Crocus March

[Maggi Young]

Is that a sort of blue/lilac tint on the outers? It has a very fine full shape when fully open. Wonder if there is some C. sieberi lurking in there?

[daveyp1970]

Yes Maggie it has a lilac outer edge with a gold/yellow inner part as for the parents i don't have a clue,it came to me as crocus chrysanthus from a seed ex.I love the sunset colours on the flower when its closed.

[Maggi Young]

Right, I thought it was more lilac than blue but it can be hard to tell in a photo.
With the  poor weather at the minute, it's as well to be able to appreciate the outside of the flowers - we're seeing a lot more of that than the insides at the moment.
Some sun right this minute, but too late to open anything much....

[daveyp1970]

Maggie you might be seeing the flower colour right,i am colour blind and see things a little bit different.

[Maggi Young]

Thought I'd take advantage of  that blink of sun- now gone - to see what was opening up here this afternoon .
Under glass the only open star is Crocus 'Hubert Edelsten'- a real gem with such pretty markings.

[Maggi Young]

Outside things are looking the worse for the weather- even the Crocus herbertii have suffered and are not managing to get enough sun to open up fully.

[Janis Ruksans]

This Crocus chrysanthus seedling flowered today,i do not know what its parents are.

I suppose - some biflorus involved.
Janis

[tonyg]

This Crocus chrysanthus seedling flowered today,i do not know what its parents are.
]

If from cultivated seed it could be a hybrid between two of the common cultivars.  Below is a picture taken this week of a spontaneous hybrid in a roadside planting where one of the yellows has crosses with a blue, giving something not a million miles from what you have.  Several yellow cultivars are in this big planting and 'Blue Pearl' is also nearby.

[Armin]

Dave,
it is a very nice hybrid, well bred. Thanks for showing the open flower

Seed came from me. My records say seed source was C. chrysanthus 'Romance' . The pollen donator is unknown.
I can imagine one of the blue/lilac flowering cultivars was involved like Zenith, Blue Pearl, Spring Pearl, Blue Bird, Eye catcher, Ladykiller, Prins Claus, C. (biflorus) tauri, Advance and Skyline.

'Romance' in good years set some, more often sparse or no seed. In order to set seed it requires external pollen as anthers are defective.
This beautiful result motivates to hand-pollinate and to raise more from seed.

Unfortunately I lost Zenith, Spring Pearl, Eye catcher & C. tauri by last years fatal black frosts...

[Armin]

Tony,
the Earlham hybrid is beautiful. Like all those pastel tones.

[daveyp1970]

Cheers Armin 

[Janis Ruksans]

Dave,
it is a very nice hybrid, well bred. Thanks for showing the open flower

Seed came from me. My records say seed source was C. chrysanthus 'Romance' . The pollen donator is unknown.
I can imagine one of the blue/lilac flowering cultivars was involved like Zenith, Blue Pearl, Spring Pearl, Blue Bird, Eye catcher, Ladykiller, Prins Claus, C. (biflorus) tauri, Advance and Skyline.

'Romance' in good years set some, more often sparse or no seed. In order to set seed it requires external pollen as anthers are defective.
This beautiful result motivates to hand-pollinate and to raise more from seed.

Unfortunately I lost Zenith, Spring Pearl, Eye catcher & C. tauri by last years fatal black frosts...

Romance was raised by Willem  van Eeden (If I remember correctly, at least I got it from him) from open pollinated chrysanthus cultivars seeds which mostly are hybrids between chrysanthus and biflorus. Willem told me that his so named chrysanthus hybrids comes from open pollination.
Janis

[tonyg]

Dave,
Seed came from me. My records say seed source was C. chrysanthus 'Romance' . The pollen donator is unknown.
I can imagine one of the blue/lilac flowering cultivars was involved like Zenith, Blue Pearl, Spring Pearl, Blue Bird, Eye catcher, Ladykiller, Prins Claus, C. (biflorus) tauri, Advance and Skyline.
'Romance' in good years set some, more often sparse or no seed. In order to set seed it requires external pollen as anthers are defective.
This beautiful result motivates to hand-pollinate and to raise more from seed.

Very interesting.  'Romance' is one of the most plentiful of the crocuses in the Earlham roadside display so it may well be the parent of the plant I showed.  Blue Pearl is the only pure blue here.  I see quite a lot of seedlings with Prins Claus influence, the big purple blotch is often passed on .... but is not seen in the plant I have illustrated.

[Janis Ruksans]

Weather broadcast for coming week offers night frosts "only" to minus 10 C, so I decided to start opening of cover. Here you can see this process and how Crocus beds lookes just after opening and few hours later. But other plants ar looking for light, too - on pictures - sharp bud of reticuklata iris grew through cover, but Corydalis find gap in cover, pushing up some side of covering sheet.
Janis

[Janis Ruksans]

So many crocuses are blooming now in same time. Pity - I couldn't join you at crocus blooming in Germany, UK etc. But you can see them now, when your season mostly finished.
One of earliest to bloom is Crocus chrysanthus. I very like cv. SUNSPOT, but problem is that it is very difficult now to get healthy, good growing stock of it. Both stocks bought by me turned virus and fusarium infected and original plants soon were lost. But I got some seeds. Most of seedlings has yellow/orange/red stigma, but few has black. Here one of such seedlings, not so good as mother plant, as stigma are split in longer branches, but seem to be good grower.
In wild I found one specimen with stigma identical with SUNSPOT, only flowers are something smaller.
From the first blooming of Sunspot in my collectyion I tried to get hybrid with black anthers and stigma in same flower. This spring first such seedling bloomed, but it comes from cros between black anthered wild form and this wild plant with black stigma. This seedlings stigma isn't really black, but dark brown, but it confirms that such hybrid is possible.
And one hybrid between chrysanthus and isauricus with bicolored flowers.
Janis