Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Bulbs => Crocus => Topic started by: Thomas Huber on September 01, 2007, 08:04:18 AM
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Good morning September!
Crocus kotschyanus ssp soworowianus is the first in my garden this year:
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very nice. Is it a shade of blue?
Just as I guessed and you knew here is the rogue bulbs from my pot of Crocus serotinus wide open in today's heat
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A :) lovely crocus Thomas. It looks white to me Mark
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OoH crocus!
nice pics...
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Today I noticed Crocus pulchellus x speciosus is flowering
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No blue in my flowers, Mark!
I think you need to adjust your screen ;)
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to my eye/computer they have a feintest amount of blue something we would call Daz blue
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At least here are the autumnal crocus in my garden
1. Crocus banaticus in the morning
2. the same in sunshine
3. Crocus nudiflorus
4. Crocus kotschyanus
Gerd
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Here's my first Crocus of the season. Crocus kotschyanus (gratefully received from Thomas). Having looked at the pictures on Crocus Pages it seems to be C. kotschyanus kotschyanus but looks different from Gerd's kotschyanus.
I kept moving it around the garden hoping it would catch some sun and open wide for me, but if it did I missed it-so here it is, closed.
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It's great to see Crocus appearing again but the current heat, over here, is pushing them past their best in a day or two
This is pulchellus x speciosus
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Yes, David - it's Crocus kotschyanus ssp kotschyanus. This is a very variable species
varying a lot in size and colour, but always with white anthers and 12
yellow dots in the throat. Obviously Gerd' wonderful plants were from
another source than mine!
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Thomas,
In all probability our kotschyanus are from different sources.
Mine came from a friend in Magdeburg (received in 1990).
I don't know where the original plants came from but a collection in the Kaukasus is possible.
Gerd
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Gerd, mine came from a friend in Eastern-Berlin (2003), also without naming their origin :-\
Glowing in todays sunshine: Crocus tournefortii, received last year from a friend in Austria.
It's a very floriferous form with the flowers coming up nearly white, getting blue after
a day or two. The dark blotches on the petals were burnt by the sun with the help of raindrops:
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it's always great to see your collection, Thomas
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Thomas,
simply beautiful.
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lovely tournefortii Thomas
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Thomas,
simply beautiful.
Well, Thomas IS simply beautiful :)
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Thomas,
simply beautiful.
Well, Thomas IS simply beautiful :)
Crawler! ;D ;D ;D
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I'm no crawler David. I can barely touch my toes nowadays, let alone get down on my hands and knees! ???
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You and me too Sister ;D
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Great to see some autumn crocuses - only one (Esselmonts C. nudiflorus ex Youngs) in flower here although a few others are nosing through. I think it will be will be a week or two before I have any pics for you. Thomas, I must find something to swap for a corm of that nice C tournefortii ... although I will check all mine carefully as the flower to see if any start white!
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Thank you everybody for the compliments - this plant is one of my (many!) favourites!
Did I mention, that Crocus tournefortii does not close its flowers by night?
Tony, you don't need to find something to swap, if you want it, just tell me! You have
sent me so many corms in the last years - you can have nearly everything from my collection!
But I have to wait if the corms will devide until next year - I have only two so far.
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Looking at Tony's web site my Crocus cancellatus mazziaricus dont look right. I'll try and get a better photo tomorrow
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Doesn't look spot on does it? I'm sure Tony and Thomas will have a better idea than me, but I think it looks nearer to C cancellatus lycius
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If it helps the emerging bud is blue/gray but when open the colour is confined to the base of the flower
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Mark
C cancellatus ssp mazziaricus is very variable .... at least it is if the plants that I have grown under that name are (were :'() correctly named! From what you write it could well be true to name. All the ssp lycius that I have grown have been pure white/pale creamy white, no markings that I can recall, while I used to grow a form of ssp mazziaricus with very pale blue/gray flowers with dark markings at the base of the petals. I assume your plant does have the netted tunic of C. cancellatus.
One of the points that I try to get across in my crocus lectures is that the plants are much more variable than you might think from the offerings in the trade.
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Here is a much better photo of Crocus cancellatus ssp mazziaricus
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It's a beauty Mark !
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I like it too until the next beauty comes along.
Here are the buds showing that the backs of the petals are blue-ish
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p.s. Kath Dryden is selling this Crocus. It's on here list that came today
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Gerd your Crocus banaticus is very dark compared to mine
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Mark, Crocus banaticus is very variable, coming in a wide range of shades and also in a wide range of flowering times, depending on the origin of the plants, it seems. We have this lovely flower over a long period because of this variation.
It's a beauty Mark !
I like it too until the next beauty comes along.
I was thinking, well we are all guilty of that, are we not? This is the favourite today, then tomorrow another flower opens and we fall in love all over again... then, I realised, that is the answer to the secret of Galanthophilia..............those Galanthophiles feel guilty about being so fickle, so they give all their attention to one plant, then they feel more faithful and, after all, that's true, because all snowdrops are the same!! hurrah, i have solved the mystery of the white fever!!
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This is the favourite today, then tomorrow another flower opens and we fall in love all over again... then, I realised, that is the answer to the secret of Galanthophilia..............those Galanthophiles feel guilty about being so fickle, so they give all their attention to one plant, then they feel more faithful and, after all, that's true, because all snowdrops are the same!! hurrah, i have solved the mystery of the white fever!!
Mystery solved Maggi, now all you have to do is find a cure ;)
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No need for a cure, Brian, I've read that the first step to cure any addiction is to understand and acknowledge the problem then work from there.... so it's in the hands of the sufferers... I'm just off to write up my thesis for a learned (white) paper ;D :D ;) ;D
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So it's back to the cake and ice cream then? ;D
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Last mention of C. cancellatus ssp mazziaricus from me. The two buds from yesterday are now open so I took these two photos to show the outside. The hitch hikers are no more!
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No need for a cure, Brian, I've read that the first step to cure any addiction is to understand and acknowledge the problem then work from there.... so it's in the hands of the sufferers... I'm just off to write up my thesis for a learned (white) paper ;D :D ;) ;D
There are probably enough addicts to start a galanthophiles anonymous along the lines of AA.
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Beautiful crocus, Mark, exquisite markings.
David, that's a good idea, they could be GAGA ;)
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David, that's a good idea, they could be GAGA ;)
But they're that already Maggi :D
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Mark,
The intensity of the color of my C. banaticus can be a problem of photographing. It seems my camera tends to prefer to represent colors a little bit too dark. Although after having a look at all of my banaticus in flower now I saw there is of course some variation.
See comparision between darker and my paler specimen.
Gerd
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I love these dark banaticus!!!
Maybe it's not the correct thread - but could anybody help with
an ID of this poculiform autumn-Galanthus?
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Thomas, the Bulb Despot says he is amazed to see you have the very rare plant, Galanthus crociflorus ssp. apateus..... you must look after it!
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Ohhh Maggi - you're such a killjoy!!! ;D ;D ;D
Of course the correct name of this rare plant is:
Galanthus snappedoffii ssp bychrisensis!
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I dont think there are any autumn flowerings Galanthus pocs. Does it do this every year?
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No Mark - only if the footballs fly deep! ;)
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Would Galanthus snappedoffii ssp bychrisensis have been collected in the wild in Adidastan or was it Nikeidzjan ? 8)
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You're right Luc - it was Adidastan!
We've been there last July! 8)
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;D ;D ;D ;D
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You must have seen Ruksans in that area surely - I have information he was on an expedition there ;D
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Yes, he was with me - but as I was the leader of the expedition,
it was my turn to keep the only plant we found! ::)
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OK - stop that nonsense now!!!
Here a photo of the complete plant.
It's a white form of serotinus ssp salzmanii, (not El Torcal)
snapped-off (ii) by Chris (ensis) with his football >:(
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:'(
I grieve with you Thomas - looks like it was a very nice plant...
Better luck next year !
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The first autumn crocus in my garden:
1) C. banaticus seedling.
2) White C. banaticus seedling.
Good to have nice fine, dry weather here for the start of the crocus season, rather than the more usual wind and rain that normally flattens my autumn crocus! :)
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Glad it is good weather with you, Martin... it is fine here, though getting colder and there is a lot of wind today (and last night)... colchicums flattened and crocus battered :-\
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I didnt even notice there wasnt an ovary ::) :-[
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I know how you feel, Maggi. :-[ Weather forecast says you might get a frost tonight too.
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I can well believe there might be a frost tonight, Martin. Just been out again with Lily and it is much colder than it was this afternoon... really biting wind. Brrr!
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We're still having good frosts in the SH and a biting wind as they thaw. Crocuses are well past their best but still flowers coming on minimus forms and kosaninii and I'm amazed at how long the chrysanthus hybs are going on, much longer in the garden than in pots. A lesson there.
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Here comes my picture from the first flowering Crocus - Thomas helps me with the ID ....if anything is wrong .... ::) ::) ::)
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A wonderful sunny day in Germany gave me the chance for a few more photos:
- Two different forms of Crocus karduchorum broad petals with long style and thin petals with short style
- a strong and big form of Crocus serotinus ssp salzmanii from Morocco
- and, finally, a second flower of my white salzmanii appeared, beneath the one that was killed by Chris' ball
- I couldn't resist to post another photo of these wonderful Crocus tournefortii 8)
- have a careful look at these banaticus - there's something strange!
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Did you spot it?
This white banaticus with the soft blue hint came up between dark blue
forms - it even seems to be a shot from the same corm as his blue
neighbour. Are there any white forms in trade with blue style ???
I have to wait until next year until I know if it is permanent :-\
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Thomas, I've just looked at the banaticus seedlings I have flowering now and out of 8 different white seedlings in the garden at the moment all have white styles. Never heard of a commercial white clone with blue style either.
If it's a seedling, it's very interesting. But the small size makes we think it might just be a flower from a blue-flowered corm that's not developed properly and not coloured properly (maybe dry roots, corm damage, rot?) Can you poke around and see what's going on below soil level?
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Great stuff Thomas - you're rapidly turning me into a Croconut if I don't watch out ;D
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Martin - great to hear that you have Crocus banaticus seeding around. As we plan to move in the next year or two I have not planted many new crocus in the garden for some years now. I hope to experiment with many more when we move ... if I and the plants survive the experience :P
How freely does C banaticus seed for you? I assume it is in 'classic' conditions ie moist, humus rich soil or are you going to tell us it does not folllow the 'rules'? I don't get much seed from it when pot grown, despite having several clones.
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Hi Tony. My C. banaticus are out in the open ground in semi-woodland but quite Summer-dry conditions (lots of Summer shade from deciduous trees and shrubs, but on a very fast-draining south-facing slope, in high-humus beds that can be damp in the type of Summer we just had or bone dry in hotter summers). They seem quite tolerant provided they're not baked by the sun in bone-dry beds in Summer.
In the past I've hand-pollinated them and got lots of seed, which I've sown and grown on in pots for 2-3 years before planting out. If I don't hand-pollinate, I find I don't get much seed. I've also found generally (crocus, snowdrops, narcissus) that I get better seed production outdoors than under cover, even with hand-pollination.
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my two are treated badly. One is on the rockery and the other in in a bone dry trough. The latter produces a huge flower every year. None that I know of has produced seeds
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Thanks Martin and Mark. May I quote you in my Crocus lecture? Interesting, but not entirely surprising that seed set is better outside and that hand-pollinating makes such a difference. I grow almost all my potted crocus in frames that are only covered in extremes of weather in winter and during dormancy and have had fairly good seed set on many other crocus. I hope to have more time for hand pollinating this season (both the girls now at school) and having had some good results from very limited hand pollinating in the past perhaps I will do better.
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Turning into croconut, Luc? Are there any people out who don't like Crocus ;D
Martin I'm with you, I don't think the white banaticus will be white next year.
Will try to have a look on the corm later.
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Here are some pictures of presently flowering Crocus serotinus.
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They look splendid Franz !
I hope there's no forecast for heavy wind or rain ....
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Tony you want to quote that I abuse mine? I dont mind
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Wonderful to see the autumn Crocus. Had left this thread to catch up with and hadn't realised that there were now 5 pages to it!! You lots certainly have been busy!! ;D Good stuff!!
Crocus pulchellus, banaticus and serotinus ssp salzmanii are 3 favourites of the autumn flowerers..... I think that salzmanii has to win for sheer exuberance. They flower so well and so strongly here for me. I too have the white form (din't flower for me this year, but the single corm from last year split into a couple of small ones, so hopefully there'll be a couple of flowering sized ones next season) as well as the "normal" one and a darker flowered form that I got from a friend. They definitely have to be the most prolific flowerers of the autumn ones for me, both in pots and in the garden. I wish my banaticus did as well.
Thanks so much for the pics everyone. Hasn't been a good Crocus season for me this year as we had early heat last spring and apparently most of the Crocus tended to split into smaller corms that didn't flower this year. I am intending to cover the crocus for a while in later spring with shade cloth this season, to try to entend their growth a little longer and hope for better flowering next year. I'd guess that 2/3 of my Crocus varieties haven't flowered at all this year. Almost none of the autumns flowered (except a couple of pulchellus and the salzmanii of course) so seeing your autumn flowerers here has been a real joy.
Thanks again everyone.
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The light levels in Europe have to be much better than ours. The quality of Franz' and Thomas' is fantastic
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Paul - I had the same experience with my spring crocus this year - many havn't sent flowers :-[
Yes, Mark, we had a great light level in the last few days. Today the sky is cloudy, but no more
new flowers came up for 3 days now. Seems like it was only the first batch, but many more have
to follow - I hope.
Very early this year:
Crocus laevigatus SL171 from Evvia - last year it flowered in NOVEMBER!
Next is the first successful seedling from Crocus-Group seeds 2004:
Crocus pulchellus
Crocus kotschyanus is one of the most floriferous autumn crocus I have.
It's increasing rapidly by corm division, rice grains and seeds.
Finally some impressions from my rockgarden last weekend!
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Great show Thomas !
Both Laevigatus and Kotschyanus or real stunners
No autumn crocus' in the lawn ??? Or would they annoy the footballplayer on the last pic too much ?? ;D
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Luc - you are always the first to reply - what kind of job do you have ;)
Yes, there are no autumn crocus in the lawn. It's not easy to restrict Chris
from playing football on the lawn at this age. You've seen that even the plants
in the rockgarden are never safe from being destroyed by him >:(
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Lovely plants Thomas. I'm getting there, very slowly, but I'm getting there ;D
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Beautiful display, Franz and Thomas. No autumn crocus out here yet. My outdoor C banaticus are in similar conditions to Martin's - not humous-rich soil, but they do get an occasional watering when the nearby ferns get done. In the alpine house, they live in a plunge kept moist all year and seed profusely into the sand despite not being hand pollinated. Bees often get in though.
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Wow these fall crocus are very nice. Year ago I didn't even think there was such a thing. Anyone grow them mixed in with cyclamen hederifolium?
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Thomas,
Fantastic pictures!!! What a lovely vew! Your crocuses look very beautiful and healthy. The all sunny spots in my small garden are occupied with tulips, so so far I grow fall crocuses in pots.
The only crocus that flowers for me at the moment is crocus serotinus salzmanii vigorous garden form, which appaels to me very much. It sometimes reminds me Dutch crocus vernus hybrids by its appearance in a sertain extend.
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Raining here at present so may as well post a few more pictures of my Autumn Crocus again thanks to Thomas
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Lovely!
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I'm utterly hooked, line and sinker (that's a simile for Fred!-if it was a simile? and that's probably not how it's spelt) ???
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Thomas and all,
Lovely pics everyone. Interesting to know that you are having similar problems with your Crocus. Did you have an extra warm spring last year, which may have forced them into dormancy earlier?
The other reason I will be trying to get better sized bulbs this year is that some are scheduled to head over to a couple of you in Germany when they go dormant, and I am figuring that bigger bulbs are likely to have better reserves than smaller ones. Of course I don't want to send away ALL the flowering sized ones, so I need to get more of them up to size!! ;D
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Tyerman,
I grow most of my spring crocuses in semi-shade and wheather conditions don't affect to their vegetation period that much.
As to the autumn crocuses, those species, which produce leaves in spring, grow quite large corms outside in the garden. But for getting the large bulbs for those species, which produce leaves in fall, I plant them in pots and place the pots in unheated room next to the window seel in winter. So they vegetate during the whole winter and spring until May, thus producing huge bulbs and perfectly increasing vegetatively. For instance, my crocus niveus bulbs get so huge thet they can be compared with tulip bulbs in sizes.
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Zhirair, I give my wintergreen seedlings the same treatment as you do with yours.
They grow in my sales hall in 10-14°C. In spring I place them outside, if the temperatures
in the hall are getting to high and grow them until May.
Paul - yes, we had a very strange April with temperatures around 30°C which we
generally not have before June in other years and NO frost exept one night with -11°C.
I hope to get a "better" winter this year.
David - great to see my Crocus growing so well for you !!! When did you start watering?
The goulimyi in my garden are still under the surface!
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Zhirair,
My climate is such that the Crocus can keep their leaves throughout winter where they have them. We get down to -8'C or around that, so it isn't cold enough to damage them badly, but it is still cold enough to be a good winter for them.
Thomas,
Last year for us here we had very cold in early winter, then mild late winter and very warm very early in spring. Given the small pots I grow mine in it meant that they heated up far too early and they obviously split rather than produced larger flowering sized bulbs. I have moved the pots to a slightly different location that gets shade earlier in the day while still getting good morning sun. I am hoping that this will keep them somewhat cooler while they're still growing, but later on in summer they'll still be nice and toasty for their summer dormancy. I will cover them with shade cloth as I mentioneif I feel they are getting too warm too early. The way it is going I'll be covering them very soon as we're already getting warm periods, and our frosts died off weeks early this year (although there have been a couple of light ones in the last week which might help a little).
I am also intending to build a garden bed for Crocus, Iris reticulata and Hoop Petticoat type daffs soon. It comes down to when I can afford to purchase the materials to build it. That will become a permanent home for many of my Crocus, and the extra insulation will I think mean that the majority of them will still get their nice dry summer but will stay moist for longer and therefore flower much better. If I can stretch finances I am hoping to do that within the next couple of weeks, so the Crocus etc would still be in growth when I plant them.... this will give them an extension to their growing season as the corms will be cooler and therefore should continue to grow for longer. Fingers crossed this will happen shortly. If so, I should have some lovely pictures to show you next autumn and spring. ;D
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some crocus from my garden:
Cr.kotschyanus ssp.cappadocius
Cr.karduchorum
Cr.nudiflorus
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Nice ones Dirk
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Hello, Dirk, haven't 'seen' you here for ages. Glad to have you back... I suppose it is because the Crocus season is started!
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ssp.cappadocius looks fantastic
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Dirk,
That striped kotschyanus has a wonderful "Wow" factor, doesn't it? I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it, in any species or hybrid. Very nice!!
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MMM very nice crocus Dirk.
Here are some humble ones from my garden. Just a few showing now but with rain and cooler nights the main show is coming :)
Crocus cambessedesii - pale lilac above but striking stripes below.
Crocus pulchellus - easy to please
Crocus nudiflorus - a group of last years 'spares' planted out in a sunny raised bed. They seem to like it.
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I'm utterly hooked, line and sinker (that's a simile for Fred!-if it was a simile? and that's probably not how it's spelt) ???
Closer to a metaphor I think David. If I remember my English classes from the last century, a simile always contains the word "like."
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Thomas, I'm delighted to think of your crocuses in your sales hall. You mean among the Opels? THAT would be something to see and quite different from the usual salesroom decorations of posters and aspidistras! :D
Lovely pics from everyone. Nearly over here though CC. kosaninii and minimus still go on. And still the chrysanthus hybs are in flower, `Herald' (from Marcus last year), `Blue Prince,' Purity,' `Ladykiller' and some others.
I'm reading the new Ruksans book for the second time and am noticing so much that I missed first time round. For instance, how he almost always collects bulbs (even Juno irises) in flower (unless he happens on plants in seed). He then presumably packs them and takes them home to replant. If most people dug bulbs in flower, the bulbs would promptly die or at least be very badly set back and take perhaps years to recover and flower again. That man certainly has a magic touch!
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Lesley, do you have a photo of chrysanthus "Blue Prince"?
It isn't registered from the KVAB and I've never heard of it!
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The season has started here with,
[attachthumb=1]
Crocus mathewii and
[attachthumb=2]
Crocus boryi.
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I'm utterly hooked, line and sinker (that's a simile for Fred!-if it was a simile? and that's probably not how it's spelt) ???
Closer to a metaphor I think David. If I remember my English classes from the last century, a simile always contains the word "like."
That's the word Lesley-couldn't think of it at the time.
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Andrew, nice plants. I notice that you don't top dress your pots and would be interested to know why you choose not to?
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all but one of my C. mathewii died during the summer. They were a soft rotten mess when I knocked them out for repotting
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Andrew, nice plants. I notice that you don't top dress your pots and would be interested to know why you choose not to?
David, I do not have a 'showing' background so it is something I have just not done and if a pot needs topping up with compost you can dump some in, without worrying about the top dressing.
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also from here few pics -we have a little sunshine
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Here's my first two crocus of the season: Crocus mathewi and C. serotinus salzmanii (labelled as clusii).
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Thomas, your question brought me up short as I certainly don't have any "rare" or unusual chrysanthus form. I just now went out to check, and of course I meant `Blue Pearl' not Prince. I was thinking of Prince Claus. That's what happens when you get old. Just you wait, laddie. ;D
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Good morning Lesley.
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And good evening to you David. What time is it there right now. Just after 8 in the morning here but we start summer time next week I think, or maybe the week after. Earlier than last year anyway.Sleep well.
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While at work and day dreaming I was wondering why Crocus nudiflorus is named that when it's no more naked than any other Crocus
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I was wondering why Crocus nudiflorus is named that when it's no more naked than any other Crocus
Probably because the chap who first described it had previously only seen crocus which flower with their leaves present and thought it uniquely different. Look how many wierd/daft namings there are.... Scilla peruviana etc ::)
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I think the distribution and the chap who described it would give a clue? In the case of Crocus nudiflorus it was James Smith, and it was probably the first Autumn crocus to be described? It always amused my grandmother that C/ nudiflorus was called "Meadow Saffron" and Colchicum autumnale "Naked Ladies" and not the other way round.
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Crocus nudiflorus was first described by an Englishman for an English flora. Do I need to go on? ;) Well of course it is not an English native at all, being common in and around the Pyrenees. It was later described as C. pyreneus but the earlier name takes precedence. The English material was introduced perhaps by the Knights of St John of Jerusalem and has become naturalised in several counties. That early flora would also have acknowledged Crocus vernus (also naturalised) which of course flowers with leaves present. So with only two taxa and one without leaves at flowering ...... (Could have been worse. What if he had named it after the type locality, Crocus nottinghamensis :D)
In fact more autumn crocus flower with the leaves present than without, perversely those most commonly grown in the open garden here (Cc speciosus, pulchellus, banaticus and nudiflorus) fall into the leafless category.
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Thanks Tony! I hope your lecture has a full transcript of every word you utter!?
Great idea to have your lecture link in your signature line. Maybe I'll copy the idea
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And good evening to you David. What time is it there right now. Just after 8 in the morning here but we start summer time next week I think, or maybe the week after. Earlier than last year anyway.Sleep well.
Sorry Lesley, I missed your reply. It was 20.37.18 on Wednesday 19 September.
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So that means you're still 11 hours behind us, as it came in at 7.37.18 here, on Thursday morning. Then you'll be 12 hours behind, for a week or so, then 13 for our summer. AND YOU CAN NEVER CATCH UP ;D
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I've got a question for the croconuts ;D
As we are all struggling (at least I am) with shortage of space in our gardens, is it a silly thing to do, to plant autumn and spring flowering crocussed mixed on the same spot ? Like that we could enjoy flowers twice a year on the same location ?? ???
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I'm silly enough to do exactly that in my garden! ;D
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I assume the tunics are different types so you can tell what's what when/if you dig them up ?
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Andrew, the ones I have to tell apart from another are planted in baskets.
The mixed ones are cheap trade forms and some others which have increased
well in the baskets.
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Forgive me my question, but Spring flowering crocus have folliage in spring and autumn crocus also have it on spring right? Only the epoch of flower is different?
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Spring flowering crocus have folliage in spring and autumn crocus also have it on spring right? Only the epoch of flower is different?
Excellent question, Mike: actually, there are crocus which bloom in the spring, with their leaves and also those which have leaves which come later. This is also the case for autumn flowering crocus! Some flower first, with the leaves emerging later, while others flower at about the same time as their leaves come up! ::)
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But those who also leaf on autum dont risk of being killed by cold?
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These plants are all quite hardy. Thomas and Franz have them in a lawn or meadow and they are fine.
Nearly all are able to be grown outside in the UK... sometimes we have them in pots so we may protect them from the wind and rain, but they are not bothered by cold, especially if they can have a covering of snow to protect them.
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Although there were some Crocus nudiflorus shown I cannot resist to show my plants - photographed today
Gerd
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How lovely they are, Gerd. I see you have had some sunshine!
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How lovely they are, Gerd. I see you have had some sunshine!
Yes, the sun came out at 11 and everything appeared ' in another light '.
Maggi, you are so fast.
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We have been lucky with a good day here, also. This evening the light was beautiful and the sky had so many different shapes of clouds and each area of sky was a different colour. We were out walking with our little dog and did not have a camera :-[
Sdaly there has bben some rain and quite a lot of wind in the last days so the colchicums are suffering; in some patches they are completely flat on the ground. There are lots more still to come up ,though, so they may fare better. The crocus are not so flat..... yet!
A friend has new flowers on her tree paeony, a seedling from our red P. delavayi... these flowers are a lighter red than the spring versions, they seem tolook mo to have more orange in them. Fun to see them, I don't think any of our paeonies have ever made autumn flowers. I will check them all tomorrow, just in case!
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Wow! :o congratulations Gerdk, you literaly ~have gems growing directly from the ground! An what a colour!!!!!!!!!
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As Mike says Gerd, a super colour in nudiflorus. Mine are good but not so deep as that.
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Thank you alltogether. Must go to the SRGC-Forum to realize that this is a special color. I am looking for an albino version of this easy growing crocus.
Gerd
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Great colour Gerd !
Write me on your list if ever you have spare corms ;D
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Did you spot it?
This white banaticus with the soft blue hint came up between dark blue
forms - it even seems to be a shot from the same corm as his blue
neighbour. Are there any white forms in trade with blue style ???
I have to wait until next year until I know if it is permanent :-\
Thomas, I still haven't found a white banaticus with lilac style amongst my seedlings, but today I did find a pale lilac one with white style!
I know in the past that I've crossed the lilac and white forms of banaticus, hoping for intermediates. I guess the white style may have come from a white parent and the lilac flower colour from a lilac parent (made paler perhaps by the white parent).
First pic, the little patch of seedlings. Second pic, the lilac flower with white style:
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Gerd, those nudiflorus are a lovely colour.
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I remember last year there was discussion on the thread about Crocus speciosus Oxonion and whether the plant shown was a 'true' Oxonion. Here are some pictures of mine, corms purchased this year from Rare Plants.
Tomorrow we jet of to Spain for a week for some Autumn sun to get us in the right mind to face the Winter and, as the plants came into full bud yesterday, I was a bit worried that I might miss them at their best. A couple of hours in the kitchen this morning opend them up nicely.
Hopefully I shall have some more plants in full bud when I get back home.
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Funny thing, David, a couple of hours in a warm kitchen never makes me look that good :P
Have a good holiday!
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>:( Grrrr! Rare Plants had sold out of C. speciosus 'Oxonian' by the time I got around to ordering! I meant to order from him because I know in the past he's always had true Oxonian and I wanted to get it again. Lovely thing!
Oh well, I ordered it from a couple of other sources too when Paul Christian ran out, and hopefully at least one of them will send the real thing. :)
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Hi Croconuts,
its a geat pleasure to see all your nice crocus pics :o . And sooo early! Just beautiful.
This summer was obviously extremely good for a high mice growths rate.
Everywhere in the garden new holes appear >:(- and the mice are surprisingly very active during the day eating/collecting gras and seeds. In spite of seven cats in direct neighbourhood the mice are not shy at all!
The cats seem to be full - they still catch and kill but don't eat them! Just bite off the mice heads.
Have you ever experienced something similar? ???
Honestly, for the time being I became a bit nervous. None of my autuum crocuses were visible! Have all my corms eaten up by mice invasion? :-[
Fortunately today I saw the first buds. I calmed down...
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mine are slow also this year but I'm not panicking for the time being
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Mark, you may would if you could see the high number of mice here!
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do you see hole dug in your pots? Why dont you poison the mice?
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Poisoned mice might equal poisoned cats .... and seven angry neighbours. Oh and of course if you don't get them all (including those from surrounding area) without the cats it will be a win for the mice!
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Mark,
all my crocuses are grown in the lawn or under scrubs no holes in pots.
You made a good point but:
1) I don't want to poison our own or any of our neighbours cats by mistake
2) I believe in the nature's ability to stabilize unbalanced populations by itself - either a hard winter, less food, deceases and a grown population of natural mice enemies will reduce them by next year
Of course, I'm worrying a bit about my corms and bulbs being unprotected!
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Tony, exactly.
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Poor Armin, there must indeed be a plague of mice in your locality. I am surprised that the cats cannot keep on top of them; ours seem to keep the mice to a tolerable level. Poison is not something that I would want to resort to. Its effect may pass up the food chain to cats and other scavengers including any raptors in the area. For the same reason we don't use the 'nasty' blue slug pellets because of what might eat the dead slugs.
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I got C. speciosus Oxonion from Bondarenko - I had ordered 5 but he also ran short and sent me 3 - not visible yet though (in the garden)
Judging by the pix of David, something to look out for.
By the way David : have fun in the sun !
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I've heard that growing garlic in the garden frightens the mice. This year I want to try it to make sure if it works.
My crocuses start blooming already. I have a nice garden form of crocus salzmanii and crocus speciosus 'Goris' in bloom. Crocus spesiosus Goris was collected by me in bloom last year from the far south of Armenia near the surroundings of the town of Goris. It proved to be the earliest of all my speciosus forms flowering from the 2-nd decade of September. Interersting though, in Goris, where the climate is warmer, it flowered in mid October.
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Lovely crocus, such a rich blue colouring. Thanks...
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Armin, why don't you use mousetraps?
I have caught 5 mice in two weeks in my garden!
Zhirair - are this the speciosus that had white anthers last year?
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Crocus (the last one from Thomas Huber) and Colchicum.
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after a sunny weekend:
Cr.hadriaticus, small form
Cr.serotinus ssp.salzmanii ( form flowering without leaves)
Cr.gilanicus
Cr.medius, native form ( thanks Thomas)
Cr.veneris
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I'm overrun with mice and cats. Finished one tub of rat poison this year already. The cats can take their chances. I haven't notice a decrease in them? They shouldn't be outside anyway. >:(
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Armin, why don't you use mousetraps?
I have caught 5 mice in two weeks in my garden!
I've used mousetraps too. Only trouble is, they keep going missing - once there's a dead meece in one, inevitably a cat or fox will grab the meece and whisk it away, with the trap still attached. Gets a bit expensive! It is effective though. Nut spread and chocolate spread are the best baits (I know, Maggi! Terrible waste of good chocolate! ;D)
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For the same reason we don't use the 'nasty' blue slug pellets because of what might eat the dead slugs.
I buy 'organic' slug pellets from the garden centres and DIY places down here, active ingredient Ferric Phosphate, brand name 'Growing Success'. Says its harmless to pets and kids, and the slugs stop feeding and crawl away to die out of sight - so not exactly sure what harm they might do to birds and toads etc. Anyone have any idea if slugs would be toxic to birds etc after ingesting ferric phosphate?
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I suspect that stuff is harmless to slugs and snails as well, judging from the effect it seems to have.
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Martin, that is the stuff we use, I could not remember the name.
It is recommended by Henry Doubleday Research Association as being harmless to birds and toads etc. and is sold by their commercial arm, Chase Organics (as well as many garden centres).
It seems to dry up the body fluids of the snails and slugs as I find lots of shrivelled corpses around the seedling pots that I have used it on.
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Thomas,
No, it is not the one you saw last year. It flowers for me just the first year. I collected it last october from the south of the country.
The one you saw is not flowering yet. It is my own selection from a wild material collected from the village Pambak (next to our town). It has larger flowers and the outer petals are milky white from outsde. I propagated it from a single corm and called it 'Cloudy Sky'. The common crocus speciosus from Pambak is blue, but is taller up to 25-26 cm and has larger flowers. Here are some pics.
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Dirk,
Love the styles on the Cr.medius, native form. The contrast with the fluffy deep orange to the petal colour is striking. Great pics.
Zhirair,
The 'Cloudy Sky' look fantastic. Beautiful colour combination. Well done!!
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Zhirair, "Cloudy Sky" looks wonderful :o put me on the list for the first spare!
Some photos from our sunny last weekend:
- Crocus biflorus ssp melantherus from Mt. Kyllini in Greece with uncommon outer markings
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- a wonderful small (only 10cm) and bicolored C. niveus (thanks David and Carol!)
- another abnormal small plant is this C. nudiflorus from Andorra, 10cm - all the other plants I have are 20cm and more
- C. robertianus from the Pindus mountains in Greece
- C. thomasii from Croatia (thanks Andrew!)
- C. speciosus ssp xantholaimos - the only speciosus with yellow throat (thanks Dirk!)
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And some impressions from the rockgarden:
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:o Wonderfull Thomas! I love the orange anthers! BTW you could make your own Saffron business ;D ;)
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Hi et all,
thanks for all the "anti-mice" advices. Mice traps could be useful but I'm afraid our curious cats will be harmed by touching the bait or as Martin wrote "once there's a dead meece in one, inevitably a cat or fox will grab the meece and whisk it away, with the trap still attached."
Another thing is, due to business reasons, I see my garden only during weekends. Mice traps need to be controllled daily. For sure, my wife would refuse to do the mice trap job.
I'll verify on weekly base if there are new holes and will re-think if I should start some counter measures.
Final sentence: I was absend a couple of days and it is a great pleasure to me to see all the fantastic crocus pictures and forum contributions.
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Thomas your Crocus could be in the mountains
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Thomas very nice.
Also, have you saved pollen from biflorus ssp melantherus, and then stuck some on spring flowering C. chrysanthus/biflorus. Curious if any of the seedlings would also flower in the fall?
Bulbmeiser has biflorus ssp melantherus, but it says spring flowering, and is rather expensive. I think it said $11.50 per corm.
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Your rock garden looks beautiful, Thomas.
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Not only the crocuses are beautiful Thomas, but the rock work is very good indeed. It looks just right for the plants you have there. It also looks like the same part of the rockgarden as in my October calendar page, right after the September rainbow over Neustadt. :)
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Thomas,
Your rock garden is inspiring!! Love the pics. I particularly like the group shot where the style etc are silhouetted (that spelling doesn't look right. :() onto the petals in the lft couple of flowers. Lovely detail. I'm sure my Crocus would FAR prefer to be living in your rock garden than in my conditions here!! ;D As soon as funds allow I am intending to build a small(6 foot by 6 foot) raised bed for my Crocus, Iris retics etc.... and your pics just inspire me more and more.
Thanks!!
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Thomas!
You make me envy by your garden and pictures. The day will come which I wait!! I am still so far. Yesterday I had a look around there was nothing yet. :(
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I would like to grow more of mine outside but our weather is so unstable they get destroyed so quickly
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Thomas,
I have already put you in the list of spares for cr. speciosus 'Cloudy Sky'.
Thanks for the wonderful pictures of your garden. Your photos are always admiring!
I also have a small white form of crocus niveus and will post the photos when it blooms.
Your rock garden is just splendid and I like the way it is arranged with those nice stones. Isn't it time-consuming to take those stones away when harvesting the bulbs and then palcing them back? I am not sure, but I suppose that it's gonna be a hard work.
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Thanks everybody - great you like my rockgarden 8)
Zhirair, I don't harvest my corms each year - only if there are too much in
one basket or if I need corms for friends. But it's no problem, I just put
the stones beside, take the basket out of the soil, empty and replant it!
Lesley - its good that you still enjoy my calendar :-*
And finally I have the solution for the mousetrap problem of Martin:
If the cats take away the traps - feed them and they will not need to
take them away anymore !!
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And finally I have the solution for the mousetrap problem of Martin:
If the cats take away the traps - feed them and they will not need to
take them away anymore !!
I don't think it is that easy, Thomas. None of the cats around here ARE hungry, really, it's just what they do. Also, hedgehogs will take away the mouse and the trap.. at least these creatures usually leave the trap somewhere where one can find it again, not too far away!
It is hard with some of the modern plastic type of traps to efficiently make an attachment or such to allow a method of securing the trap from "theft".
Ah, the gardener's life is seldom simple ::)
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Interestingly, at our local group meeting last night ( speaker was some small bearded chap, quite cute, talking about an Introduction to Rock Gardening) there was a bit of chat over tea and biscuits about animal pests.... one member having lots of deer eating everything and quite a bit of rabbit trouble, though less in the last week or so... others said that too.. that rabbits and mice have been less obvoious in the last couple of weeks... now, why would that be so? Any ideas?
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Maggi beat me to it - I was just going to say that in theory you could secure the moustraps against 'theft' with wire fixed to something buried in the ground. Problems - 1) I never find the time to do it. 2) You need to move the traps around to where the meeces are active at any particular time 3) You'd need to anchor the traps to a boulder to stop your average fox making off with it 4) as Maggi says, some traps don't have a hole to fix them by, so you'd have to drill a wire hole - like I've got the time to do that!
Still, for a quick answer to a localised problem with just a small number of meeces or a single meece, a trap is quick and you see the results and so know the culprit's been dealt with! It can be a small cost to lose a trap or two if you save valuable bulbs.
I always put traps under heavy clay pots to keep birds off, propped up on a small stone with a small gap on one side to let the meeces in. You can add a heavy stone or slab to weigh it down more, to try to deter bigger mammals, but foxes are pretty persistent.
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We "hide" our traps as Martin does, or put them under one of the weldmesh/perspex-lidded "hats" we use to give overhead cover to some plants in winter ( we have these in all sizes from about four inches square to trough-sized) and weight these down with a stone to try to keep the thieves off, but , as Martin says, some of these felons are most persistant... I just hope they are catching and eating as many meece "on the hoof", as it were, as they do from the traps! At least the hedgehog can make it under the shed to find the nests as well as to live there.
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We only use the traps in the greenhouse or similar space. A few years ago a bemused neighbour wondered why there was a trap lying on her kitchen floor! We did not own up (they are quite cheap).
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Thomas,
You forgot one important nuance, relating cats. If the cats are fed well, they start not caring of mice that much and don't catch them. Why to do so, if there is a better and tasty fed for them.
Anyway, neahter traps nor the cats don't solve the mice problem completely.
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Thomas, you calendar has been a great pleasure for 9 months and when I have to put up a new one, I'll leave yours beside it and enjoy iy all over again. :D
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I seem to be able to grow only two autumn crocuses outside successfully: Crocus banaticus still in its seed pot and C. kotschyanus 'Ares' in a trough. A dull day has made the second pic very dark, even though it was taken soon after the first, which is more its true colour. The rest I grow in the alpine house. Here is C. serotinus clusii.
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Great pic's, everyone. Interesting that several of you also mention that the Crocus and Colchicum are late this year. I too find that they come later than usual. A couple of the Colchicums havent flowered at all, but that might be due to moving them last year.
Here are some pictures of my plants:
Off for Scotland tomorrow!
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discussion weekend?
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Sorry, no discussion weekend for me, Mark. My fellow travellers did not like the idea of me having a vacation from the vacation, so to speak. But for Edrom and a hole day in RBG Edinburgh permission is granted (I did the booking, in a B&B very close to RBG, of cource ;)
All the best for all others attending the discussion weekend. Hope to make it some other time.
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Glasgow and Edinburgh are only an hour apart - I think. Maybe you could come for a couple of hours one evening
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The pics, I am gonna post, are not that relevant to the topic, but, anyway, those flowers have something in common with crocuses
Zeph. candida and sternbergia sicula blooming presently for me
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Hi,
here my first autuum crocus species (which survived the mice invasion 8)) in blossom.
1x C.kotschyanus kotschyanus (sacrifice of the hefty rainfall last Thursday - sorry Thomas for the bad news)
2x C.specious Conqueror (I'm not sure it is the real clone - at least it is nicely coloured)
1x C.puchellus Zephyr