Crocus February 2008

[Maggi Young]

Could there be a clue in that 'roseus' is pink, while 'lilac beauty' is..... yes, lilac!!??!!

[Kenneth K]

I know that I can't compete with all those excellent photos of Crocus but I will try to show a couple just to show that we have Crocus flowering also in Sweden in february - outside of course!

The first one is Crocus abantensis.
The second is Crocus sieberi. Comes from the botanical garden of Gothenburg. Wild collected but I am not certain from where.
The third is Crocus chrysanthus 'Prespa Gold'

We have had a very mild winter this year. Lowest temperatur until now is -4 degrees. Today it was 11 degrees and a nice sunshine.

[udo]

Maggi and Gerd,
this form Crocus baytopiorum from Denizli is ever so short, forms from
Dirmil Gec is with a longer short. Is not artificial light, the pot standing
in open land.
Tony G, the seed from this cross is own harvest. I bring every year pollen with
paintbrush in other flowers,

[Thomas Huber]

Kenneth we don't have a competition here, so don't hesitate to show more of your great plants!
In Germany nature sleeps again - frost in the last 4 days and no new flowers in the garden  

[Maggi Young]

Kenneth, I like your C. chrysanthus 'Prespa Gold'... I do not know this pretty cultivar.

[Kenneth K]

I bought 'Prespa Gold' from Rare Plants in 2006. I moved it last autumn to a more sunny place. In the catalogue it says:
"...true unhybridised material originating from high alpine meadows on Galicica in Macedonia, at 1900 m. From this original stock, one vigorous, large-flowered garden-worthy plant was selected. Superb vivid golden yellow flowers, inside and out, in feb."
I think the description is to the point.

[David Nicholson]

I took these two into the kitchen today to open them up a bit. Of course I forgot about them so they are a little bit more open than I had wished. Crocus tommasinianus Roseus and C. biflorus tauri.

[I.S.]

 I am realy enjoying crocus season with all this nice pics.
I would like to show you one strange thing. Is that a virus or a result of bad growing conditions?
Is there anybody who had same experience before?

[Lesley Cox]

Referring back to page 5, your hybrid Dirk, is the same colouring as mine, accidentally made here, from C. cvijicii, crossed with veluchensis. i.e. the seed was collected from cvijicii. There is a lot of variation in a batch from this cross. Some were all lavender, some almost all soft yellows and some with varying degrees of these two colours, giving an overall effect of apricot or peachy pink. All are lovely, especially the two colour seedlings.

[tonyg]

Ibrahim - yes I have seen this happen.  It has been discussed here before.  We think it is due to the leaves growing 'too quickly' inside the cataphylls and getting a bit squashed up before they emerge.  It is not thought to be a sign of ill health and the flowers are usually fine.  I find that it happens most often to Crocus imperati.

[Lesley Cox]

On page 16, reply 230, there was no pic of korolkowii for me either Luit. How did Maggi see it. Mark don't complain about last year's, that creamy one is beautiful.

I've just tucked into this new(!) topic today. It's been sitting in New Topics unopened for more than a fortnight. Just haven't had the time. But what treasures are in it. Thomas, if you get seed from your `Spring Pearls' some time.....please? Won't come true but could be something like.

[Lesley Cox]

Thomas I'm glad you found some C. chr. `Eyecatcher.' Having almost lost mine a few years ago, the remaining one has now increased to just 2 last spring. So it would have been another couple of years before I could send something.

[Armin]

I've seen the same "folded leaves" phenomena on newly planted crocus in autuum.
Feared already it could be virused.
Unfortunately can't identify yet which cultivar it is.
Will post it later when in flower. I hope the flowers will be not "folded too"

My garden/lawn is currently deep frosted. The last 2 nights -6°C and +4°C max. during the day.
All crocus buds closed and many early ones have fallen over. It looks a bid sad.
Hope many will still stand up again with higher temperatures.

[Lesley Cox]

The delicate pearly shades on Dirk's new hybrid are just exquisite, quite lovely.

[Maggi Young]

On page 16, reply 230, there was no pic of korolkowii for me either Luit. How did Maggi see it. Mark don't complain about last year's, that creamy one is beautiful.

This is the page in question....
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=1286.225
I 've just been back for a look... I don't know what has gone on there... I remember now that when I read Luit's post, asking what had I seen that he hadn't, I was puzzled, because , at that time I COULD see the white korolkowii pic......now it has gone, as Luit found and now Lesley has found again.....luckily Mark posted another picture, along with the creamy version he had got the year before. I think the first pic, now missing, showed the flower less open, which showed the really lovely bluey shading to the stem.
I did see it, honestly!!