Crocus December, 2016

[Tony Willis]

Yes, I realised the parentage of your  bulb, Tony, I should have made it clearer that Janis was just saying it looked similar to 'Henrik' which is an f2.

I have a selection of photographs of the f2 hybrids from Gothenburg and they are quite wonderful. It is interesting that apart from the 'Henrik' all the others I have seen have the yellow colouring from scardicus coming through strongly.

This is what I am trying to emulate with the ones I have coming on and will be pleased if they are even nearly as good.

[Cyril L]

two views of a hybrid crocus I have raised. Crocus x gotoburgensis (pelistericus x scardicus) x pelistericus. It seems the C.scardicus yellow has been completely lost and white introduced. There are several more to flower and so it will be interesting to see how they turn out.

Interesting hybrid Tony.  Perhaps your f2 will be even better.

Flowering yesterday, a rare sunny day, was a very early? Crocus chrysanthus 'Warley' which Thomas described as having disappeared from trade and very rare nowadays.

[Janis Ruksans]

Sorry, Cyril, it is not Warley. Will try to translate description (very shortened) of Warley from my first book on crocuses printed in Latvian in 1981:

Warley, Sin. Large Warley White - raised by Van Tubergen, got two awards in 1906 and in 1933.
Blooms around 22 days, makes 6-9 flowers per corm. The outer segments 28 x 14 mm, white (RHS CC 11D), at outer base greyish tongue turning into light lilac (87A>B) narrow diffused midvein. Inner segments more rounded, 25x15 mm, white on both sides, at outside base short greyish tongue on translucent yellow from throat. Tube dark lilac, throat light yellow (11 B), anthers darker yellow (15B) with black basal lobes. Stigma bright orange (24A) overtop anthers for 7 mm. Leaves 5-6, 3 mm wide, reach 27 cm length. In second half of blooming overtops flowers. Fertile. Increasing rate by corm splitting in average 2.8, maximum observed - 5.
Received from Van Tubergen and from Institute of Ornamental Horticulture in Pruhonice (Czechoslovakia).

I have only old style slide which must be scanned, but to find it now would be too difficult. As you can see - it is quite different from plant on your pictures. It was time when Dutch companies were doing both - growing and selling, and then most of stocks came true named and healthy. Now all changed... Not only naming, but quality became simply horrible...

[Cyril L]

Thanks Janis.  I can see my plant does not quite fit in with description of Warley.  Any idea what it might be?

[Janis Ruksans]

Thanks Janis.  I can see my plant does not quite fit in with description of Warley.  Any idea what it might be?

Sorry, I'm not growing Dutch cultivars for around 20 years and not remember them so well more to identify, simply about Warley I remembered how it look, when I worked on cultivars for my very first book on crocuses, May be you can use article of Jacobsen N., Van Scheepen J., Orgaard M. 1997. The Crocus chrysanthus-biflorus cultivars. The New Plantsman. 4: 6-38.  There are included good key, although still remain question about few cultivars where possibly wrong clone are included - the distinction between cv. 'E.A. Bowles' and 'E.P. Bowles' - seem to be not correct (at least judging by my observations from late seventies-early eighties of last century, when true cultivars still was foundable.

[YT]

A self pollinated seedling from Crocus sieberi subsp. atticus ‘Stunner’. It flowers earlier than its parent.

[sokol]

Here it is still autumn regarding the Crocus. Few pictures after 6 weeks of ugly weather with many fog. Crocus melantherus has just opened the first flower.
The flower of this Crocus laevigatus from Evia is rather big, the biggest one I have.

[sokol]

Still in flower are these two Crocus.

[Tony Willis]

Crocus biflorus pulchricolor white form

Crocus fleischeri

Crocus hybrid raised from seed collected from a natural hybrid of C. biflorus sso pulchricolor and C. chrysanthus.