Crocuses in the Southern Hemisphere - 2009

[Otto Fauser]

Paul -C. niveus -lilac form - sometimes ,if well grown has a few extra tepals . It came to me many years ago from Brian Mathew under this No. :B.M. 8066 A.
 I gave corms to Marcus , amongst others , so I think you got your corms from him.

[Paul T]

Otto,

I had BM 8066A a good number of years ago from Marcus, but lost it some time ago one wet summer.  I don't even recall now what colour it was.  Yes, the one in my picture came from Marcus as well.  I liked it enough flower-wise it wasn't a problem that it wasn't lilac, as I didn't already have any other niveus.    Easy enough for mixups to happen, and in this case no harm done as it was new to my collection anyway.  I am assuming that the lilac form / BM 8066A you mention is actually lilac?

[Lesley Cox]

I had C niveus lilac form from Marcus in 2007 and it was pure white. The ones I had last year were ever-so-slightly lilac. I think what he sells are grown from seed and there is much varaiation it seems. Every one is a lovely thing though.

[Paul T]

Lesley,

Sounds like the same thing.  Lovely thing, but definitely not lilac. 

[Lesley Cox]

would someone please give me a positive ID for this crocus? Can't quite place it and not like any of the 20 others so far flowered this autumn. Thanks.

[Paul T]

Lesley,

A lilac form of hadriaticus?  Looks very like mine of that species except for the colour?

More flowers opening here at the moment despite the awful weather (11'C here today forecast, with showers.  Good news is that we've had around an inch of rain here in the last 48 hours.  Yeah!!!!!  .  I notice that Crocus goulimyi 'Mani White' has a flower up, and Crocus mathewii has sent more flowers up which is a surprise.  As well as the flowers I posted a while back, the third corm has now sent up 4 or 5 flowers, and the other corms have sent up yet more flowers after that initial lot.  It definitely shows that the crocus garden is helping mature corms, because that is WAY more flowers than I have ever had from them before, over a much longer period.  Yeah!! 

[Hristo]

Paul, sounds like you are having an exciting crocus autumn,love the earlier pics you posted earlier, super crisp looking flowers!

[tonyg]

would someone please give me a positive ID for this crocus? Can't quite place it and not like any of the 20 others so far flowered this autumn. Thanks.

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Crocus longiflorus I think.  It will have a great scent in the sunshine if that is any help!

[Lesley Cox]

Mmmmmm well, not really because it has no scent that I can distinguish but then nor has my longiflorus patch in a raised bed. It is a little deeper in colour than this one but otherwise similar. On the other hand it is also similar to a new flower on lilac hadricaticus, and that is deliciously scented, so....? Maybe I'll call it hadriflorus or longiaticus. The foliage on all three seems identical.

[fermi de Sousa]

This little patch of Crocus goulimyi "Albus" is slowly increasing from a single corm a few years ago,



In the shaded bed a single flower of Crocus caspius is up but not open as we are finally getting some overcast/rainy weather!  C. pallasii appears to have been a victim of a mollusc!
cheers
fermi

[Paul T]

Fermi,

By coincidence my Crocus goulimyi 'Mani White' opened (well mostly anyway) today for the first time, as well as a normal pink/mauve coloured one with the wonderful rounded shape of 'Mani White' that I got from Marcus a few years ago by mistake (he replaced it of course, as he always does on the rare times that there is ever a mixup).  I thought it was quite interesting that they both appeared on the same day, and opened at the same time. 

[Lesley Cox]

My caspius is open today too, well, yesterday actually. I have both white and soft lavender forms, all from a single original corm. I think it's one of the very best autumn crocuses for its solid texture, lovely shape and very clean colour.

[Gerry Webster]

would someone please give me a positive ID for this crocus? Can't quite place it and not like any of the 20 others so far flowered this autumn. Thanks.

Crocus longiflorus I think.  It will have a great scent in the sunshine if that is any help!

Mmmmmm well, not really because it has no scent that I can distinguish but then nor has my longiflorus patch in a raised bed. It is a little deeper in colour than this one but otherwise similar. On the other hand it is also similar to a new flower on lilac hadricaticus, and that is deliciously scented, so....? Maybe I'll call it hadriflorus or longiaticus. The foliage on all three seems identical.

Lesley - having previously misidentified longiflorus as hadriaticus, I'm now inclined to agree with Tony - longiflorus. If you have a hand-lens, hadriaticus has hairs on the leaf margin whilst longiflorus is hairless.

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks Gerry, I'll have a look.

[Otto Fauser]

Lesley , my C. longiflorus is enjoying this morning's sunshine , and comparing your
 photo with my plants I'm certain your ""hadriflorus"" IS longiflorus .
 Also in bloom this morning are patches of C. caspius in white and shades of lilac ,
marked one today that is a good strong lilac -I find caspius a vigorous grower here ,
seedlings appearing in unexpected places ,as I usually forget to collect the seed , one of the species that ripen their seedcapsule below groundlevel . All my stock
originated from P.F. 5035 , which Paul Furse sent to me in 1966 .
 hope you have a sunny weekend too ,
      Otto.