that was probably it as they were all very small bulbs I was surprised as anything when these 5 appeared out of nowhere the other day, and I notice today that another bud emerging. Obviously they only need very small bulbs to flower. Given how many small ones there are in the basket I can only imagine how many flowers there may be next year. I am so looking forward to everything settling in and flowering properly in the garden.
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Armin,
i have this form with white and orange style.
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Paul the clean grit sets them off nicely.
The white style mimimus is very nice. Fingers crossed for it being on lists later this year
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Mark,
It's just washed river sand. I imagine it might be a bit bright in full sun with some flowers in the future, but we'll see what happens. It does look lovely and "clean" at the moment, although lots of weeds are still trying to sprout through it. I go out every day and check for any new buds popping up overnight, but as yet still only the pulchellus. After Lesley showed the mathewii of hers that popped up overnight, I'm waiting and hoping for mine!! :D There are at least 5 different pots of laevigatus in the garden as well, all from different sources. A few of them I think are similar if not identical, but once they establish this season and hopefully flower well next year I'll be able to properly compare them. If I'm lucky I'll have some nice surprises like the pulchellus, and get lots of flowers this year instead of waiting for everything to recover from the pots for next year.
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Very nice pulchellus Paul - so delicate on the unspoilt background - I love it !
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Me too!! So early, and so perfect!! 8)
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This weekend I have visited a ski center, altitute 1600m. which is close to me. I had chance to see alots of crocuses. There were many nice variety fo C. biflorus ssp. pulchricolor which I would like to show.
I think this species likes so much rich and humid soil. I was imagine to see very small flowers but I have seen very vigorous plants and realy big size flowers mostly dark very rare white colors.
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Ibrahim
Shots 7,8 & 9 show this Crocus at it s best.
Continuing thanks for showing us beautiful Crocus when most of us have none left to flower
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I particularly like #4 with it's beautiful shape, and that pic of the two flowers poking out of the snow is gorgeous. A beautiful species by the look of it. Thanks for the pictures.
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Great selection Ibrahim !!!
All equally beautiful, but nr 8 is truly gorgeous.
Thanks for sharing this piece of nature :D
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Hello everybody - I'm back from a small trip through Italy and still have much to read!
Ibrahim, your photos from the wild are great as always. Wonderful big and healthy looking
pulchricolor in heaven-blue coloring!!
Paul congratulations for the first of your crocus in the new bed. The river-sand makes
it look beautiful but I guess it will look much better in sunshine!
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Thomas,
Thanks!! I still think the flowers of the pulchellus photograph better in the shade than in the sun. I find the sun leaches the delicate mauve out of those flowers in the picture, which is why I have photographed them in the shade for posting. Very pleased to have them in flower, and since yesterday the first leaves have popped up on a nice form of goulimyi, so flowers shouldn't be far away. That's only the second crocus to appear above ground, and believe me at the moment I check every day to see any signs of anything new. ;D
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Ibrahim,
wunderful to see ssp. pulchricolor in the wild.
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Paul, please try to make a sun-photo and post them side by side for comparing.
My own photos always look much (!!!) better in the sun than in shade!
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Thomas,
Yeah, I guess so. I'll get one of the pics in the sun and post it here (I took both). I kind of liked the shaded one. Here's the two of them.....
The two fo them are attached below. In this case the colour is probably more accurate in the sunny pic. I still like the shaded pic though. ::)
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I still like the shaded pic though. ::)
Me too - but I like the sunny one more 8)
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Here's a thought for the micropropagation thread: does anyone know how long micropropagation for crocus dhas been used? I have decades old stock of Crocus ‘Vanguard’ which regularly produces flowers with only four of five perianth segments. The first time these bloomed, I assumed that the deformity was due to micropropagation.
Newly purchased stock now blooming shows the same deformities!
Edit: Jim had posted this in the Fritillaria page, but I thought it more appropriate here! M
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My second and third flowers on C. mathewii are out now and both are as pointy petalled as the first (3 bulbs). Also out are kotschyanus, pulchellus, medius, caspius, nudiflorus and serotinus salzmannii (what I've been calling asturicus). C. banaticus hasn't started yet but white banaticus has finished. Might be able to get pics later in the morning but we had heavy rain yesterday and overnight (very welcome) so things might be soggy and flattened.
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Vernus 'Uklin Strain' , best my camera can do. I will see if I can borrow my brothers camera later in the week. The flower is white/light blue , with dark blue/purple w tips.
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Jim, what did that yellow line say? I couldn't read it. Failing eyesight maybe but yellow on white is very hard to read.
It says:
Edit: Jim had posted this in the Fritillaria page, but I thought it more appropriate here! M
Maggi must have picked the wrong colour by accident!
PS red is next to yellow ...was M seeing red? ;D
No, just getting dafter! M
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Thanks Tony. I'm not too keen on pink either, though it is readable. Looking forward to my next incarnation. This one's rapidly disintegrating. ;D
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Apropos Paul's sand. We had a visit from Peter Korn last week who gave us a talk about his experiences with growing alpines in sand - i.e. not just as a top dressing, but a medium of nothing but sand. I can take his point about alpine dicots growing in more natural conditions and it seems to work for him. He also showed some frits, but no crocuses. Our thoughts are that since he was using natural glacial deposits there may be a bit more in it than in the crushed rock sand, which is all we can get here. I seem to remember that John Lonsdale said that he planted his bulbs in pure sand too at Edgewood. Has anyone experience of growing crocus in sand?
By the way, we weren't able to show Peter any outdoor plants except trees. There's still a couple of feet of snow all over our garden today, and there was more when he was here. 8C forecast for tomorrow, maybe I will have some outdoor crocuses to post by the end of the month. Can we claim the last first crocus of the Northern hemisphere?
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I have tried some crocus in a 'pseudo-sand' bed. That is I have a raised bed with about 6 inches of sand over a layer of old potting compost. The corms are planted in the sand but will root through into the richer mix below. The idea was to give a warmer, drier rest to the corms while maintaining access to nutrients. Cc goulimyi, kotschyanus, pulchellus, hadriaticus and flavus have persisted while C imperati has not. As the bed was not primarily for monocots I cannot comment on ther crocus. (It does support a one of the smalller, 'nodding' calochortus which would not be happy in the natural garden condition and Cyclamen graecum flowers there in hotter years.)
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Thomas, I was looking at your Crocus Hybrids in Trade thread to see what the tiny white ones on my dog's grave are. Their White Beauty, do these set seed?
Also alot of my new Blue Pearl's have no pollen, they look just like Prince Claus inside, all white. Does this sometimes happen when newly planted?
Thanks for info.
My dog's grave is turning out pretty nice and a small holding bed with Blue Pearl and Firefly.
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This year my crocus vernus “Queen of the Blues” all of a sudden (all samples) developed darker veins. It doesn’t seem to be a virus, but I can’t understand the reason for that. Maybe our croconuts know what’s the case. Will be also pleased to know Tony’s opinion about that abnormality.
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Thomas, I was looking at your Crocus Hybrids in Trade thread to see what the tiny white ones on my dog's grave are. Their White Beauty, do these set seed?
Sorry Guff, can't remember if they set seed or not - will have a look at my plants later!
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Howard,
My Crocus bed is half sand, half recycled potting mix, with the actual baskets in which the crocus are planted containing half sand, half fresh potting mix. Top-dressing over the top with sand for uniformity and "mulch". I've heard elsewhere of pure sand beds. Apparently very good for a lot of south african things.
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This year my crocus vernus “Queen of the Blues” all of a sudden (all samples) developed darker veins. It doesn’t seem to be a virus, but I can’t understand the reason for that. Maybe our croconuts know what’s the case. Will be also pleased to know Tony’s opinion about that abnormality.
It might be damage to the developing flowers by, for example, extreme cold or perhaps drought ... BUT I suspect that this might be the first sign of a virus. I am not saying that it definitely is virus but I have noticed similar slight abnormalities in flowers one year before finding virus in leaves in a later year. If this is the case the plants will usually show a loss of vigour, flowering less well. .... Hope I am wrong in the case of your plants though!
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Tony,
Thanks a lot for your comments. I find them very wise.
It is very strange. I personally suspect that it could be caused by a stress. Last year all the summer we had permanent rains and the winter was very cold. The most surprising is that all the samples (I have over 300) developped such darker veins and I could find any normal specimen among them.
I have been growing this variety since 1985 and each year trashed only around 2 to 3 virused (colour-breaking virus) plants, which developed disorted flowers and darker irregular stripes. But this I observe the first time and it is really interesting what will be the next year. The only thing that keeps me not yet thinking of virus that there are not irregular stripes, but only darker veins. Anyway, next year everything will be clear.
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Tony,
I forgot to mention that around half of the samples of cr. "Queen of the Blues" don't flower this year (I mean matured samples)
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A couple crocus patches around the yard, and my first holding bed from 06. The roseus did great, lots of pink flowers.
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One of the crocus illustrated in the Connoisseur Collection thread (see reply #99) page 7, http//www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=1331.90
is the old cultivar ‘Haarlem Gem’. Has anyone seen this in commerce recently? It’s mentioned in many early twentieth century books, but I’ve never seen it on a list or in a garden.
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This isn't our first outside crocus yet, but there are one or two patches of bare soil now. The thaw has uncovered my "outside" frame and I was delighted to find this pot inside. My 1 m diam circular bed of "Princess Beatrix" and C. nudiflorus throws up some particularly attractive seedlings at times, and I sometimes have been able to extract them safely (other times not!) This one came out a couple of years ago, and is, as far as I know, different from any named commercial cultivar - Thomas will tell us if I'm wrong. The outside is blueish grey and the inside pale yellow merging to purple-grey at the tips. I hope I can build it up.
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One of the crocus illustrated in the Connoisseur Collection thread (see reply #99) page 7, http//www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=1331.90
is the old cultivar ‘Haarlem Gem’. Has anyone seen this in commerce recently? It’s mentioned in many early twentieth century books, but I’ve never seen it on a list or in a garden.
Jim, you will find it here
http://shop.bulbmeister.com/fall/fall.html?q=Crocus%20(Spring)&s=75&l=25&z=0
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Tony,
Thanks a lot for your comments. I find them very wise.
It is very strange. I personally suspect that it could be caused by a stress. Last year all the summer we had permanent rains and the winter was very cold. The most surprising is that all the samples (I have over 300) developped such darker veins and I could find any normal specimen among them.
I have been growing this variety since 1985 and each year trashed only around 2 to 3 virused (colour-breaking virus) plants, which developed disorted flowers and darker irregular stripes. But this I observe the first time and it is really interesting what will be the next year. The only thing that keeps me not yet thinking of virus that there are not irregular stripes, but only darker veins. Anyway, next year everything will be clear.
If they are all the same I would think it is more likely a stress related problem but the number of non flowering bulbs is a worry.
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Guff (Rob?) any dog would be happy to lay down his life and be buried under such a lovely cover. When I am laid in earth myself, I hope it will be with as attractive a topping as that.
Three crocuses from the other half. Could I have some expert opinion please about the first, C. medius which should not, as I recall, have these dark marks. Not the "V" word I hope? :'(
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Then C. vallicola whose thick, creamy texture is so beautiful.
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and C. longiflorus, vigorous and generous and flowering earlier each year.
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I bought Haarlem Gem last fall from BulbMeister. I see two grow tips so far, I think I bought 3 corms. I will take a picture if one flowers.
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Lesley, thanks. My first big order of crocus was going to be on my dog's grave, but then I made my fall 06 holding bed. So this time I saved 800 crocus to put on the grave. I still have another dog's grave to do, but I have snowdrops, tigerlily's, bloodroot, daffodils seedlings growing, so I have to wait a few more years before I can dig those out, and redo with crocus. It does have maybe 40 crocus, 4 tulips, and some daffodils on the grave though.
Picture is from last spring.
Second picture is the one I wanted to post.
First picture is my dog's grave from last spring, now with the 800 crocus.
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I hope you don't have to dispose of a dog each time you want to start a new bulb bed? ???
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crocus cultivar ‘Haarlem Gem’. Has anyone seen this in commerce recently?
Jim, you will find it here
http://shop.bulbmeister.com/fall/fall.html?q=Crocus%20(Spring)&s=75&l=25&z=0
Thanks, David. And that's a lot closer to home than I expected.
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Lesley, my two dogs were Christmas gifts from my brother, and they were also brothers. Dogs are too much like a person, and when they die it's hard to deal with. I don't have a dog, and I doubt I ever will again. So no, no dog is required for new crocus. I do have cats though, by the way, all those expensive crocus I bought last fall are on my cats grave.
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Tony,
Yesterday I took away all the flowers on the variety "Queen of the Blues" for safety, as there is always a massive bee attack on my crocuses. I'll wait until next spring to see what's the case and, of course, I will inform about the results. I think i'll be useful for all of us to know.
Now I think about a method or a chemical to frighten the bees and keep them away from my plants. As I see they cause a lot of harm to my plants every year. Some bulbs, which are especially succeptable to viruses, I isolate from bees, and on them I never observe virus infection at all, while 20-30% of non-isolated plants catch virus every year.
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Guff,
Your idea about taking such a special care about dog' grave is pretty nice. Though it sounds quite strange for our culture, but I wellcome it. I imagine how you loved them.
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Lesley, I will not use the "V"-word - but I should!!! Your medius is not looking good!!!
Howard, your seedling looks great - is this the one you showed 2 or 3 years ago?
I don't know any cultivar looking like this one!
Guff, what a wonderful grave - hope Chris will create mine like this one !!
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Thats a lovely hybrid seedling. Interesting colour blend.
Here in Canberra, not as many crocus flowering as yet. C. goulimyi in the main garden has a clump of about 10 flowers up, of which the first opened today. In the new crocus garden there are leaf shoots emerging on two different goulimyi forms, plus a bud on mathewii as well as the last flower on pulchellus. Out the back of the house I have a bud on a new asuminae which I will post a pic of when it opens to confirm it is correct. Hopefully this time I can grow it successfully..... it's planted into a massive (4 feet wide or so) pot with a Magnolia grandiflora 'Little Gem' plus assorted little special bulbs. This should hopefully give a good soil mass to give them all a little more insulation than the small pots. I check the new crocus garden every day, but still very few signs of crocus as yet. Lots of leaves on Narcissus bulbocodium/romieuxii cultivars etc, but still very few crocus.
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No Thomas, this is not the same one, but it arose in the same bed. The bronze one was really outstanding amongst its parents, but, as you can see there was a mass of corms mixed up with Ash roots as well, and I didn't manage to extract it safely - if I remember rightly it was deeper than I'd expected. Here, for old times sake, is what it looked like. I'm always hoping for another! Like anyone who grows C. chrysanthus cultivars in any number I get a lot of new seedlings, mostly of little interest, but the ones from the 'Princess Beatrix' bed seem to be especially good. I'm really more interested in the species, but the variation in this group is difficult to ignore! Pictures are from 2004.
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Uklin Strain and Tatra Shades. Picture taken with my camera, so picture quality is terrible. Tatra Shade isn't the same form Tony G posted in March(C vernus x tommasinianus), bummer. Still nice though.
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Howdy All,
Here's another one from here in the southern hemisphere...... purchased a couple of years ago as Crocus pallassii ssp dispathacea. Quite an elegant thing, and extremely intricate when you get down close and look at it. It literally appeared since yesterday afternoon, as I checked the garden after I got home from work as I do each day.
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Tatra Shades. I should have a vernus ssp. vernus var. heuffelianus flower open tomorrow.
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After a flowering-period from nine months, here is my last crocus for this spring;
a small and late form from Crocus minimus with the name 'Little Beauty'
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Dirk
Hope I might see something as good during my trip to Iran - leaving tomorrow.
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Travel safely, Arthur! We look forward to sharing your pictures when you get back :)
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Dirk,
Love that minimus. Very nice!!
Guff,
Is the 'Tatra Shades' a named form of heuffelianus? It looks like it has the same sort of markings.
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Paul, this is the description.
Crocus vernus 'Tatra Shades' ~ This gives the impression of a C. vernus doing an impression of C. tommasinianus 'Pictus'. Silvery lavender flowers daubed at their tips with rich violet-purple. We're impressed. Montane; Carpathian Mtns. Zone 5.
Bought mine from odysseybulbs.
http://www.odysseybulbs.com/springcrocus.html
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Interesting, so it just happens to have similar markings to the heuffelianus, rather than actually being one? They look rather interesting. Would be interesting to see them in person.
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Paul that mathewii in the other thread is fantastic - I must look out for it, I think I'd dismissed it as "just another white one" before. If it's that early it just might do outside here too.
At last, I can post a couple of real outdoor croci, nothing special, just chrysanthus cultivars, but better than the snow that was covering them two days ago and still covers 90% of our garden.
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Thanks Thomas, re C. medius. I mentioned it to Marcus and here's his reply.
"Yes, this is the commercial clone of medius that has been around for years and is virused. Most of the time it flowers and thrives but you should get rid of any that show really heavy infestation. I don't find that aphids feed on crocus so there is little chance of transferring it around. It is a potyvirus I think and is widespread in iris as well. Why don't you get your mate Mr Huber to send you wild collected seed he gets down on the French Riviera? It's a much better plant but I have only a few."
I've noticed in my own plants from previous years (I bought them around 10 years ago I think) that the buds on those are streaky as well. For safety's sake, I think I'll get rid of the lot.
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Yesterday a 4th flower opened on C. mathewii and it was the more typical, rounded crocus shape, with blunt-tipped petals and not so wide open and flat so it must be from the 3rd corm and the other 3 from the 1st two, if you see what I mean, which suggests Marcus' stock is from his own seed.
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These two I'd forgotten all about as they're in weedy troughs which need urgent refurbishing. The first I have as C. cancellatus ssp. mazziaricus but I'm not sure. Any comments please?
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Crocus kotschyanus in a lovely white form. I know nothing of the origins of this crocus. It was just THERE one day, a couple of years ago. Otherwise, it is in a patch of C. corsicus which flowers later of course. There is one white in the garden too, another unknown as to how it got there or where it came from.
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I don't find that aphids feed on crocus so there is little chance of transferring it around.
What are the aphids up here doing on my crocus then?!!! ;)
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I was quoting Marcus Harvey remember. I haven't noticed aphids on crocus here. But then all on mine are out in the open air, never under glass and I think the same would apply to Marcus in Tasmania. All the same, I'm getting rid of my streaky medius as a precaution, and might spray the crocuses with a systemic insecticide.
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Well, if Lesley and Paul are going to confuse things by posting Southern Hemisphere crocus in this thread, I might as well!
here's Crocus goulimyi Albus, taken at dusk with the flash, unfortunately,
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And I've posted this one in the Southern hemisphere thread, it's a seed raised C. nudiflorus that isn't! I think it's C. speciosus, or maybe C. pulchellus.
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cheers
fermi
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Lesley,
The crocus in your second picture seem to be crocus pulchellus "Zephyr".
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Zhirair do you mean the one I called a white kotschyanus? I hadn't even thought of that. I've never had pulchellus `Zephyr' so still it would be a mystery plant. But very happy to have it. Thank you. I should have remembered the very distinctive throat markings, as in Fermi's picture.
Fermi I think yours is kotschyanus.
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Lesley,
Certainly, I ment the one you call white kotschyanus.
I am posting few pics of mine to compare. Pulchellus "Zephyr" is a wonderful variety and one of my favourites.
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Paul that mathewii in the other thread is fantastic - I must look out for it, I think I'd dismissed it as "just another white one" before. If it's that early it just might do outside here too.
Howard,
Thanks for the comment. I was starting to wonder whether there was any interest in the pics or not, as I seem of late to get little response. I guess many of my thinks are probably common to others overseas though.
Lesley,
Glad your mathewii finally gave you a round flowered version. I posted a pic of mine in the Evolution of a Crocus Garden thread, but perhaps would have been more seen here? Glad I got a picture of it yesterday morning after it opened, as we had a hail storm yesterday afternoon and it now has somewhat less petals (well 2 less petals to be precise) and looks a tad frazzled now. I was at work at 7am this morning so I didn't see how it looked when open without it's petals, and it was closed by the time I got home at around 4pm. ::)
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Why don't you get your mate Mr Huber to send you wild collected seed he gets down on the French Riviera? It's a much better plant but I have only a few."
Lesley, if my memory serves me right, I have already sent sent you some of my wild seeds in summer 2006!
Zhirair already mentioned what I only thought about your kotschyanus albus - it's pulchellus Zephyr!
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and of course Aphids feed on my Crocus also
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Hi Paul,
Please do not stop posting your superb pictures....I know viewing figures can sometimes be discouraging but it took me a while to realise that many members actually look at the thumbnail pictures (as I tend to do myself) but do not need to enlarge them to get the gist of the subject matter, because the smaller images are so clear and well-defined. You will find that images of people, animals, garden settings, quirkiness, children and chocolate cakes will always gain the highest viewing counts.
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Cliff,
Yeah, but the chocolate cake figures are artificially high.... because certain people keep coming back to drool over them again and again!! ;D ;)
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A couple update pictures and vernus var heuffelianus? It doesn't look like one.
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The above vernus var heuffelianus?, could be Graecus and they were tagged wrong. I did buy 6 corms of Graecus also, so maybe the tags were switched.
Now that I think about it, Thomas posted a picture of Graecus, and it does look like it.
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The above vernus var heuffelianus?, could be Graecus and they were tagged wrong. I did buy 6 corms of Graecus also, so maybe the tags were switched.
Now that I think about it, Thomas posted a picture of Graecus, and it does look like it.
Guff, you're only partial right - Yes, I've posted such a photo of "what I received as Graecus"
but this plant is probably Crocus vernus "Haarlem Gem". Perhaps Luit can help to ID 100%!?
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Guff, you're only partial right - Yes, I've posted such a photo of "what I received as Graecus"
but this plant is probably Crocus vernus "Haarlem Gem". Perhaps Luit can help to ID 100%!?
There is a pict. in the Connoisseur Collection:
March 11th, reply #99 http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=1331.90 Page 7.
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Thanks Luit, but what is the plant Guff and I have ???
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Thanks Luit, but what is the plant Guff and I have ???
I tried to find a picture in this thread, Thomas.
But soooooooo very s l o w at the moment.
Anyhow, you ARE the specialist. ;D ;D 8)
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Anyhow, you ARE the specialist. ;D ;D 8)
I never said I am a specialist 8)
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But I did! :D
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I think they sent me 12 corms of "Graecus" and none of vernus var heuffelianus. This is a picture of the flower bud, these are tagged "Graecus", doesn't look any different.
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Thomas does 'Negro Boy' set seed and have pollen? My Twilight's are about to open, maybe later today. The flower buds looks to be 'Negro Boy', they have the dark black tips, with the silver edge. I will see if I can get a picture later.
Thanks for info.
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Crocus fleicherii is the last of my pots to flower, rather narrow petalled, but not too bad en masse. It will be interesting to see if the corms planted outside did as well. I think that the C. chrysanthus 'Princess Beatrix' I posted earlier wasn't, just a nurseryman's near miss, the original patch are just opening now and are much bluer especially on the outsides of the petals (I assume that's the right way round Thomas?). C tommasinianus is weedy here just as elsewhere. I've had the species, 'Whitewell Purple', and 'Ruby' over the years so the seedlings have a lot of genes to choose from, moslty they are uninteresting, there's an awful insipid pale mauve one with thin petals that unfortunately does rather well; but this one is a bit better looking - does it resemble any named cultivar? C sieberi 'Hubert Edelsten', like several of the others is flowering up through the melting snow - the snow didn't fall on top of them.
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Howard, the flower colour of crocus fades within a few days. So if you compare your new developed
plants with the ones that started earlier you will always find a difference in their blue! So I don't think
your first batch of Princess Beatrix was wrong.
Your tommies look beautiful but I don't know of any cultivar in trade looking like yours.
Guff, I have Negro Boy in my lawn without any label, so I can't tell you exactly if it sets seed or not.
But generally I can say, that Crocus vernus cultivars have the best seed set of all crocus in my garden.
Each year I have thousands of seeds.
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Thomas,
You sent me seed a couple of years ago from Negro Boy, so it apparently set seed at that point. This is just to confirm that that year at least NB did set seed. 8)
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Thomas,
You sent me seed a couple of years ago from Negro Boy, so it apparently set seed at that point.
This is just to confirm that that year at least NB did set seed. 8)
Paul, I can only remember, that I sent you seeds of the Crocus vernus cultivars from my lawn "possibly including Negro Boy".
Will have to check my lawn if I find the NB clumps for seed pods!
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Ah, could be my incorrect interpretation then. I'd written "ex Negro Boy" on the pot (I happened to read the details on that particular pot recently, which is why I remember it). I probably misinterpreted it at the time you sent me.
Oh well, Guff should ignore my previous message!! ::)
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I don't think that's it Thomas. Here are the two side by side, a late one from the early group and one of the first from the later group. The unopened buds of the later group are also the rich blue I associate with PB, while I didn't notice this with the early ones. These pictures on screen (mine anyway!) are a slightly more purple than the real thing.
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OK, you're right, Howard! They look really different!
It resembles the one I found between the corms of PB you sent me some years ago - possibly a seedling.
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Thomas, paul thanks.
I had a few flowers open up yesterday, but I didn't see any pollen. Maybe some pollen will show today. If not, bummer that I won't get any seed from them, I assume no pollen, no seed? Maybe I will hand pollinate them anyways. Second picture are the giant vernus on a bank, hopefully I get more then 1 seed pod from all those flowers this year.
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What a difference a day makes! This is the same group of C sieberi HE that I showed yesterday, and also a clump of another cultivar that have come up from a "lost corm" - at least they look like C. sieberi to me.
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Two great clumps Howard !
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Using the example of crocus: Isn't marvellous what we enjoy when watching this Forum - first flowers in early spring (Newfoundland) - late spring in Europe - autumn in AUS - NZ!
I really enjoy to be here - Thanks to all the contributors!
Gerd
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Using the example of crocus: Isn't marvellous what we enjoy when watching this Forum - first flowers in early spring (Newfoundland) - late spring in Europe - autumn in AUS - NZ!
I really enjoy to be here - Thanks to all the contributors!
Gerd
You're right Gerd - I also love it :-* :-* :-*
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I too think we have much to celebate. This is the most informed place on the internet for crocus. A meeting of minds and experience from around the world. Great!
I have approached our moderators with an idea to have a Crocus Group thread where I can post old and new newsletters and make all the details about the CG, membership, seed exchange etc available. The answer was YES. I am now awaiting the arrival of electronic copies from the previous secretary and will start the thread(s) as soon as possible.
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Tony - Excellent news! Good of you to take it on.
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Some of the nergo boy's look like they want to produce pollen, some yellowing, but no real pollen to use.
Heres what I received as Haarlem Gem. It's a tiny flower. Looks the same as the one Luit van Delft posted in his Connoisseur Collection thread. My camera isn't able to get any/much detail.
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A few crocus in bloom here last Wednesday.
Cream Beauty and Violet Queen - a few aberrant ones with narrow petals only noticed in the picture afterwards!
johnw - 18c here today
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This venture of Tony's to bring a Crocus Group area to this Forum is warmly welcomed and eagerly awaited. Grateful thanks to Tony for forging ahead with this initiative 8)
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Thanks Tony. looking forward to seeing what the Crocus group stuff is like.
John,
Fine clumps of crocus there. Very nice!!
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Our crocus season is just starting too. The first pic is C. biflorus var. taurii. Next is 'Dorothy' and to the left a sieberi. the purple I'm not sure...tommassiniasum 'Barr's Purple' perhaps? Third is a spontaneous hybrid that arose in my garden. Fourth is C. etruscus. Fifth is 'King of the Stripes'. Sixth is 'Saturnus' and the last one is 'Cream Beauty'. Most of mine are still under snow!
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Tod,
Lovely Crocus. I love your spontaneous hybrid. Very nice.
Would it be possible to make the pictures no more than around 800 wide? That way we don't have to scroll across to see the rest of the pic. The height isn't a problem as we're scrolling downward anyway, but the width can make it difficult to properly see the pic (which is frustrating when the thumbnail looks so good! ;)).
Great pics (as are all the others that you've posted today).
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Thanks for your encouragement guys. I was wondering whether everyone was getting bored with my one man show of crocus after everyone else's were over. Now that I am joined by John and Todd (one nearly 1000 km away and the other about 5 km) I don't feel quite so lonely! Where else is spring just starting? Alaska, Tromsö? (While Halifax has had 18C our temperature dropped 14C overnight and we've had 0C and lower all day - no pictures from my garden today!)
I've been thinking of approaching my travel agent to see about setting up a Crocus Tour of Newfoundland and maybe Nova Scotia too, so that European crocophiles needed suffer from with drawal symptoms. Then we could proceed to visit Lesley and Paul - Crocus all year round! One real advantage of just keeping it to pictures though is that the camera is very selective, an actual garden visit would reveal that 90% of it is a mess!
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A world crocus tour? Fabulous!
Thanks everyone for these wonderful pictures. As for boredom Howard, no way. It's surprising that though to a large extent we all grow the same basic species, as well as some really special ones, the pics are not duplicates. Different climates, surroundings, companions in the ground etc, make each one different from the others, so no, never bored.
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I too, am eagerly awaiting Tony's Crocus Group thread.
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My brother took these last week for me.
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They do have nice markings don't they! Particularly the Tetra Shades. 8)
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I've noticed in a few of your pics, Guff, that there is some kind of bird netting over your crocus bed. Is this to keep off the birds? I did that one year but some of the emerging flowers were cut in half as they forced their way up through the netting.
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Golly are you up for tomorrow already Lesley? I went out early this morning while the crocuses were still deciding whether to respond to bright sunshine and open up, or to the cold air and stay closed - I needn't have bothered as it never rose above 4C despite the cloudless sky and at most a few half opened! I wanted to show the outside patterns of a couple of them to check with Thomas. The first is what I think is 'E.P. Bowles', and the second another Tommie seedling/cv? which is very dark with even darker tips and basal blotches. We have a lot of clumps along one side of our driveway which has become a home for lost corms, so don't know much about their real origins, especially as a lot of them are moved by my wife rather than me. Judging from the number of pictures I take, C. sieberi 'Hubert Edelsten' must be one of my favorites, but I cannot resist a couple more!
The leaf is from my C. cancellatus pot, they have developed brown tips every year recently, and at first I put it down to watering or nutrient neglect on my part, but not so this year and it's just the same. I'm wondering if it's some sort of virus - although, luckily it doesn't seem to affect the flowers. One or two other pots of autumn flowerers are similar.
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Howard - your Crocus EP Bowles looks OK to me. The tommie looks like Ruby Giant - this one was discussed very hot some weeks ago.
None of your photos is boring - keep them coming!! Love your Hubert Edelsten clump!!
Welcome Todd - you have a beautiful collection. The chrysanthus seedling looks like "Warley" - a good and rare cultivar. Do you remember to have planted this one?
Tony - a very good idea with the crocus group newsletter!!!!!!
Guff - I have checked my Negro Boy's in the lawn: So far no seed pod visible!
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Howard, I cannot blame you for your C. Hubert Edelsten ph pictures.... "he" is very photogenic 8)
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Lesley, I have 12+ squirrels running around the yard, and deer also. Sometimes I remove the netting, others times I don't. Sometimes you can't see the netting for some reason, while other pictures it sticks out like a sore thumb. As far as the netting hitting the crocus flowers, I have posts holding up the netting, and the netting is 6in-10in above the flowers.
Thomas thanks. Whats your thoughts on this flower, found it in with the Nergo Boy's. It's the only one that has pollen, and the white edging is wide. Wish my camera took nice pictures.
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Few more that were taken last week.
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They're coming out well now and looking good, Guff.
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The leaf is from my C. cancellatus pot, they have developed brown tips every year recently, and at first I put it down to watering or nutrient neglect on my part, but not so this year and it's just the same. I'm wondering if it's some sort of virus - although, luckily it doesn't seem to affect the flowers. One or two other pots of autumn flowerers are similar.
I have had similar - keep an eye on the others. I too would like to think it is cultural but I think it may be a sign of disease. Virus or possibly fungus ... I'm no expert but I am getting rid of sickly crocus in quantity this year after a few years of 'I'll give it another year and see what happens'. Be interested to know of other peoples views - are you reading this Ian Young? ;)
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Thanks Tony, since it doesn't seem to affect growth or flowering I'll stick it out for a bit longer - but keep them separate and use fungicide - if I can still find any I'm allowed to use!
Outside, less snow and more crocuses. These pictures are mostly from stock bought in the late 70's and early 80's, both from UK nurseries and local ones (imported from Holland).
In order they are:
C. chrysanthus 'Snowbunting', 'Blue Bird', and 'Cream Beauty' which always used to be available locally in those days. The last one is from a packet (Dutch origin) labelled 'Cream Beauty' bought locally in 2006, which clearly aren't - they are similar but too yellow. (This is not because the lighting conditions are different!)
The greenest spot in my lawn at present, where I planted a few C. speciosus years ago, like the ones around the tree (below)they thrive, but never flower. (There's another similar patch of C. nudiflorus leaves, but they do flower; every year I dig out and re-locate 12 - 20 when they show their buds, but they just keep coming back!)
Finally, C. tommasinianus sold as 'Ruby Giant' (probably the source of the one I showed earlier IDed by Thomas). This ring-a-ring-of-croci was originally planted in 1982 around the tree (Aesculus glabra - Ohio Buckeye, a yellow flowered Horse Chestnut.). The inner circle are leaves from C. speciosus, which hardly ever flower (see above).
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Howard, I think I got that same source of Cream Beauty...mine are quite yellow as well.
Thomas, I never had any 'Warley'...my spontaneous hybrid was just that, spontaneous! The second picture was taken in a local park...I'm am thinking its 'White Beauty'....any thoughts?
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Guff, everyone is calling you Guff and I'm calling you Rob, which I thought I'd picked up from somewhere, but maybe rotten memory is at work again, so if I'm mis-calling you, please forgive me. I'll go with Guff from now on, unless told differently.
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Howard and Todd, your wrong Cream Beauty looks like Romance, but to be sure I need a photo of the outer petals.
Guff, no idea for your silver edged Crocus. But they do ALL look to bright for Negro Boy on your photos!
Are they darker in reality?
Todd, your hybrid is worth separating - it's a real beauty, just like "Warley"!
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I have a problem with some plants,different ones each year, showing the browning of the leaves and they usually go dormant early.
I put it down to poor cultural conditions in that I get the watering wrong in that particular pot and I find the roots have rotted as well as the growth browning.The new corm unless it is dead is usually very small but grows away again and recovers in a year or so.
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Spot on Thomas - as usual. I also have plants labeled 'Romance' bought a few years earlier - probably from the same source!! They are also open and are identical both inside and out - with exactly the same shape and colour of blotch at the base of the outer petals.
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Maggi, I can't take credit for the pictures. My brother was pleased with
the roseus picture.
Lesley, it's not a big deal. Yes I had noticed you called me Rob and I didn't correct you. Guff is part of my last name, so I use it as my nickname.
Thomas, I had thought they should be darker, but they are darker than any forms I have. I will call them Twilight. I have one last patch of crocus that are just starting to pop up with Barrs Purple and Lilac Beauty, so I'm going to use pollen from the white edged Twilight to pollinate most of them.
I had three flower open today on the vernus ssp. albiflorus. They have to be the tiniest crocus flowers. I took a picture, but you can't see the blue markings on the white flowers. So I'm not going to bother posting it.
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Here's 'Negro Boy' as I have it. What say the experts?
Temperature no doubt influences flower color, and it's probably warmer here at bloom time than in many other areas.
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Here a photo of my Negro Boy.
- First shows it compared with tom. Ruby Giant right after emerging - very dark, isn't it!?
- Second shows the flowers after a few days of flowering compared with Pickwick
It's not easy to photograph such a dark colour, but these photos show the colour nearly correct.
Hope this will help you, Guff and Jim!
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Spring is sort of suspended here now. Sunny most days, but only just above zero - at least it extends the crocus season! Worse forecast for tomorrow.
Here's a few more C. chrysanthus cultivars. First another rather nice seedling, quite similar to the one I posted a couple of weeks ago but bronzier on the outside. Another I shall try to grow on.
Then two different clones sold to me as 'Lady Killer'. The first I bought from Potterton and Martin (UK) in 1979 and have a very constrasty outer petal pattern, dark purple with a clean edge. The second was from a Canadian importer (from Holland) purchased in 1982, it's brighter and more feathered. Naturally I think the first are the true Lady Killer as they are what I had first, and they are much more distinctive, but I seem to remember Thomas disagreeing about this in an earlier year.
After posting this I had a look at Potterton's current on line catalogue - they seem to have changed their minds, what they illustrate as LK is much more like my #2.
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Howard,
the latter is the dutch clone "Lady Killer" in my opinion.
The first looks like "Eye-catcher".
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Howard, Armin is right: The first is in fact "Eyecatcher" and the last is "Ladykiller".
But Ladykiller looks virused like most of the Dutch plants I had in my garden!
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Thomas, thanks.
The black tips on yours has a much larger area than what mine have. Clearly mine are not "Negro Boy". I did some searching found a couple links.
http://www.paghat.com/crocustwilight.html
This link the poster also says it is "Negro Boy", but it looks the same as what I have. Note the no pollen, looks just the same as mine did.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/186941/
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/186943/
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I'm very concerned about my Crocus dying back early for the second year in a row. I accidentally kicked over my pot of korolkowii white form. The leaves are yellow but still quite firm. The old corm hasnt fully formed the corm for next year. The old one is maybe a third the size of the new one. Is this now wasted or can the goodness still enter the new corm?
Tony G/Ian Y is it too late to give them their last feed?
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Yellow leaves means dormancy mode has been entered. I would not water much or feed. Mine are behaving in the same way but I am just happy to have got this far into spring. The autumn taxa should be fine but I am happier if the spring ones keep their leaves a bit longer. Hot here this weekend - and we were camping with friends - amazing luck when just a week ago we were shivering!
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Hi,
I have recognised the same on C. chrysanthus Jannine. I pulled out one and the roots were rotten but a new corm is build 1/3rd the size of normal... >:( Probably too wet or burned by to much fertilizer is my analyse.
But in spite of backstrokes I found the first time seed capsules on C. chrysanthus Milea and C.imperati.
Both grow in my lawn.
This is making me a bit happy as in my area 80% of the bee population died during the winter due to a new virus infection and Varoa mites infestation. This is the 2nd. consecutive year which is desaster for apiarists and fruit growers. :'(