Crocus November 2008

[Thomas Huber]

Did we get them from the same source ?

Do you have the other subsp. ?

Yes, you got them from the same source 
But Armins plants don't have the white style which is only present in HKEP9205
Great photo, by the way Andrew. Better than my own photos of this plant.

[Andrew]

Armins plants don't have the white style which is only present in HKEP9205.
Great photo, by the way Andrew. Better than my own photos of this plant.

Thank you Thomas, but you always have a better display.

The style is looking rather small this year and I did think that the corms were looking a little undersize to flower when repotting, we will see what happens next year!

[Anthony Darby]

Here is Crocus goulimyi alba flowering at the weekend.

[johnw]

Visited friend Bill in Maryvale, NS today. Here he is standing next to a 100 year old Betula papyrifera.

I was surprised to see these autumn crocus in bloom in his garden, they are spreading about rather well.  I say surprised as I have no luck with any of these fall bloomers except for C. nudiflorus. There was a range of colours amongst the seedlings and one blue I thought nice. He was not sure which species it was but thought it might be C. speciosus (?); the other species he says bloom too late.  He has very sandy soil and I guess that's the secret in this climate.

Interesting to see that the roadsigns in Antigonish County are going bilingual - English and Gaelic!

johnw

[tonyg]

Yes C speciosus -  nicely naturalised by the look of it.

[Oron Peri]

C. aleppicus is in  flower now, it has many different forms, each typically to its geographical location.
Mt. Hermon, Galilee, coast line etc.
Attached some photos I took.
The second and the last photos are from the type that grows  in the northern coast line at sea level, it is very similar to C. veneris from Cyprus.

[johnw]

Yes C speciosus -  nicely naturalised by the look of it.

Thanks Tony.

johnw

[Gerry Webster]

C. aleppicus is in  flower now, it has many different forms, each typically to its geographical location.

Oron - Many thanks for sharing these fine photos. That first C. aleppicus is really handsome.

[Armin]

Anthony,
handsome Crocus goulimyi alba

Oron,
C. aleppicus and its forms are all very attractive.

[HClase]

John,

C. speciosus does survive up here too, but not as well as in Bill's garden.  The best "doer" after nudiflorus is pulchellus 'Zephyr' - a pulchellus x speciosus hybrid I think.  C. kotschyanus is OK too in the right site - I seem to remember you now have some of these.  I've tried others that do well in my frame in pots when I have surplus corms and cancellatus ssp mazzaricus and banaticus are holding on in sheltered spots.  C. medius also held on for a bit but eventually died out - except for one clump that seems to have established itself in a corner of my lawn where I also try things out.  Unfortunately the slugs felled all but one of the original four flowers.  Anything I can grow you ought to be able to grow better!

On the subject of C. medius I was reading earlier about the virus problem with this species long before mine appeared and since some of mine came from a supplier with Dutch connections (Cruikshanks 1977 - the others were from Col. Marr in 1979) I thought I'd better have a look at them when they came up - at first I thought they were OK, but one early (for me) flower did have the signs, so I winkled the corm out of the pot and burned it.  All the others are OK so far, touch wood.  Does anyone know how the virus is spread?   Through the soil - or does it require an aphid or something?  Also are crocus viri species specific?

(The following pictures were taken during the past week or so.)

[johnw]

Anything I can grow you ought to be able to grow better!

Hmmm Howard, I don't think so.  We are prone to late autumn wet followed by deeply frozen soil some years.  I doubt it ever freezes as deeply and as often over your way judging from the Hebes I see over there.  And extreme cold is short lived your way (ie for the Europeans below -12c) Any bulb that needs a good dry period for ripening is problematic here (and with you as well) unless dried out in summer in the root zone of a greedy tree, but then they tend to starve to death in time. I have never kept a Crocus speciosus alive for more than two years and yet in the Annapolis Valley I saw lawns covered in them.

Any bulb that enjoys holding its leaves for as long as possible seems do well here - thinking Narcissus, Fritillaria meleagris, some Galanthus etc.

Lovely pot of Crocus in your photo.

I guess every climate has its own good-doers and interesting to compare notes.

Hope to see you as going over on the 18th until the 21st.

The first Galanthus in a pot came out last weekend. G. corcyrensis.

johnw

[tonyg]

Howard thats the best clump of C medius I've ever seen!  All those look clean to me.  The virus is spread by contact so our intervention may be responsible.  Here aphids which often lurk unseen on leaf reverses are a vector and there has been discussion here about the possibility of pollinators (especially the nectar drinkers) adding to the problem.  I would guess that aphids cannot overwinter so easily in your climate as they do here where hard frost and snow are increasingly rare.  Nematodes underground may also be vectors but I think they should not effect pot grown species kept dry in summer.
Are they specific to crocus?  I guess not but would welcome expert feedback.

[Maggi Young]

I think slugs and snails can be virus spreaders on the plant and into the soil...... paranoid, yes, I probably am!

Howard, that pot of C. medius is STUNNING! Love 'em!!

[Gerry Webster]

A not too technical account of plant viruses, their effects & how they are spread can be found on: http://www.microbiologybytes.com/virology/Plant.html

[HClase]

I would guess that aphids cannot overwinter so easily in your climate as they do here where hard frost and snow are increasingly rare.

That's outside Tony, but in my frame it rarely gets much below zero.  Actually I've never noticed any aphids, but slugs, snails, carpenters (NF for woodlice), and earwigs we do get.  Up to now I've never sterilised my pots, just washed them out; I think I'll be more careful in future.

Looking forward to seeing you again John.