Crocuses in the Southern Hemisphere - 2009

[Paul T]

As mentioned in the previous posting.  Sorry the light wasn't great for the serotinus ssp serotinus, but it was the best I could do while the flower was open......

[Paul T]

Forgot this picture showing that others than me are enjoying the Crocus. 

[Otto Fauser]

Paul , your Crocus Bed seems to be a great success- you posted some superb photos lately.
 I have always grown my Crocus in the open garden -much more successful and a lot less work .Your C. mathewii is a more handsome form ,than mine ,which has rather narrow
perianth segments . also a group of the C. laevigatus col. Mt. Vouvala , Crete, of which you
posted a single flower , and C. hyemalis from Israel is usualy the latest of the autumn ones
to flower . But winter is not far away : C. minimus albus is pushing up a few buds to start the winter/spring Crocus season.
  also C.nerimaniae with 9 segments instead of 6 -certainly not an improvement .

[Armin]

Otto and Fermi,

very nice crocus images and forms you have in your gardens.
One could become a bit envious

[Ragged Robin]

Really lovely crocus photos from Aus - we are reaping the benefit of all your hard labour through the eye of the camera and it's wonderful to see them now that they are over here, thanks for sharing the little beauties 

[Lvandelft]

Paul, I'd love to see a picture of the whole Crocus bed. How it's looking now after a year would
be very interesting (for me). Or did I miss a posting of it?

[Lesley Cox]

Otto, will you post a picture of Cr.mimimus albus when it flowers please? I haven't seen it yet, just a single seed from Don last year and a single corm from Marcus, this, not up yet. I don't think anyone in the northern hemisphere belives that this is true, flowering so early as it does, compared with the "normal" minimus.

My autumn bloomers are just abut finished, oreocreticus and longiflorus are still in flower and the last of a few others. Laevigatus is coming along nicely though, and many others already with buds sitting waiting.

[Paul T]

Luit,

I posted a pic a couple of weeks ago in the 'Evolution of a Crocus Garden' topic.  Doesn't really look that much different to last year. 

[Paul T]

Otto,

Is that first pic your mathewii?  It certainly is very different.  I posted an earlier pic of mine which had much more pointed petals on those flowers (and the earlier flowers on the corm in that last pic were much more pointed as well), but nowhere near as spidery as yours.  Very different, isn't it?

[Lvandelft]

Thank you Paul. I must have missed it. Well, it's impossible to see everything in this Forum

[Paul T]

Yes Luit, that it is!!    I have sections that I seldom visit, which is why I periodically respond to a whole bunch of topics in an area that might have been around for a few weeks (I just caught up with the Rhododendron area, so a lot of them have been "refreshed" after a while.  ).

For reference, this is the posting of a recent pic of my Crocus garden (22nd April)......
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=1452.msg89076#msg89076

Enjoy.

[Lvandelft]

Paul I did have look at it, before I answered.
It is still looking good.
You know, I've seen in my life many attempts to make a garden or to make a special bed in a garden and
learned that after some years it often did not look as it promised to be when just finished.
I had such experiences many times in my own place 
But I think that plant collectors like you and me are always experimenting, which turns out in a way, that we rarely
have a beautiful garden but a garden with many interesting plants.
And that is just what we want!

I must admit, that in this Forum there are some members who have some very beautiful gardens and are plant collectors too.....

[Paul T]

Luit,

Mine will be a bit different to a normal garden as this one is designed to pretty much be empty above ground in summer, not watered at all to give them their dry rest.  Those things that need some moisture are not in the baskets, so they can send their roots down deeper where there will be moisture travelling across the harder surface below.  Any rain of course will still enter the garden, but no deliberate watering over most of it.  The top level has some things that will start up in mid summer (Lycoris, Calostemmas etc) but they won't be needing much water until I start watering everything else once things start up in April or so.  The maple in the corner is the only thing that still gets regular watering in summer, and it will also put it's roots down and out under the sleepers as I set it up so that the geotextile fabric is between it and the garden, leaving it's roots free to venture out of the garden if needed.

The garden itself has worked out pretty much exactly like I envisioned, and is living up to the hope I had for improved flowering.  I still have to finish the capping of the sleepers with the mossy rocks like in the front and left of the garden picture, but otherwise there won't be much change at all to it from how it looks now.  My main gardens are much more traditional, not being as dedicated as this one.  I posted a couple of pics of autumn colour in my garden in the Southern Hemisphere topic, which shows you how much of a mess the rest of the place is. 

[ian mcenery]

I have only just found this thread. It is so nice to be enjoying spring here and having the bonus of your enjoying your autumn at the same time. Thanks and keep posting the pictures 

[David Nicholson]

Your Crocus bed was certainly a very good idea Paul.