Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Bulbs => Bulbs General => Topic started by: johanneshoeller on December 01, 2008, 05:30:51 PM
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We have 30 cm snow, but the last Crocus (or Colchicum?) is flowering. A very tiny (2 cm) Crocus (Colchicum). The name (from Kreta)?
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Hans, your Crocus look like a Colchicum to me.
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Ian, thank you!
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Hans I would say your colchicum is C. pusillum.
I have some from the same source, but mine are long over now.
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We have 30 cm snow, but the last Crocus (or Colchicum?) is flowering. A very tiny (2 cm) Crocus (Colchicum). The name (from Kreta)?
Hans I am pretty sure it is Colchicum pusillum, which grow on Cyprus too.
Flowering this late depends on how long the bulbs were kept dry.
I grew it many years and it always flowered in November. Must have a look if I still have it or a picture of it.
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Hi, I add here 2 pictures of Colchicum pusillum, stock comes from Crete.
Janis R.
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I have several colchicums which are variously labelled 'pusillum' and 'cupanii'. To my mind the latter has two leaves forming a tube. These leaves can be over 1cm wide. Pusillum has many leaves and these are <1cm wide, usually just over half that. I have another plant with similar flowers from Crete which has many leaves about 3mm wide! :-\
I have Colchicum hirsutum in flower now (thanks Jānis). I hope to take a pic at the weekend.
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Nearly all Colchicum are over - actually left is just Colchicum cousturieri which has started to flower some days ago - here a few pictures of Colchicum pusillum, Colchicum stevenii and Colchicum cousturieri.
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My cupanii have 2,3 or 4 leaves
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I will take a pic of the leaves tomorrow.
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Here are by C. cupanii leaves. The widest leaf in the lowest photo is 4cm across. The one to the left is 3.5cm across.
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With so many new people on board now I think I should ask again if anyone knows this Colchicum. It flowers in October.
The flowers always emerge in a set sequence
first flower emerges
first flower in full flower and second flower emerges
first flower elongates and falls, second flower full flower and third flower emerges
first flower now over, second flower elongates and falls, third flower now open
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Great photos all, Thank you for showing them.
Mark your Colchicum looks to me like C. cretense.
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Here are by C. cupanii leaves. The widest leaf in the lowest photo is 4cm across. The one to the left is 3.5cm across.
By leaves it is cupanii
Janis
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Mark,
your photos of colchicum cupanii a surprised me a lot. I couldn't imagine that such a small colchicum can develop such large leaves, which are attractive at the same time.
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Thanks Oron.
And some big corms Zhirair
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Here are by C. cupanii leaves. The widest leaf in the lowest photo is 4cm across. The one to the left is 3.5cm across.
By leaves it is cupanii
Janis
None of my cupanii has more than two leaves, except where a leaf has been made instead of a flower. The size would certainly suggest cupanii. What are the leaves like on your wee one Mark? It could be cretense? I have one very like it and I also have cretense bought as such, but it hasn't flowered for me yet. I took pics of the leaves of my colchicums and will sort them out at home tonight.
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Anthony, pass! No leaves until the spring
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That is curious Mark.
Here are the leaves of mine, although the third one down was sold to me as Colchicum cupanii and not pusillum. The second pic shows them in situ.
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Very brave of you to take off leaves, Anthony. I wouldnt have done it. Your cupanii leaves look small compared to mine. Could it be the size of the pots they are grown in? All my Colchicums that are not in the ground are in 1L long toms
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The cupanii leaves are the tall ones in the further away 4" pot. Some are 10" long. That's huge in my book. I don't think removing a leaf will be a problem. The broad pusillum is second pot from the front and the narrow one from Crete is out of focus at the very front. The narrow-leaved pusillum is in the pot to the left of the one between the cupanii and the other pusillum.
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Two winter flowering Colchicums, kesselringii and hirsutum, have started in my collection but due to the very dark days recently I have no photos to share. Street lights were on for most of today.
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That looks as if it is outside Mark?
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All my Colchicums are outside either in the ground, pots or troughs. Those in pots go under cover when the flowers appear.
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Lovely stripes on your Colchicum kesselringii. It is indeed very dark here too and not much is flowering in my garden but I have some Colchicum hungaricum in a pot. I plan to try them out in the garden next year. They were labeled Colchicum hungaricum 'Velebit Star' but the flowers are pure white with no hint of pink so maybee the name is wrong.
Colchicum hungaricum
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Brilliant photo Gunilla. Mine are out also.
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This is how my kesselringiis look today. Although I have pellets down the b*****d slugs have eaten and nibbled my darkest one.
C. cretense is also up today. Because of the weather this may be the only photo you will see of this plant
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This plant flowered back in October. It now has leaves. I did say they leaves dont appear until much later
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Great shots Mark and Gunilla ! Very beautiful Colchicum.
Is your C. kesselringii outside in a trough Mark ??
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Yes Luc
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Gunilla, how nice that you begin to post! Welcome to the Forum! what a super photo to begin with, thank you!
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Thank you Maggi. This is such a great forum. I feel welcome already.
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Most impressed with your wee outside colchicums Mark. Here is a wee gem from Jānis - Colchicum munzurense.
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woo, look at those purple tips to the leaves... that's terrific... the sort of detail I couldn't see without digital photos!
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Yes Maggi. I forgot to point those out. Note the two different flower colours.
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Yes, I see those two colours now... is that more than just one flower being older?
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Yes, I see those two colours now... is that more than just one flower being older?
I don't think so. The oldest flower is pink and you can see a pink bud, so the colour doesn't change.
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Mark,
Love those kesselringii. Beautiful. Mine went to the great garden in the sky a few years ago unfortunately, while the C. luteum that I got from the same friend at the same time (probably close to 10 years ago) has continued to grow on happily. I'd have expected from literature that it would be the other way around. I just wish the luteum would offset, but after all these years it is still a single plant, and it refuses to set seed. ::)
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Paul mine do the opposite. luteum dies but kesselringii multiplies. A couple of years ago I gave away some
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Apparently Colchicum munzurense (from Turkey) is a spring flowering species! ???
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Mark,
If yours set seed, could you please send me a couple? It looks like you may have a couple of clones there judging by the difference in markings in the petals? I don't know whether kesselringii is self fertile or not..... although I have a vague recollection that mine set seed onto itself one year, which I gave away to someone. Obviously that was before it turned up it's toes though. I think I might have a self sown seedling in the original pot, but it is barely growing each year so I have my doubts. Would love to have it again, even if it does have to be years of waiting for seedlings to get to flowering size. ;D
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I would but mine have never set seeds.
Anthony, kessellringii is supposed to be spring flowering also.
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Here's Colchicum hirsutum. I've had great difficulty photographing it my camera cant see it. The flower has never opened wide even after being on a sunny windowsil three days in a row. Slugs have eaten the leaves so if you have it get the pellets or liquid out.
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That's much paler than my hirsutum Mark? It has lovely furry grey-green leaves.
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My hirsutum looks more like your munzurense
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Will take a closeup of the leaves of both "tomorrow" Mark.
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Here are closeups of Cc. hirsutum and munsurense leaves.
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Here is my Colchicum hirsutum again. All bulbs are producing pale flowers except for one that has pink flowers. There are some leaves just coming through. All are pink tipped.
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I find the pink one very attractive Mark !
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Mark, my hirsutum is flowerless, only leaves. Better next year, I hope ! Here is Colchicum zangezurum (Merendera) first time to bloom
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Colchicum kesselringii
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Look nice Dominique - are you growing them outside ????
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Here is my Colchicum hirsutum again. All bulbs are producing pale flowers except for one that has pink flowers. There are some leaves just coming through. All are pink tipped.
Mark, my hirsutum doesn't have pink tips to its leaves but my munzurense does. I suspect yours to be the latter?
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Dominique I would like my kessellringii to grow like yours. One last year had 27 flowers from one bulb.
Anthony I know a man who will have the answer for these little Colchicums. I'm sure he is watching
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Mark and Anthony,
I believe that you can solve this problem easily come summer. C. munzurense should have stoloniferous bulbs. If C. hirsutum produces offsets they should cluster close together and munzurense a little farther apart.
Jim
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Thanks Jim I'll try and remember when they are dormant
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Look nice Dominique - are you growing them outside ????
No Luc under glass
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Last two photos of Colchicum hirsutum to show the comparison
And the best I can do to photograph C. cretense by using a shaving mirrow to reflect light
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Your hirsutum looks like my munsurense.
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C. ritchii starts to bloom now,
It can be found growing in N. Africa, Jordan and Israel where it is a common species in the Negev Desert, usually in sandy areas, it appear equally in these two color forms.
Main time of bloom is January.
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Lovely wee plant. Variable too. Not seen this one before. Is it in cultivation? The leaves look well behaved. :)
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Yes definitely a lovely plant.
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I agree with Mark and Anthony !! Beautiful plant Oron - would love to hear more about it - as Anthony says, the leaves look not too exhuberant ...
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Beautiful, good ratio flowers to leaves.
How big are the flowers? Would it be hardy in UK?
Jean
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Yes, a super Colchicum. Like Anthony, I would like to know if it is in cultivation and if bulbs or seed are available anywhere.
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Colchicum ritchii is a stunner.... I think I know EXACTLY how to grow it in the UK, in the unlikely event I had a bulb..... I reckon it should be grown in a large bucket of sand, kept permanently on the back of an Aga cooker,, with a grow light overhead. Tip half a bucket of water over it every year or so........bet it would flower a treat! ::)
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They are beautiful. I am pretty sure that seed of this has come up over the years from the Archibalds, M. Salmon as I have some three or four year old seedlings but I am sorry to say not sure where they came from now.
Jim
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Oron, those Colchicums are really beautiful! I received Archibald's December seedlist today and they have a lot of Colchicums but not C. ritchii :'(
But they did have seeds of C. kesselringii and that is a Colchicum I have wanted for a long time :)
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This species is very 'showy', it has a medium size flower of about 5cm across with
3 thick leaves.
It might be hardy like many other bulbuos plants from the desert, since night temperatures during winter can fall easily under 0C.
the problem would be excess of water, since it receives very little in its habitat, around 80-100mm.
It is grown in pots at the botanic garden in Jerusalem which is cold enough in winter.
I think it was on JJA seeds in the past
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Colchicum ritchii is a stunner.... I think I know EXACTLY how to grow it in the UK, in the unlikely event I had a bulb..... I reckon it should be grown in a large bucket of sand, kept permanently on the back of an Aga cooker,, with a grow light overhead. Tip half a bucket of water over it every year or so........bet it would flower a treat! ::)
Maggi,
Don't think I have not tried this methood with other plants in the past... ;)
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Thank you Oron for these pics of solovely Colchicum which make us dream to seeds !!!
Dom
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Oron,
Makes me feel I would not mind getting lost in that desert if I could enjoy such beauties.
Pat T
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Pat,
wait till you see the Onco's from that area.... 8)
oron
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You're making us drool Oron... and not just a little bit... ;)