Crocus autumn - 2020

[Janis Ruksans]

Here still no real winter started. Weather is cool, dark and wet, but some spring blooming bulbs hurry to come out. Two days ago I visited my greenhouse - I got parcel with some crocus corms to be potted immediately (in surprisingly perfect shape, regardless of very long traveling before reach me). I brought in few Crocus pots to force opening. Crocus fleischeri already were in closed buds for some weeks. I brought in pot labeled as C. fleischeri form with brown stigma, having blue striped outside of petals. Really stigma this season at opening had only some brownish shade, but later, when flowers fully opened, it turned dark red. Is it seasonal fluctuation or wrong label? I will see answer next season.
From distance I was shocked seeing yellow buds on one bed where pots with reticulata irises were placed. The first idea - wrong label? It could be impossible to place pot with Iris winogradowii between summer-dry loving species. But when I saw label "Iris bakeriana alba" I was even more surprised. In spring 2017 I together with my Czech friend we spotted on field with Iris bakeriana in Iran one clump with white flowers. White colour in wild reticulatas is extremely rare occasion - I really know only 3 cases - Alan McMurtries 'White Caucasus' , which is slightly bluish, purest white found by Zhirair Basmajyan in Armenia (both are Iris reticulata), and the third is our I. bakeriana. We split this clump between us, but at planting time they looked so poor, that I had no hope for some living bulb. In spring 2018 four very tiny shoots came out with me, but nothing in my friends garden. This autumn I planted four still very small bulbs without any hope to see flowers - but now three flower buds comes out! Still only in bud - I'm afraid to bring them inside, but may be in the New Year, as some frost coming for one week is broadcasted. Although not crocus, it is such rarity, that I can’t withstand attemption to show it here, too.

[Yann]

I don't like bringing of crocus pots from greenhouse into room. My first attempts with replacing of pots on bathrooms windowsill ended with great losses in crop and a pair of very rare plants were lost forever. But there are situations as last season and again this winter when weather is so mild, that some crocuses hurry to come out and stay in closed buds due lack of light and regardless of minor + C degrees, it is quite cool even under cover. And I keep all doors open to press down inner temperature. Some of those are rarities and I need their seeds - so nothing left than bring them for only a pair of hours in warm kitchen to open tightly closed buds, pollinate and immediately back into greenhouse. Even this by my last years experience shows that crocuses don't like such "forcing", actually this could be compared with raping.
In this entry I'm showing very special crocus which I got from Ibrahim as seeds. He gave me some seeds supposing that it s new, autumn blooming species as ripe seeds were collected wild in February. But it turned identical with Crocus demirizianus published by Osman Erol, and collected by me, too at its locus classicus. Regardless of identity by morphology, Ibrahim's plants always blooms earlier than those from type locality - this season it happens just now.

very special and beautiful, i hope you'll have seedlings!

[Janis Ruksans]

Yesterday again checked crocus pots and 4 more samples shows tips of flower buds, surprised that usual runners - Central Asian species - alatavicus, michelsonii still are sleeping, but tips of shoots shows only C. korolkowii Alba. From those which I brought in for pictures and pollination - here Crocus stridii from Chalkidiki in Greece, stippled form.