Crocus November 2009

[Hans A.]

Janis, Mark and Hendrik many thanks for your comments.

Hendrik, here are posted more pictures posted of C.cambessedesii in nature:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=2503.msg58525;topicseen#msg58525 and http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=2610.0

[Janis Ruksans]

Today again at first half of day was sun and something warmer weather and I hurried to greenhouse to check my Crocus pots.
Still marvellously blooms some newcomers of this autumn. I bought several crocuses from Antoine Hoog (France). I was very satisfied with corms supplied by him - size was incredible, I never before had so large crocus corms of those species. It was not easy to place 5 corms in pot of size 12x12 cm and 10 corms looked as fish in cans  even placed in 15x15 pot. In Turkey I talked about size of Antoine's corms with my Czech friend Vaclav who works with Dutch companies. His comments sounded incredible - many Dutch companies are throwing away top size corms and for selling left only quite small sized corms. The reason is very simple - in transport box you can place much more small size corms than large sized. By my friend's comments this season incredibly great percentage of corms (he is reseller) came with various fungal infection, in some varieties more than 30% were thrown away. Many came misnamed - as C. chrysanthus varieties he got C. angustifolius
 Unfortunately most of varieties received from Antoine Hoog bloomed when weather was not favourable for picturing or I was away, so I can you show only very few with some comments.
The best bloomer now is C. hadriaticus 'Jumbo'. Real jumbo with gigantic flowers and blooming incredibly abundantly. In the pot shown here two thirds of flowers are plucked off due age.
One of crocuses (I bought only two corms) I got without species name as Crocus cultivar 'Purple Heart'. It is very nice, unfortunately I forgot to note how looks its tunics. It something resembles C.mathewii with light lilac tepals, but stigma divides very deep in throat. I still didn't identified species name of this beauty.
The third is the best white form of Crocus pulchellus - cultivar 'Michael Hoog' - it has largest flowers between white pulchellus and is most floriferous. It is quite late for pulchellus, I suppose that reason is that it was not grown previous season here. Newly introduced plants can bloom in different time that same cultivar grown in your collection for years
Janis

[Gerry Webster]

One of crocuses (I bought only two corms) I got without species name as Crocus cultivar 'Purple Heart'. It is very nice, unfortunately I forgot to note how looks its tunics. It something resembles C.mathewii with light lilac tepals, but stigma divides very deep in throat. I still didn't identified species name of this beauty.
Janis

Janis - could this be a form of C. cartwrightianus?

[Janis Ruksans]

Janis - could this be a form of C. cartwrightianus?

Yes, I think the same, but at present I'm not certain. It looks very similar to another 'Purple Heart' which definitely is cartwrightianus. I got this one several years ago from good grower in UK, but at moment can't find the name of grower, who gave it to me, label faded and in data base it isn't listed. Then I named it 'Purple Heart'. Mine form finished blooming but I'm attaching picture from previous autumn. Now it isn't good situation when Antoine offered in trade another cultivar under the same name.
Janis

[Gerry Webster]

Janis - your ‘Purple Heart’ looks very like this form of C. cartwrightianus which I had from Norman Stevens (Cambridge Bulbs)  some years ago. The photo is from last year.

[Janis Ruksans]

Garry,
It isn't from Norman, but may be it originates from him as looks very similar. I saw it at some exhibition during my lectures in UK (in Scotland???) and asked to exhibitor for some corm. I'm attaching picture from this exhibition. Due artificial light the white is not so pure.
By the way - this autumn I got Crocus banaticus white form selected by Kath Dryden and it looks very, very close (identical?) with variety SNOWDRIFT.
Janis

[Sinchets]

Lovely plants, Gerry and Janis. Is it a wild selection or a cultivated one?
Flowering here now a Crocus from seed collected near Monemvasia. Is it an albino C.cancellatus mazziaricus? The bract and bracteole are tiny compared to the plants we saw in northern Greece.

[Gerry Webster]

Lovely plants, Gerry and Janis. Is it a wild selection or a cultivated one?

Simon - I don't know anything about the origin of my plant, it came with some other, rather ordinary, forms of C. cartwrightianus. What I do know is that it is very vigorous - I have given away many corms over the years. Sometime ago, during a period of illness, I lost my entire stock apart from one tiny cormlet (this size O). The photo is of this cormlet slowly nursed back to flowering size.

Flowering here now a Crocus from seed collected near Monemvasia. Is it an albino C.cancellatus mazziaricus? The bract and bracteole are tiny compared to the plants we saw in northern Greece.

Your plant from Monemvasia  is very attractive. I'm not much good at identifying plants from photos, but I'd hazard a guess that your ID is correct.

[Janis Ruksans]

Lovely plants, Gerry and Janis. Is it a wild selection or a cultivated one?
Flowering here now a Crocus from seed collected near Monemvasia. Is it an albino C.cancellatus mazziaricus? The bract and bracteole are tiny compared to the plants we saw in northern Greece.

I can't see details of bract and bracteole but if both are visible it is C.cancellatus mazziaricus.
Janis

[mark smyth]

Very nice plants Janis and Gerry

[udo]

Janis,
your Cr.cartwrightianus 'Purple Heart' is phantastic.
Here a pure white and a pale blue form from cartwrightianus.
Crocus laevigatus, dark form and a very good grower.

[Sinchets]

Thanks for the comfirmation, Gerry and Janis.

[Janis Ruksans]

Here a pure white and a pale blue form from cartwrightianus.
Crocus laevigatus, dark form and a very good grower.

Regardless of something narrower petals my favourite is just the white form, especially like its greyish throat. C. laevigatus dark seem to be the same as my dark. My plant comes from Thomas H. May be they are identical. Regarding laevigatus - just found in my list that I have golden form of it - got this summer from Australia (Marcus Harvey), so hope normal blooming in 2011. This form originates from Roger Poulet (UK) many years ago. I'm still growing some of his plants, sent me by Roger so long ago that I even don't remember years of their receiving.
Janis

[Armin]

Janis and et all,
wunderful croci as always.

Reg. "Purple Heart" I found following. Paul Christians sold a Crocus niveus "Purple Heart".
He writes "This new form was selected from seedlings of Crocus niveus in the Netherlands." "The possibility of a hybrid origin cannot be discounted, but cannot yet be verified either."
No comment

[Janis Ruksans]

Reg. "Purple Heart" I found following. Paul Christians sold a Crocus niveus "Purple Heart".
He writes "This new form was selected from seedlings of Crocus niveus in the Netherlands." "The possibility of a hybrid origin cannot be discounted, but cannot yet be verified either."

Armin, really in bud 'Purple Heart' looks more as niveus and flower close in night and in dark, so in this aspect it tend to be more niveus. but its style is typical cartwrightianus style. I saw a lot of niveus in wild, and style allways was more or less divided at top. The less divided you can see on last picture. They all are made in Peloponnese. 'Purple Heart' could be extreme variation, but there are another feature separating both species - bract and bracteole in niveus usually are greenish or reddish purple spotted (in my plants of very different origin allways greenish), in cartwrightianus they are white and such are in case of 'Purple Heart', too. So may be it is hybrid, may be for that reason Antoine Hoog offers it without species name attached. I'm not receiving Christian's catalogues - as I wrote earlier he is not selling to me and never sent me catalogue. Afraid of competition or that I could find incorrect naming? I don't know.
Janis