Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Flowers and Foliage Now => Topic started by: Hans J on July 30, 2007, 07:41:49 PM
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Hi all ,
After a lot days with rain it was today possibly to get outside and make some pictures .
Cyclamen purpurascens f. album
Cyclamen pupurascens f. carmineolineatum
These plants are very unusual and flowering for me for the first time
Enjoy
Hans
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These unusual forms are most interesting, Hans, thank you for posting the pictures. I am particularly taken with the very fine foliage of the forma alba. Perhaps it is not surprising that these rare colour forms should also have good foliage. Is there any red on the reverse of the leaves, or only green?
We have had quite a good day today, also, perhaps summer has come! In the garden C. purpurascens is making buds and there are also some seed pods. We have only some dark forms, I must look for photos... or wait for more sunshine here!
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Is there any red on the reverse of the leaves, or only green?
Hi Maggi ,
I'm glad that you like the pictures of this plants.
To your question ( I have looked outside ):
The leaves of the album form is more or less green on backsite, the other carmineolineatum form is a little red .
I hope this album form is more fertil than my others - they had made a lot of fruits in last year -but in spring there was only few left - and more and more was dry and has no seeds inside .
After talking with a Cyclamen breeder he tells me this is typical for this plants -thats the reason why this plants are rare .
From last year I had only 4 seed grains !!!
Greetings
Hans
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Thank you, Hans. I expected that there would only be green on the leaves of the white form but one never knows for sure about these things! We certainly find that the "ordinary" C. purpurascens in the garden do not make as many seeds as we would like.
I should have asked this question before, now I must make you go back to the garden ::)... are these forms as sweetly scented as the usual forms?
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No problem Maggi ::)
I have always a lot of seeds in my garden from the normal form of C. purpurascens -please remember me and I will send you a pic later.
My Cyclamen purpurascens grows free in my border without protection - exept some rare in pots .
To your other question : yes - the f. carmineolinatum is scented.
More difficould for me is to get seeds of Cyc. colchicum - I pollinate they often as possibly -but with not so good results .
Greetings
Hans
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The white forms are certainly lovely and I suppose will be nicely fragrant as well? I've had the album form twice from the seedlists but both times it eventually turned out to be C. hederifolium album.
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Hans,
Lovely pics.
Is there a hint of pink around the mouth of the corolla of Cyclamen purp. f. album?
I don't know the reason for the poor seedset of your Cyclamen colchicum.
I have no problems with my plants although I never handpollinated them.
Gerd Knoche, Solingen
Germany
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Lesley : Yes it is typical - hederifolium f. album makes easy seed -and the people send it to the seeddistribution as purpurascens.....I have heard the same from other friends .
Gerd : yes -you are correct there is a hint of pink .
May be your cooler wether in Solingen is better for the pollen of C. colchicum .
Greetings
Hans
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Hi Maggi ,
Here are some pics from today ( the sun is still shining ) from my borders with Cyc. purpurascens 8)
Greetings
Hans
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Here now pics of my Cyc.hederifolium f. album - this plants are really fertil .
I have bougth before some years two plants and now comes up in my garden this plants -really far from the motherplants . This form is genetis very stabile - around 90 % of the seedlings flowering also white . They are always a little bit earlier than my other C. hederifolium .
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Yours are flowering from bare ground Hans. For some reason my white hederifoliums always flower when the leaves are well developed. That is, the flowers and leaves mature at the same time. I have pink forms that do this too, while other pinks flower leafless. There are so many different things to notice, even about a single species or form, of so many plants. A gardener's life in infinitely interesting and diverse.
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Yes Lesley
I agree with you - we will never understood what mother nature all doing -thats the things who makes gardening so interesting.
Greetings
Hans
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Hans,
Just like with Lesley, my white hederifoliums always flower when the leaves are well developed. They flower however always in October.
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I have one clump of album flowering now from bare ground. I'll take its pic later today. :)
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Very curious - I've noticed similar flowering habits in C hederifolium. I've attached a couple of pix of Cyclamen greacum taken in the Peloponnese, a bit later in the season (early November). Both pix are of the same population, but it's clear that some plants are flowering without leaves and some with leaves very well advanced. What is controlling this? Do they follow the same pattern year by year? Anyone with any thoughts? I'm intigued......
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Here's the situation in Newfoundland. My main patch of C. purpurascens, growing under a fir tree (mulched with deciduous leaf mold) start flowering in late July and are now more of less at their peak, there are old leaves and new leaves, flowers and last year's seed pods all at the same time. Signs of weevil damage too (as Hans has) I hope that a bit of diazinon will have dealt with them. All these plants are self seedlings (aided by ants). It is the only species of Cyclamen whose seedlings will survive outside here; although C. hederifolium seeds germinate they don't survive the winter.
This year there are only 3 pods, but last year there were lots, I collected some seed, put it into a plastic sour cream container on damp kitchen paper and then forgot all about them for nearly a year. They were in a corner of our potting area, unheated, but never quite freezes as it's attached to the house. When I opened it up a couple of weeks ago instead of a mouldy mess there was about 90% germination. I tried to rescue them by putting the lot into a pot of seed mix and carefully covering them with soil, but it didn't work. If I can find any seed this year I'll try the same temperature regime, but properly potted - it's always difficult to get them before the ants do.
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Hi all ,
Here some new pics from today :
C. cilicicum
C. colchicum plain leaf
C. graecum f. album
C. graecum ssp. candicum
C. hederifolium 'George Nation'
C. hederifolium 'Arrow leaf"
C. mirabile
C. purpurascens f. album UK
C. purpurascens 'Rasberry'
Enjoy
Hans
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Great to see the range Hans.
I must try harder to find a better site for the cyclamen in pots which have to live under the bench.
I keep them dry too long, I have only just watered them so it will be a while before they flower.
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Ian ,
All this plants are in pots -the purpurascens outside and all other in my greenhouse ( under the tables ) -I give them all two weeks water .
Greetings
Hans
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Thanks Hans, I know I should water them sooner and always mean to do it in early August but then I am busy repotting the other bulbs so sometimes the cyclamen have to wait until September when I water the rest of the bulbs.
I am especially fond of Cyclamen mirabile - I think it is my favourite.
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Ian ,
I give my Cyclamen in the whole year in every two weeks water -they should not be really dry - and be carefull with fertilizer -they like it not so much .
If you give to much so they will only produce a lot of leaves - and poor flowers .
I dont know if my method with watering works for you too -but for me is it perfect.
Yes - mirabile are beautifull plants ...I hope to find one day a source for mirabile f. niveum....
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Great pics Hans. Wonderful to see so many species. Here at the moment we have all the coums in flower, plus pseudibericum, as well as a few purpurascens with a few flowers left on them. Nice to see the earlier species "in flower" right now as well (even if it is via the computer! ;D). I agree with Ian about the mirabile.... there is just something dainty about the flower that gives it a something extra. That purpurascens album is very impressive though!! Looks like a very happy plant. :)
Thansk for posting the pics. 8)
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Glad that you like it Paul ,
You write : "Looks like a very happy plant "- I had before some days lost a second plant of these - it is died in few days .
A good Cyclamen grower told me that this plants are really sensitive - he has lost all his plants from this source ....so I hope ....
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Hans,
Oh no! I remember that you said you had 2 plants of this. Did the other one flower before it died, and were you able to cross pollinate them? Do they even need cross pollination? Still good for genetic variation of course, but I realise that some do and some don't need a second clone. Not sure about purpurascens. Good luck with getting yourself some seed. That way at least you'll have backup coming along. It certainly is a shame to have lost the second one. Hopefully my comment about it looking so good hasn't doomed this one to a quick death as well. Murphy's Law and all that!!
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Hi @ all ,
Today a little sun .....and....
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Great pictures Hans - though a bit big for my screen.
For me, the white graecum is the pick of the bunch. So pristine.
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I love C. rohlfsianum!
And they are out so early, wonderful what a little sun can do, isn't it?
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Cyclamen mirabile that has just come into flower.
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Cyclamen graecum is looking good in my covered 'bulb' bed.
When we move house will I be able to move them ..... ? .... :'(
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You MUST. How could you not? I remember from when I dug one from a trough a year or two ago, it had roots to the bottom of the trough and out the drainage holes and into the ground for about 30cms. Dig deep laddie!
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As Lesley says, graecum have long, fleshy roots. You are bound to damge them but they will grow again - just do your best and don't dare to leave the plants behind.
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Who wants to come and help? I'm gonna have my work cut out with all the pots .... don't rush though, this house is not on the market yet!
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I would come, Tony, happily but it is rather a long journey. :(
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I'll come. :D
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Bring a cake and I'll chip in towards for the fare ;D
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It's a deal. :)
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Hi,
Cyclamen graecum are coming along nicely here now. Attached are a few photos taken in the greenhouse this afternoon.
Best,
John
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Wow. What a fantastic display of graecums. Amazing collection!!
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Good God! Are these ALL graecum?
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Absolutely fabulous, John!
cheers
fermi
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What a display! And I bet there'll be some lovely leaves after the flowers too.
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Oh, heavens!! :o How wonderful!
Chloë
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What a fabulous avalanche John :D !
I was told once that C. graecum are difficult to get flowering ?? ???
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Very, very nice. Super photos too. Thanks for sharing them with us.
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Hard not to love them, isn't it?
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Hi Lesley,
Very observant ;)
There's a few C. rohlfsianum on that bench!
These have all been grown from seed and the majority have been selected for leaf form. Every year I go through them and put a stick in those with the pots with the poorest flowers. If the leaves aren't wonderful then off they go. The C. graecum ssp. candicum and anatolicum are my favorites, graecum ssp. graecum tends to be taller in flower and looser in leaf, so they have to be really good to earn their keep.
They seem to like our conditions and flower very reliably. Seed set is non-existant unless I move the pots outside for a few days and let the insects get to work.
Best,
John
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And I thought I was doing well with C graecum :) :)
Plastic pots, unplunged, OK so its under glass and summer is reliably warm but .... WOW!
I get lots of seed from mine both in pots and plunged but then I'm not in control of things like John is, mine get visited by any insect who happens to fly in.
Are they kept frost-free in winter John?
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Wonderful pictures and plants John. Ah one day !!!!
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Yes, frost free, at least at the level of the benches. The pots near the bottom vents will freeze sometimes. The gas heater comes on when the roof gets down to 45F. The exhaust fans come on when the temperature rises above about 55F so it is a fine balancing act to save blasting all that expensive warm air back out!
The smallest round pots are about 5", the 'terracotta' ones are about 6 1/2" and the big round ones about 9". They don't get a drop of water from mid-June to mid-September but I'm sure they never get completely dry. It still amazes me when repotting bulbs to find damp compost at the bottom of a square 4 1/2" pot a couple of months after it was last watered - and that is with our heat. The 3 1/2" pots all dry thoroughly - it is amazing what a difference an extra inch makes.
These pots remain uncovered in summer, but I put 1/3" thick sheets of building insulation styrofoam over the other cyclamen once fully dormant - it really helps prevent desiccation, particularly with the seedlings. Hederifolium always desiccates first - but the tubers look just as tough as graecum and persicum, whereas mirabile looks very suceptible but never desiccates. Coum and the repandum complex are somewhere in the middle.
With us hitting the high 80sF over the next few days, and with undiluted sun for weeks now, I still have 60% shade cloth on the greenhouses. I'll probably roll it up some at the weekend, as the leaves are starting to appear.
I water overhead using a 15" wand - a great tool that makes a fine but powerful curtain of water and is perfect for watering a lot of pots evenly.
Best,
J.
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You must be SO disappointed with that empty pot at the front John!!!! ::)
Fabulous collection and immaculate photos...thanks for sharing.
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You must be SO disappointed with that empty pot at the front John!!!! ::)
I bet it's not empty, just a bit later coming through :D