Crocus October 2011

[tonyg]

Lots of nice crocuses everyone.  Janis, the Crocus laevigatus Peloponnese looks very similar to the heavily veined Crocus boryi that Art showed recently.  Do you think these could be hybrids boryi x laevigatus?

[annew]

Crocus cartwrightianus Halloween is very beautiful, Janis. The colours are wonderful.

[Gerry Webster]

Crocus ligusticus

The usual trade form though this one  is apparently free of virus.

[Janis Ruksans]

Lots of nice crocuses everyone.  Janis, the Crocus laevigatus Peloponnese looks very similar to the heavily veined Crocus boryi that Art showed recently.  Do you think these could be hybrids boryi x laevigatus?

May be you are right. On the place where it was collected both C. bopryi and C. laevigatus grow side by side - laeveigatus generally on roadside and boryi between shrubs. In same spot I collected deep pink (not so good as Melvyn's) and bicolored goulimyi forms.
Janis

[Janis Ruksans]

Lots of nice crocuses everyone.  Janis, the Crocus laevigatus Peloponnese looks very similar to the heavily veined Crocus boryi that Art showed recently.  Do you think these could be hybrids boryi x laevigatus?

In addition I will repeat small part from my Crocus book:

"Sometimes their distinction is quite problematic and in my opinion the most successfully this problem was treated by Peter and Penny Watt in the Crocus Group Bulletin quoted earlier: “For us, though, an essential adjunct to growing crocus from Series Laevigati is a two--sided label… -- one side of the label claims C. boryi the other C. laevigatus. We reverse the label whenever we change our minds. This system came into being in order to cope with C. tournefortii on Rhodes. … On rare occasion we look at the most confusing of crocus in Series Laevigati and wonder whether we should not upgrade our system; but then where can we obtain a three--sided label?” Although I don’t think that the typical plants would be so difficult to separate, problems could arise with the marginal variations in mixed populations in which the exact identification without seeing a corm would not be easy especially when a pure white C. laevigatus grows together with C. boryi. Then helps the shape of the flowers---in full sun flowers of C. laevigatus open like flat stars, while C. boryi retains its goblet shape."
Janis

[Oron Peri]

My very first Crocus for this season:
C. cancellatus damascenus from S. Jordan.
Many more to come...

[udo]

Oron,
you have your first Crocus, here is one of my last Crocus for this autumn:
Crocus hyemalis, the first flower with many petals from a large corm

[alpinelover]

A first flower of C. goulimyi in the garden today.

[Roma]

I've had very few crocuses flowering in pots this year but my Crocus 'lawn' keeps spreading.  Only Crocus pulchellus but lots of it.  All came from a few seeds or small corms thrown out with usede potting compost.  The first flowers appeared about September 8th and they keep coming.  The first picture was taken on September 27th and the second on October 14th.  I am happy with the crocuses in the grass but not so happy in the borders where the leaves can smother small plants or spoil flowering effects.  There is a little variation with some flowers being pale and others stronger in colour.

[Hans A.]

Here some pics from a cambessedesii - tour at saturday I made with some friends. Crocus cambessedesii grows especially well where goats cannot harm it too much - inside of small spiny shrubs or in narrow crevices. Here a few impressions of common (pic3) and more uncommon forms.

[art600]

Hans

Spectacular Crocus - cambessedesii is one of my favourites, even though I only have the 'common' form.

[pehe]

Hans,
Lovely pics from the natural habitat!

In my garden the crocus like the evening sun:

Crocus speciosus naturalising
Crocus speciosus
Crocus goulimyi
Crocus ochroleucus and a single Galanthus Reginae Olgae

Poul

[David Nicholson]

Crocus laevigatus, grown from seed sown 18 September 2008 from The Crocus Group 2008 distribution under the reference CEM612 Evia, Greece.

[Gerry Webster]

Crocus laevigatus, grown from seed sown 18 September 2008 from The Crocus Group 2008 distribution under the reference CEM612 Evia, Greece.

David - I wonder whether that reference should  be CEH 612 (Christian, Elliot & Hoog)?

[Martin Baxendale]

David, it is CEH (Christian, Elliot & Hoog)  as Gerry suggests. This is from one of Paul Christian's previous bulb lists:

Crocus laevigatus CEH.612

This is a much-talked about strain which is now increasingly seen on show benches, with superb pale to deep lilac flowers, some of which are feathered and striped on the exterior.
All have delightfully divided and feathered orange styles, white anthers and a superb honey scent. Flowering is from November to February and this is influenced both by climate and planting time.
 »
Crocus laevigatus CEH.612
crolaelae612   £6.00   
Flowering sized cultivated corms from our 1982 collection.