Connoisseur Collection

[Maggi Young]

Luit,  may I ask you to pass our good wishes to Mr Connoisseur for again allowing you to share his collection with us? Also I hope that he is well?

[johnw]

and here the last picture
                                  
Amaryllis belladonna Johannes Burg

Wow!  

I have a big pot with a dozen fat bulbs but nary a flower stem since purchased in 1993.  Maybe someday mine will flower, I have no intentions of giving up on them now.

Thanks for posting the photo Luit. This thread is a remarkable resource.  Relay our thanks to Mr. C

johnw

[mark smyth]

Luit thanks for the photos of Colchicums. They add to the lust list

[Boyed]

Luit,

I just want to mention that talking about mislabeling I don’t necessary mean that the companies grow or deliver the stock under wrong name. In some cases growers mix the stock by mistake (when packing). I attaché 2 photos of my ‘Neptum’, which I hope is true to name, as the appearance of the plant carefully corresponds to the descriptions.

Pleased to see colchicum speciosusm ‘Atrorunense’. Normally it should have dark tubes. I got mine several years ago from my Russian friend. And the most interesting thing is that in his garden it develops dark tubes, but in my garden no. But the shape of flower and growing habit is the same. I see that the specimen in Connoisseur collection looks the same as mine. I also notices that it is a very slow increaser.

And this comment is especially for Hagen,
Take a look on the variety ‘Zephyr’. If you remember I discussed it in colchicum thread stating that my samples could be not true to name as they have larger and not starry base, looking different from yours. Now seeing the photo of it here I am gain confused, as the specimen illustrated here closely resembles mine in appearance. Now I don’t know what to think. Indeed, there are many look-alikes among pale purple-coloured cultivars and the difference can be mostly observed when they are grown next to each other.

Surprised to know that amaryllis belladonna can be grown outside in Holland. It looks amazing!

John,
from my experience I can say that colchicums, especially large ones don’t like pots very much. If they are grown this way, it’ll be better at least to keep them outside under fresh air during vegetation (besides they should be planted in very big pots to develop good-sized bulbs).

[Maggi Young]

New book for Tulip Lovers
 I was very happy to find information  about this book on the VRV forum...
http://www.vrvforum.be/forum/index.php?topic=565.0


Followers of this  superb thread, the "Connoiseur Collection" will know of the remakable Dutch grower Kees (Cees)  Breed. This man has one of the most astonishing private collections of bulbs imaginable. A particular favourite of his are the tulips and he has a world class collection  made since the 1950s of old and special rare tulips...around 1900 varieties ... many of them historical types, most lost to general cultivation many years ago. Some date back to the time of Clusius and Tulipomania!

A new book is available, price 19 euros... with 100 photographs of lost or forgotten tulip varieties from the collection of Mr Breed.
The book has been produced by his son, Eric Breed.
The book may be ordered by email  :
 info@tulippictures.eu
More information is here :
http://www.tulippictures.eu/LOST+TULIPS/

[Maggi Young]

We in the Scottish Rock Garden Club hold Kees Breed in high regard - we even have this whole thread dedicated to his amazing bulb collection - nice to see him being celebrated in this magazine ' Land Leven'  where his tulip collection is celebrated as being the largest in the world. Photos for the article are by his son Eric.

[Regelian]

Wow, would love to get ahold of this article!  In case you didn't get the title, it says 'for months there is nothing to see of the collection'.  A tribute to patience and expectation.

[Lesley Cox]

Jamie, have you been underground for a long time? or off in space?  I don't recall having seen you on the Forum for a long time. But perhaps I have been asleep. Anyway, it's good to hear from you again.

[Maggi Young]

Kees Breed  replanting Colchicum from the "Connoiseur Collection" - photo from his son Eric on Facebook today.

[Maggi Young]

Last year we lost Luit van Delft, the knowledgeable former nurseryman and  SRGC member who brought us this  wonderful thread, detailing the  extensive collection of  Kees Breed. ( Read about Luit's passing here : http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=14842.0)

Now it is my sad duty to tell you of the  death of our Mr Connoisseur himself.  Kees Breed  has passed away at the age of 79.

Kees Breed was  the originator of the extensive bulb collection known to readers of the SRGC Forum as the "Connoiseur Collection". Kees had many admirers in the SRGC and he will be greatly missed. His contribution to our knowledge of bulbs should not be underestimated. Kees' son Eric  and a grandson, Bastiann are continuing Kees'  work.
Kees' funeral will be  on Friday. 
Our sincere condolences to all his family at this sad time.


An obituary from a Dutch paper for Kees Breed - "Tulip Collector" says the title - but he was so much more!

[David Nicholson]

Both perfect gentlemen and much missed.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

So sad ! 

[Maggi Young]

From Bert Breed - Kees'  brother  - http://bertbreed.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/kees.html

 A photo of Kees Breed from April 2013, when he was honoured by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
 
 

[Armin]

Sad news and a great loss

[Maggi Young]

Lovely post on Facebook today from Eric Breed .....
 "Narcissus 'The Expert' blooming in a pot today. Bred by Carlos van der and it was named for our dad we lost in april last year."


Narcissus 'The Expert'

 What a good memorial for  our  "Connoisseur" !