Crocuses in Latvian August

[Janis Ruksans]

We have hottest weather ever recorded. After unusually cold and rainy June started enormously hot and dry weather. Today where surpassed all highest temperature records. At my place was "only"+ 33, but for tomorrow even + 37 C are proposed. I'm dressed only in my wife's cotton nightie (I'm joking that now I'm Latvian Konchita...) and today 5 or 6 times sit in pool for some cooling. Just finished despatching of orders and I hardly hope that it is my last season in business. Now all business stocks are under replacing to my stepdaughters garden.

I returned to repotting of crocuses. At present all of biflorus/chrysanthus complex are repotted, the same is done with Central Asians, today repotted sieheanus, vitellinus, graveolens, candidus and olivieri stocks. Made some nice observations.

Especially I was interested in corm tunics of olivieri group and this year the differences were very well expressed. In attached pictures you can compare the tunics of Crocus olivieri, Crocus balansae and Crocus istanbulensis. Mostly I was interested in the last. Crocus under such name regularly was offered by PCh. As this gentlemen is not selling bulbs to me, I several times asked my friends to bought istanbulensis for me and in such a way I got them and... couldn't separate from typical olivieri. So I even started to think that it is not good taxon. Two years ago I got few corms collected specially for me at its locus classicus by local botanists and now I can show you how easy you can check are your plants true to name or not.

[Lesley Cox]

I have never heard of C. istanbulensis but I really do like its tunic, with such a beautiful and artful set of lines.

Help me here please Janis. I understood C. olivieri had what you call C. balansae as a ssp, i.e C. olivieri ssp balansae. Is it in fact a separate species? The tunics in your pictures would seem to say this is so. Mine are just finishing their bloom at present so I can't check their tunics but will try to remember to do so in the summer.

[Janis Ruksans]

I have never heard of C. istanbulensis but I really do like its tunic, with such a beautiful and artful set of lines.

Help me here please Janis. I understood C. olivieri had what you call C. balansae as a ssp, i.e C. olivieri ssp balansae. Is it in fact a separate species? The tunics in your pictures would seem to say this is so. Mine are just finishing their bloom at present so I can't check their tunics but will try to remember to do so in the summer.

After last genetic researches I don't know more any subspecies in Genus Crocus. They all turned sufficiently different to be regarded as separate species. Although in my crocus book I still kept balansae as subsp. of olivieri, really I never agreed with this and in my papers regarded it as species. I was something doubtful about subsp. istanbulensis, but now, when I got authentic material and compared tunics - I think it must be regarded as real species, too.

[Lesley Cox]

Thank you Janis. So that is another couple of labels to change. Oh well, not so much to try and fit on a label for the little 'Chocolate Soldier.'

[Janis Ruksans]

Thank you Janis. So that is another couple of labels to change. Oh well, not so much to try and fit on a label for the little 'Chocolate Soldier.'

'Chocolate Soldier' (greatest thanks to Marcus Harvey for it) still is mystery for me - some season I label it as balansae, another as olivieri and then again back!
Janis

[krisderaeymaeker]

Actual very busy with repotting bulbs.
Some of them are looking good. This mathewii goes from 1 bulb to 3. Hope for many flowers soon ....

[Janis Ruksans]

Close to finish replanting. Hope - tomorrow, at least on Monday. Today my job will be missed by social activities - we are celebrating 25th Anniversary of Baltic Way - action when 2 million people joined hands along all road from Tallinn through Riga to Vilnius - never seen before and repeated later. It is registered by UNESCO. I was between those who organised this action which opened eyes of West that Baltic states really want to be free from Russian occupation. Today in afternoon must to make speech for young people who was not even born then. Will talk about Ukraine today, too.
But back to crocuses. The year was very strange by temperatures - several spring bloomers flowered in December. Then frost in February/March, extremely hot May and unusually cold June with +38 in July. Now started autumn - every day rain and average day/night temperature dropped below + 15 C. No one autumn crocus started blooming yet, although usually some do this at start of August. Corm crop very variable. Generally autumn bloomers good or excellent. Quite small corms formed European spring bloomers - kosanini (especially small), versicolor, Italians - although leaves were excellent - harvested corms are small. And some were excellent - Cretan sieberi. Never before saw so good carpetanus, but nevadensis corms are much smaller - usually just opposite.

[Janis Ruksans]

Finished harvesting of crocuses. Still left some 60 pots to plant, but I'm very happy for this. Summer faults were seen. Hot weather (+38 C) baked some corms at sides of pot. I think my mistake was keeping of European stocks in greenhouse during summer spells. Corms of veluchensis, tommasinianus, heufelianus, scepusinensis were much smaller than usually. I suppose that sudden hot wave stopped vegetation too early, but otherwise corms looked healthy only much smaller than could be. We always are learning. Tomorrow will plant last corms and will start watering. Here dry season stopped and started autumn rains - a week earlier than in average. But I will have time for my bees now. Next week will harvest last honey (at this moment crop was 200 kg of honey from 10 families) and after that will start preparing of families for winter.