Crocus January 2007

[Joakim B]

Thanks Ibrahim and Thomas.
I thought someting with the name Mammoth would be bigger
They are planted very shallow so that might make it come a bit earlier.
I have something called flavus var flavus amongst the hermelines. So I hope to be able to compare later

Lesley and all "cat amongst the hermelines" is a Swedish proverb.  It is to say "put something simple amongst royalty". "Hermeline" fur is the black and white fur on the royal robe. I do not know the English name.

Lesley what You put amongst the pigeons depend if You want Your mail or not I suppose 

Once again thanks
Joakim

[Maggi Young]

Joakim, the english name for your royal fur is ermine, which comes from stoats, a small mink relative.
The english phrase, 'to put the cat amongst the pigeons' means something a little different from your swedish one, since it means 'to cause chaos'.  There is another english saying 'a cat may look at a king' which seems to be a plea for equality !
If this discussion were taking place in the 'How to stop cats digging' page, I would be commenting that putting the cats amongst the mink would be one solution, mink being very fierce and likely to see off the cat !!

[Anthony Darby]

A few years ago our neighbours' cat attacked a stoat [Mustela erminea]. The cat killed the stoat, but not until the stoat had latched itself onto the cat's tongue! The vet had to anaesthetise the cat to remove said stoat.

A stoat will change into its white ermine coat each year if the weather is cold and snowy in its first winter. If not it stays brown. In either case, the tip of the tail stays black.

[mark smyth]

Do you know how to tell the difference between a Stoat and a Weasel?

A Weasel is weasily recognised and a Stoat is stoatally different

[mark smyth]

I'm hoping that this is what Tony calls the trade form of C. dalmaticus

[Anthony Darby]

A stoater Mark

[udo]

Crocus michelsonii, 2 forms
Crocus gargaricus ssp.herbertii
Iris x sophenensis, F2 hybrid from cross between
I. histrioides var.sophenensis with I.danfordiae

[tonyg]

I've been at work for 11 consecutive days until today - here are a few of the crocus in flower since I last had a chance to share!
Crocus biflorus nubigena - lovely feathering outside and dark anthers inside.
Several different forms of C biflorus, all received as ssp isauricus.
C cyprius - I've had it 16 years and desperately need some new blood.  The ones I grow are healthy but as a single clone seed is rare.  Increase is slow
Crocus fleischeri - narrow petalled but very striking much divided style, a feature not so common in spring taxa.
 

[tonyg]

Crocus gargaricus gargaricus and C gargaricus herbertii - the differences are prinipally below ground!

For Mark - here are three forms of C dalmaticus.  Two might be in the 'trade' but one certainly is not.  I'll leave you to work out which one is the slowest to increase

[tonyg]

And (gosh is that the time!) finally.
A new hybrid - you'll covet it - C kerndorffiorum x leichtlinii
Crocus nevadensis - a strongly feathered form.
Crocus sieberi sieberi - always nice
Crocus vernus vernus - proof, if it were needed, that the climate is changing.  This has not flowered so early here before.

[udo]

Crocus biflorus ssp.isauricus  2 forms
Crocus biflorus ssp.weldenii from Bulgaria
Crocus carpetanus
Crocus alatavicus

[John Forrest]

Wonderful pics Udo and Tony. Me salivating 

[Lesley Cox]

How easy (weasy) it is to get distracted. Suddenly a crocus thread is all about cats/ pigeons/ weasels etc. I do like your "how to tell the difference" joke Mark. Anthony, I find that very interesting too, about a cold first winter to induce the white ermine coat. I'd sometimes wondered why we in NZ never see a white stoat - we have lots of them here, and they can devastate native ground dwelling and nesting bird populations - so I suppose it's just because our winters aren't cold enough.

But enough of this nonsense. Back to crocuses. Thanks everyone for such a feast of lovely pictures. If only we could finish our current miserable summer and fast forward to winter/spring.

[Andrew]

Just a couple of forms from me,


C. sieberi 'Hubert Edelsten'


and C. korolkowii 'Kiss of Spring'.

[udo]

Crocus abantensis
Crocus chrysanthus, native form from Turkey
Crocus rujanensis from Kosovo
Crocus corsicus, a early form from Sardinien