Crocus August, 2018

[pehe]

Steve, beautiful photos!

I cannot compete with that quality, but here are a few crocus from my garden.

Two pots of Crocus scharojanii flavus.
Crocus suworovianus
Crocus suworovianus liacinus

Poul

[Janis Ruksans]

My first crocus opened its flower this afternoon. Picture is not of high quality and flower isn't the best, but we still have very hot weather. Only nights are a little cooler. But it is the FIRST! It is Crocus suworovianus LST-250 from Golyurt gec, alt. 2380 m (40 20.00 N 40 47.00 E). The shape of flower something resembles vallicola, but position of corm in soil (on its side) allows to name it without doubt. On 2nd picture another flower spotted today - the apple tree blooming together with almost ripe fruits. Oh, this strange summer...

[pehe]

My first crocus in the open garden is one from the large Crocus speciosus group. I do not know exactly which one it is.

[Janis Ruksans]

Very nice! Could be some of cultivars? In general resembles two species - typical speciosus, but most likely could be armeniensis (the last most likely is parent of most named cultivars). With me yesterday started blooming Crocus cancellatus (type species) and today opened flowers of C. cancellatus from Samos. In greenhouse is +34 C, I pictured them, but now I'm too busy harvesting hardy Oxalis collection (will be potted tomorrow), so have no time to show the pictures. May be later in evening.

[pehe]

After a relatively cold night some more crocus opened yesterday:

Crocus autranii
Crocus vallicola from Russian Caucasus
Crocus vallicola x scharojanii flavus

Poul

[pehe]

Next in line is Crocus banaticus, both the standard blue one but also the white First Snow.
And more flowers on the hybrid Crocus vallicola x scharojanii flavus.

[sokol]

Great collection Poul of really nice early Crocus. Not much can be seen here, mainly Sternbergia and Colchicum.

[Yann]

Indeed Poul you own a nice collection. 
autranii is so beautiful!

[pehe]

Thank you Stefan and Yann!
Stefan, Colchicum and Sternbergia started up long before my Crocus. Especially Sternbergia are early and very floriferous this year, probably due to the dry and hot spring and summer we have had.

[Janis Ruksans]

Here still far too hot for good blooming. Yesterday in greenhouse I had +32, a day before +36 C. Crocus autranii came out with already wilted tips of flower segments. C. suworovianus came out and end blooming in two days, only some cancellatus last longer, but still not started mass blooming. Next week is offered something cooler and then may be will start  more abundant blooming. By myself I'm still harvesting. Fortunately still left only collection of Alliums (some 300 pots) and Anemone blanda, biflora and Central Asian species. Anemones I watered for the first time yesterday - for tubers will soak up in soil making them larger and easier to repot. Up to now repotted only one new species which I will hope to publish next spring.

But I was really shocked yesterday, when I went to work with my bees in my former nursery place. As you now - I'm repotting crocuses every year and completely changing substrate and even pots. Used soil goes to places in open garden, mostly in grass or in shrubs - to spots where must be raised soil level. Of course, always some bulb/corm escapes, especially when seedlings with tiny bulbs/corms are repotted for the first time. As I wrote before, one of species which mostly suffered from last summers hot was crocus banaticus, It is very possible that this species could be almost lost (will see in spring). Here banaticus is not growable outside, it almost never blooms as cold came too early. And yesterday I spotted two marvellous purest white flowers of banaticus under large oak tree where used soil was scattered. Flowers was intermediate in size between 'First Snow' and 'Snowdrift', so they were seedlings. Both were well marked to be harvested at end of next season and I hope that my
C. banaticus stock will be rebuilt from them. I cross-pollinated both. It only confirms that most likely I was keeping my banaticus too wet in former summers. In wild I collected it under large beach trees where soil in summer must be completely dry and cooler than in greenhouse. May be next summer I will built some roofed place under trees for placing of those crocuses which hate too high temperatures in summer.

Still hadn't time to prepair pictures. May be later today... or tomorrow?