Muscari & relatives 2014

[fermi de Sousa]

Grew this from SRGC Seedex 2010 as Bellevalia ciliata, first flowers open this morning,
cheers
fermi

[Maggi Young]

Looks like it has slightly hairy leaf margins  - but isn't colour meant to be more lilac on opening , turning greenish later?

I'm not sure how much variation there is in these plants. 

[ashley]

Interesting to see Fermi.  My plants from this seed may still be a year off flowering.

[fermi de Sousa]

Thanks for your comments, Maggi and Ashley,
I 'll see what it flowers like next year - maybe this year it's still immature.
Here are some of the seedlings we raised from the AGS Seedex a few years ago "ex Muscari 'Valerie Finnis'
The blue pellets were necessary as the slugs were chewing the leaves off at ground level as they emerged!
cheers
fermi

[pehe]

Muscari parviflorum, the tiny autumn flowering muscari.

Poul

[fermi de Sousa]

This was grown from NARGS Seedex 2007 as Bellevalia pycnantha which I believe has been renamed B. paradoxa,
cheers
fermi

[ashley]

Yes B. pycnantha was reduced to a synonym of B. paradoxa about 10 years ago but they are maintained separately as Muscari paradoxum & M. pycnanthum in the International Plant Names Index

In his book 'Buried Treasures' (p. 339) Jānis says that B. paradoxa occurs at higher altitudes and in drier places than B. pycnantha.  Morphologically he distinguishes B. pycnantha as having lighter perianth lobes and leaves of different shape to B. paradoxa.  Others claim that there are no significant morphological differences and the two were lumped based on karyotype analysis.  However I don't know whether any DNA sequence comparison has been done. 

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Ashley,
it will be interesting to see if what I've received as B. paradoxa looks any different to what I've received as B. pycnantha! The first lot I ever grew labelled B. pycnantha turned out to be B. romana!
Here's later pics of the Bellevalia "possibly" ciliata
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

I think I got this white muscari as M. armeniacum "Album" or M. argaei album.
It's not rare but not really common,
cheers
fermi

[pehe]

Different forms of Muscari parviflorum.
I think form 2 is worth growing, but far less showy than the spring flowering ones.

Poul

[pehe]

The other autumn flowering Muscari growing in an open frame:

Muscari aucheri 'Autumn Glory'

Poul

[ruben]

Stunning form Poul that aucheri 'Autumn Glory'
Is this one hardy in open garden?
In which nursery is this one available? I'm very interested in.

[pehe]

Thank you Ruben!
Yes, it is hardy in the open garden according to Ray Cobb, from whom I got my bulbs, but I have only very few so until they have multiplied I keep them in pots. To my knowledge they are not available in any nursery.

Poul

[fermi de Sousa]

Poul,
it would be interesting to see if you could cross your two autumn flowerers!
We still have a couple of spring flowerers in bloom:
Muscari leucostomum
Muscari (Leopoldia) weissii x 2 pics
cheers
fermi

[pehe]

Poul,
it would be interesting to see if you could cross your two autumn flowerers!

cheers
fermi

Fermi, I have tried last year without any luck. This year parviflorum has finished flowering before Autumn Glory has started.

Poul