Crocus April 2008

[Maggi Young]

They're coming out well now and looking good, Guff.

[tonyg]

The leaf is from my C. cancellatus pot, they have developed brown tips every year recently, and at first I put it down to watering or nutrient neglect on my part, but not so this year and it's just the same.  I'm wondering if it's some sort of virus - although, luckily it doesn't seem to affect the flowers.  One or two other pots of autumn flowerers are similar.

I have had similar  - keep an eye on the others.  I too would like to think it is cultural but I think it may be a sign of disease.  Virus or possibly fungus ... I'm no expert but I am getting rid of sickly crocus in quantity this year after a few years of 'I'll give it another year and see what happens'.  Be interested to know of other peoples views - are you reading this Ian Young?

[HClase]

Thanks Tony, since it doesn't seem to affect growth or flowering I'll stick it out for a bit longer - but keep them separate and use fungicide - if I can still find any I'm allowed to use!

Outside, less snow and more crocuses.  These pictures are mostly from stock bought in the late 70's and early 80's, both from UK nurseries and local ones (imported from Holland). 

In order they are:

C. chrysanthus 'Snowbunting', 'Blue Bird', and 'Cream Beauty' which always used to be available locally in those days.  The last one is from a packet (Dutch origin) labelled 'Cream Beauty' bought locally in 2006, which clearly aren't - they are similar but too yellow.  (This is not because the lighting conditions are different!)

The greenest spot in my lawn at present, where I planted a few C. speciosus years ago, like the ones around the tree (below)they thrive, but never flower.  (There's another similar patch of C. nudiflorus leaves, but they do flower; every year I dig out and re-locate 12 - 20 when they show their buds, but they just keep coming back!)

Finally, C. tommasinianus sold as 'Ruby Giant' (probably the source of the one I showed earlier IDed by Thomas).  This ring-a-ring-of-croci was originally planted in 1982 around the tree (Aesculus glabra - Ohio Buckeye, a yellow flowered Horse Chestnut.).  The inner circle are leaves from C. speciosus, which hardly ever flower (see above).

[tboland]

Howard, I think I got that same source of Cream Beauty...mine are quite yellow as well.

Thomas, I never had any 'Warley'...my spontaneous hybrid was just that, spontaneous!  The second picture was taken in a local park...I'm am thinking its 'White Beauty'....any thoughts?

[Lesley Cox]

Guff, everyone is calling you Guff and I'm calling you Rob, which I thought I'd picked up from somewhere, but maybe rotten memory is at work again, so if I'm mis-calling you, please forgive me. I'll go with Guff from now on, unless told differently.

[Thomas Huber]

Howard and Todd, your wrong Cream Beauty looks like Romance, but to be sure I need a photo of the outer petals.

Guff, no idea for your silver edged Crocus. But they do ALL look to bright for Negro Boy on your photos!
Are they darker in reality?

Todd, your hybrid is worth separating - it's a real beauty, just like "Warley"!

[Tony Willis]

I have a problem with some plants,different ones each year, showing the browning of the leaves and they usually go dormant early.

I put it down to poor cultural conditions in that I get the watering wrong in that particular pot and I find the roots have rotted as well as the growth browning.The new corm unless it is dead is usually very small but grows away again and recovers in a year or so.

[HClase]

Spot on Thomas - as usual.  I also have plants labeled 'Romance' bought a few years earlier - probably from the same source!!  They are also open and are identical both inside and out - with exactly the same shape and colour of blotch at the base of the outer petals.

[Guff]

Maggi, I can't take credit for the pictures. My brother was pleased with
the roseus picture.

Lesley, it's not a big deal. Yes I had noticed you called me Rob and I didn't correct you. Guff is part of my last name, so I use it as my nickname.

Thomas, I had thought they should be darker, but they are darker than any forms I have. I will call them Twilight. I have one last patch of crocus that are just starting to pop up with Barrs Purple and Lilac Beauty, so I'm going to use pollen from the white edged Twilight to pollinate most of them.

I had three flower open today on the vernus ssp. albiflorus. They have to be the tiniest crocus flowers. I took a picture, but you can't see the blue markings on the white flowers. So I'm not going to bother posting it.

[Jim McKenney]

Here's 'Negro Boy' as I have it. What say the experts?

Temperature no doubt influences flower color, and it's probably warmer here at bloom time than in many other areas.

[Thomas Huber]

Here a photo of my Negro Boy.
- First shows it compared with tom. Ruby Giant right after emerging - very dark, isn't it!?
- Second shows the flowers after a few days of flowering compared with Pickwick

It's not easy to photograph such a dark colour, but these photos show the colour nearly correct.
Hope this will help you, Guff and Jim!

[HClase]

Spring is sort of suspended here now.  Sunny most days, but only just above zero - at least it extends the crocus season!  Worse forecast for tomorrow.

Here's a few more C. chrysanthus cultivars.   First another rather nice seedling, quite similar to the one I posted a couple of weeks ago but bronzier on the outside.  Another I shall try to grow on.

Then two different clones sold to me as 'Lady Killer'.  The first I bought from Potterton and Martin (UK) in 1979 and have a very constrasty outer petal pattern, dark purple with a clean edge.  The second was from a Canadian importer (from Holland) purchased in 1982, it's brighter and more feathered.  Naturally I think the first are the true Lady Killer as they are what I had first, and they are much more distinctive, but I seem to remember Thomas disagreeing about this in an earlier year.

After posting this I had a look at Potterton's current on line catalogue - they seem to have changed their minds, what they illustrate as LK is much more like my #2.

[Armin]

Howard,

the latter is the dutch clone "Lady Killer" in my opinion.
The first looks like "Eye-catcher".

[Thomas Huber]

Howard, Armin is right: The first is in fact "Eyecatcher" and the last is "Ladykiller".
But Ladykiller looks virused like most of the Dutch plants I had in my garden!

[Guff]

Thomas, thanks.

The black tips on yours has a much larger area than what mine have. Clearly mine are not "Negro Boy". I did some searching found a couple links.

http://www.paghat.com/crocustwilight.html

This link the poster also says it is "Negro Boy", but it looks the same as what I have. Note the no pollen, looks just the same as mine did.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/186941/
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/186943/