Crocus March 2008

[Maggi Young]

I took it out of the window!

Well, when you said the snow  was up to the eaves, I did wonder how on earth, never mind WHY, you had ventured outside!!

[HClase]

Well, when you said the snow  was up to the eaves,

Not all round the house fortunately, only at the back where it's sheltered.  The side we go in and out of most is usually kept fairly free, although they did have to bring a big yellow digger so that we could get our car out, parts of the driveway must have had 4 ft drifts.

[mark smyth]

Thanks Tony. I'll maybe knock them out tomorrow. I must get in to the habit of photographing all Crocus corms when I get them

[HClase]

The sun's out today, and it's just thawing.  Here's a picture of part of my frame; the flowers are (clockwise from top left) 'Princess Beatrix', unknown yellow (see below), 'H. Edelsten', C. chrysanthus seedling (undistinguished), C. corsicus, and C. abantensis (almost over).  Leaves from autumn flowerers well advanced around them.

Then a couple of closer-ups of the unknown yellow.  I think it may be C. korolkowii, but it could also be another undistinguished seedling of C. chr. I didn't make a note of the corm, but I'll look when I re-pot.  Our experience of C. korolkowii has been that they survive, but don't flower much.  Anyone found the ideal conditions for them?

[Armin]

Howard,
your unknow yellow is an C.korolkowii.
It resembles the cultivar "Dark Throat".

[Gerry Webster]

Howard, I agree with Armin - C. korolkowii - though I wouldn't attempt to guess which cultivar.
Here in the S of England it grows very well in a S-facing raised bed with other Spring crocus & Autumn Sternbergia. The bed is permanently covered with a plastic roof, is watered from Sept. until dormancy & then allowed to dry out over the summer. In these conditions  C. korolkowii flowers every year & increases.

[HClase]

Spot on Armin! If it's korolkowii it has to be 'Dark Throat' as that's what we bought from Janis in 2001.  They were planted in a bed that had to be dug over when the house was repainted last summer, and the corms discovered were added to the 'lost corms' collection.  By the time I posted I was pretty sure, but it's good to have confirmation.  As you will have gathered our climate isn't quite the same as England's (yet!) - I think that our short, cool, damp summers don't suit it.  I'm thinking about what I can do here to give bulbs like this better conditions.

[Paul T]

Howdy All,

First flowering for the season for me here in the Southern Hemisphere is this seedling, supposedly Crocus abantensis.  It hasn't opened yet (not sunny today) but from the pics I am not sure that this species should have this much striping on the outside?  I figured I'd post a pic here and see what the experts think.  I'll post another pic once fully open as well.

Thanks in anticipation.

[HClase]

I don't think it can be Paul since C. abantensis, according to Mathew's book, flowers in April in it's native location in Turkey.  Mine, from Janis Ruksans, an unusually reliable source, flowered in my frame in late February and are just fading now.  My understanding is that it's the equivalent of September in your part of the world!  I posted a picture taken on March 1 right at the beginning of this thread, and as you say they are less striped than yours.  Maybe it's speciosus? But this would be pretty early for us here, and it doesn't look quite right for that either.  A couple of thoughts from a non-expert!

[tonyg]

Hi Paul
It is most likely C speciosus but I have seen C cancellatus with similar markings.  Both are leafless autumn flowerers.  The corm tunic would make it easy to tell them apart, C speciosus has a papery tunic while C cancellatus has a distinctive netted fibrous tunic.

[Paul T]

Tony and Howard,

Thanks for the responses.  I only recently repotted them to put them into the baskets to go into the new crocus garden, so I can tell you that they have the usual papery tunics, not the netted types.  Normally I'd have had no idea, but these were only basketed last week, already with shoots appearing on pretty much all of the corms.  Google gave me very little info on abantensis (thanks for the spelling correction, that is perhaps WHY there is so little information, although it shows others have made the mistake as well!  ) and I hadn't realised it was a spring species.  Quite disappointing as it is a lovely blue.  Will be interesting to see whether others of these seedlings flower this year, and whether there is any variability to them.

Thanks again for the responses.

P.S.  I've reloaded the picture under the speciosus name, so as not to confuse people who might be searching for a pic of it.  I've also corrected th spelling in the original name.

[mark smyth]

Tony Can you ID this Crocus growing in an old garden near me. Anne and I thought tommie but as it hasnt seeded everywhere it possibly isnt. The inner petal has a white edge and a heuffelianus type mark but in white. Do I 'rescue' them or leave them?

Also present in the garden are Colchicums, Erythroniums, Galanthus and Anenome apeninna in 5 types - white, blue, semi double white, semi double blue and fully double blue

[Armin]

Mark,
is your unknown larger than a tommie?
If yes, I would say it is C.vernus "Vanguard".

[mark smyth]

I have a flower that I can measure in the morning

[mark smyth]

I just searched the forums and see a very similar plant posted already. Is it worth taking from the overgrown garden?