Bulb frame

[ChrisB]

That too is an interesting idea, Gote.  I shouldn't say this, but so far I've had no trouble with mice pinching my bulbs either in pots or in the garden.  And we do have the little critters all over the place.  Maybe they just get too many peanuts stolen from the bird feeders to bother digging.  But I'll bear that in mind just in case!

[Tony Willis]

I grow all my bulbs and plants in greenhouses and frames . Each greenhouse has frames built around the sides and ends. These are made of building blocks with the centre area filled with sand and an aluminium frame placed on top. The pots are all clay plunged in the sand. Some are in sun and others in complete shade.

These frames have two problems. First in both photographs a blue cord can be seen. This is attached to a brick at either end and is looped over the top of the frame to stop them blowing away,crude but effective. Secondly even though all the frames,I have sixty feet of them, are built on paving slabs we get so much rain that a lot of the time they are too wet. Some of the frames I have never watered in fifteen years. This year I am raising some of them of the ground to help keep them drier.

[shelagh]

Franz C. popovii is my alltime favourite.  We have tried it but I think it needs more light than we could give it, it just straggled all over the edge of the pot.

[hadacekf]

Shelagh, You are right. C. popvii loves the sun!

[PeterT]

Franz C. popovii is my alltime favourite.  We have tried it but I think it needs more light than we could give it, it just straggled all over the edge of the pot.

Shelagh, try delaying it into growth, store the tuber in a paper bag somewhere cool and dry, pot up in December or even January if it does not start its self into growth first. When it emerges the days will be longer. It likes lots of water once it is in growth.

[Darren]

I said when I started this thread that I would post pictures as things flower, here is the first batch.

I also promised David N that I would give some assembly information for the 'superstructure' - I have taken some pictures David and just need to assemble some text!

Here are some plant pictures - all growing in the soil or in baskets to give a free root-run (not in plunged pots) which is really my definition of a 'bulb frame'.

An unknown frit - ID please?  I think the label is buried with the bulbs. This is tall (50cm) and sticks out the top of the frame.

Frit Uva-vulpis. The rather squinny garden centre form.

A precocious Bellevalia pycnantha with the promise of many more to come - see the bottom of the picture.

[art600]

Could the unknown Frit be meleagroides?

[Gerry Webster]

Darren - my guess for the unknown frit is one of the F. montana group. The flower colour is somewhat similar to that of  F. ruthenica but the upper leaves do not show the twisting, tendril-like form  characteristic of that species. We really need to see inside the flower - stigma & nectaries. Whatever it is, it is very handsome & well worth growing.

[tonyg]

Frit ruthenica was my first thought but as it is not a crocus - what do I know

[Darren]

Thank you all for those views - I will try to take a pic of the inside of the flower. It is a nice one and a warm red colour. Set loads of seed last year too, most of which is coming up around the parents.

[Gerry Webster]

Thank you all for those views - I will try to take a pic of the inside of the flower. It is a nice one and a warm red colour. Set loads of seed last year too, most of which is coming up around the parents.

Darren - If your plant is F. ruthenica, the upper leaves will look as in this picture. However, I think it is unlikely to be this species which is quite rare in cultivation, at least in the in the UK. Most plants grown under this name turn out to be members of the F. montana group which is what I think yours probably is.

[Darren]

Hi Gerry,

Thank you for that. I have attached some clearer pictures (the joy of the clocks changing - getting home whilst the sun is still up). From your illustration I'd say it isn't ruthenica but it does make me think that the plants I do have labelled as ruthenica are genuine (bulbs came from Ron McBeath). Sadly the real 'ruthenica' looks sorry for itself this year - the shoots stopped growing at 10cm and the flowers aborted so no pics available.

[Gerry Webster]

Darren - the inside of your flower is consistent with it being a member of the F. montana group (includes F. montana, F. tenella, F. nigra & F. orientalis hort).

See here for a comparison.

[Darren]

Thank you for that Gerry.

It fits with some evidence I found yesterday - an old list of Rannveig Wallis's which has a tick next to F montana, suggesting I may have ordered it from her that season.

[Darren]

Some more flowers open today in the frame. An Iris willmottiana hybrid and 3 small species tulips - possibly the first two are urumiensis and tarda but your views on all 3 are sought. You will, by now, have realised that burying the labels and forgetting to take note of what I planted are specialities of mine....