Crocus September 2007

[Thomas Huber]

Luc - you are always the first to reply - what kind of job do you have 

Yes, there are no autumn crocus in the lawn. It's not easy to restrict Chris
from playing football on the lawn at this age. You've seen that even the plants
in the rockgarden are never safe from being destroyed by him 

[David Nicholson]

Lovely plants Thomas. I'm getting there, very slowly, but I'm getting there

[annew]

Beautiful display, Franz and Thomas. No autumn crocus out here yet. My outdoor C banaticus are in similar conditions to Martin's - not humous-rich soil, but they do get an occasional watering when the nearby ferns get done. In the alpine house, they live in a plunge kept moist all year and seed profusely into the sand despite not being hand pollinated. Bees often get in though.

[Guff]

Wow these fall crocus are very nice. Year ago I didn't even think there was such a thing. Anyone grow them mixed in with cyclamen hederifolium?

[Boyed]

Thomas,

Fantastic pictures!!! What a lovely vew! Your crocuses look very beautiful and healthy. The all sunny spots in my small garden are occupied with tulips, so so far I grow fall crocuses in pots.

The only crocus that flowers for me at the moment is crocus serotinus salzmanii vigorous garden form, which appaels to me very much. It sometimes reminds me Dutch crocus vernus hybrids by its appearance in a sertain extend.

[David Nicholson]

Raining here at present so may as well post a few more pictures of my Autumn Crocus again thanks to Thomas

[Maggi Young]

Lovely!

[David Nicholson]

I'm utterly hooked, line and sinker (that's a simile for Fred!-if it was a simile? and that's probably not how it's spelt)

[Paul T]

Thomas and all,

Lovely pics everyone.  Interesting to know that you are having similar problems with your Crocus. Did you have an extra warm spring last year, which may have forced them into dormancy earlier?

The other reason I will be trying to get better sized bulbs this year is that some are scheduled to head over to a couple of you in Germany when they go dormant, and I am figuring that bigger bulbs are likely to have better reserves than smaller ones.  Of course I don't want to send away ALL the flowering sized ones, so I need to get more of them up to size!!   

[Boyed]

Tyerman,

I grow most of my spring crocuses in semi-shade and wheather conditions don't affect to their vegetation period that much.
As to the autumn crocuses, those species, which produce leaves in spring, grow quite large corms outside in the garden. But for getting the large bulbs for those species, which produce leaves in fall, I plant them in pots and place the pots in unheated room next to the window seel in winter. So they vegetate during the whole winter and spring until May, thus producing huge bulbs and perfectly increasing vegetatively. For instance, my crocus niveus bulbs get so huge thet they can be compared with tulip bulbs in sizes.

[Thomas Huber]

Zhirair, I give my wintergreen seedlings the same treatment as you do with yours.
They grow in my sales hall in 10-14°C. In spring I place them outside, if the temperatures
in the hall are getting to high and grow them until May.

Paul - yes, we had a very strange April with temperatures around 30°C which we
generally not have before June in other years and NO frost exept one night with -11°C.
I hope to get a "better" winter this year.

David - great to see my Crocus growing so well for you !!! When did you start watering?
The goulimyi in my garden are still under the surface!

[Paul T]

Zhirair,

My climate is such that the Crocus can keep their leaves throughout winter where they have them.  We get down to -8'C or around that, so it isn't cold enough to damage them badly, but it is still cold enough to be a good winter for them.

Thomas,

Last year for us here we had very cold in early winter, then mild late winter and very warm very early in spring.  Given the small pots I grow mine in it meant that they heated up far too early and they obviously split rather than produced larger flowering sized bulbs.  I have moved the pots to a slightly different location that gets shade earlier in the day while still getting good morning sun.  I am hoping that this will keep them somewhat cooler while they're still growing, but later on in summer they'll still be nice and toasty for their summer dormancy.  I will cover them with shade cloth as I mentioneif I feel they are getting too warm too early.  The way it is going I'll be covering them very soon as we're already getting warm periods, and our frosts died off weeks early this year (although there have been a couple of light ones in the last week which might help a little). 

I am also intending to build a garden bed for Crocus, Iris reticulata and Hoop Petticoat type daffs soon.  It comes down to when I can afford to purchase the materials to build it.  That will become a permanent home for many of my Crocus, and the extra insulation will I think mean that the majority of them will still get their nice dry summer but will stay moist for longer and therefore flower much better.  If I can stretch finances I am hoping to do that within the next couple of weeks, so the Crocus etc would still be in growth when I plant them.... this will give them an extension to their growing season as the corms will be cooler and therefore should continue to grow for longer.  Fingers crossed this will happen shortly.  If so, I should have some lovely pictures to show you next autumn and spring. 

[udo]

some crocus from my garden:

Cr.kotschyanus ssp.cappadocius
Cr.karduchorum
Cr.nudiflorus

[David Nicholson]

Nice ones Dirk

[Maggi Young]

Hello, Dirk, haven't 'seen' you here for ages. Glad to have you back... I suppose it is because the Crocus season is started!