Crocus November 2007

[Anthony Darby]

What a fascinating thread. I remember way back buying giant colchicum bulbs advertised to flower just sitting dry on a windowsill. I wonder if colchicine would affect us? It is used to stop nondisjunction in somatic cells to induce polyploidy in hybrid plants.

[Paul T]

Anthony,

We buy Colchicums here in bud at the end of the selling season.  The same applies to Crocus sativus (see, there IS some crocus link to this!!  ), which flowers in their sales baskets by the time they should already be in the ground.  Same goes for various nerines, particularly bowdenii and rosea.  A lot of the more enthusiastic bulbs will flower "on the windowsill" if kept out of the soil for long enough.  Having said that, ALL of them prefer to be planted by the time they're flowering, and even the Colchicums which don't get foliage for quite some time after flowering still have their roots out by the time the flowerbuds hit the surface, so the "naked flowering" is by no means good for them either. 

[Martin Baxendale]

I remember way back buying giant colchicum bulbs advertised to flower just sitting dry on a windowsill. I wonder if colchicine would affect us? It is used to stop nondisjunction in somatic cells to induce polyploidy in hybrid plants.

Anthony, I once made the mistake of asking in a pharmacy (Boots I think) if they could get colchicine for me. I wanted to try using it on lily seed and scales to try to induce polyploidy, as was being tried experimentally by a couple of horticultural breeding institutions at the time.

The pharmacist looked at me like I was planning a mass murder, and asked if I realised that just a small bottle in the water supply could poison a small town.

[mark smyth]

Tony maybe a few of us should meet up to go bulb hunting. Which is better for bulbs - spring or autumn?

[Anthony Darby]

Mmm. I'm still thinking about a suitable small town. 

[SueG]

John Betjemen would have said Slough I guess    Though it is possibly not a small town any longer. . .
Sue
Apologies to anyone who lives in Slough and loves it dearly

[SueG]

sorry meant to say that the stripes on the crocus pallasii ssp turcicus were outstanding - get carried away at the thought of Slough!

[DaveM]

Thanks for your comments, one and all. I agree, some forms of pallasii ssp turcicus are quite outstanding, but kotschyanus remains my favourite because of its robust stature and shape to the flower, just perfect.

Mark, as last year I went with Greentours - my life is too hectic (and if truth be told I'm too lazy) to organise botanical trips myself so I let others do the job for me, particularly as this company do an excellent job. I can certainly recommend them.

So, Tony, I would very much welcome your (and any other forumist's) company on such a trip as you suggest. During the tour this time Peter Sheasby, Mike Hopkins and I were talking with Ian Green about an early spring 'croco-hunt'. Ian's gone away to give serious consideration to setting up a trip, second half of February 2009, to S Turkey, possibly taking in the western Taurus and the Eastern Taurus/Gaziantep/Hatay regions. Apparently, this should coincide with the main crocus time there. Sounds interesting to me; will keep you posted if you wish.

[Maggi Young]

I knew Mike was just back from a trip... just hadn't put two and two together! I hope HE is going to be giving us some pix, too........Mike! Are you reading this??

[DaveM]

Maggi, sorry about your crossed wires - painful I'm sure   
Just to clarify things: of the Colchicums, persicum, polyphyllum, kotschyii and decaisnei were seen in ploughed fields (as well as elsewhere). Crocus kotschyanus ssp kotschyanus was the only crocus growing in cultivated fields - in this respect your comment Tony about this species' tendency to produce cormlets is interesting.

Paul, ....... I'm not sure we have any idea whether bulbous plants "prefer" to do one thing or the other      Perhaps you'd like to enlighten us with "inner knowledge".........

[Maggi Young]

Or whether ANY plants  "prefer" anything... we're in the realms of pathetic fallacy here... but we nearly all use 'em, though, don't we? 

[Lesley Cox]

I've never been to Slough (though Chris Chadwell lives or lived there, so don't choose that one Anthony) and can't comment on its merits or otherwise, except that the name itself, is so horrid, especially as it rhymes with sow (as in lady pig,). If it rhymed with stuff maybe it would be better. Or, indeed, with sow as in though.

[zephirine]

Oh yes, they do have preferences, Maggi, they do!
But who will ever hear their voice?
Let me tell you a little story...

Once upon a time there were 3 little crocusses...
Look at them, innocently dancing under the last rays of a glorious autumn sun, with their colourful skirts spreading and glistening around them like jewels in the light...

That's where a young rascal called D.G. T'Kamera got a glimpse at them, by pure chance, as he was roaming about aimlessly...
This very evening, he went reporting his vision to his fellow rascals, in a tavern of Forum-on-the-Net, the legedary city with-a-thousand-windows...
And that's where the worst of them, an envious female named Zephirine, heard about the three jewels...from that very moment, she got only one thought: putting her greedy hands on them!
During a long time, they managed to escape...one thousand times she thought she would reach them, and a thousand times she failed.
They finally found shelter in a forlorn village along the Black Sea, called Outofstock...
Alas, on the following year, just as the first falling leaves reached the soil, here she went, hunting again !
Oh, they resisted bravely, poor souls! They ran so fast, they weeped so long, that they did not have even strength enough to wear their wonderful fall dresses : look at these three dry, meagre little bulblets...nothing was left from their past, extraordinary beauty...  

In the suburbs of the city of Moutchodollar, just at the edge of the deep forest called Bulbsforsale, as a pale dawn rose on a dull winter day, they surrendered... The greedy Zephirine grasped them with a grunt of utter satisfaction, and flew with her prey to her secret glass den...

And there....there happened the miracle: moved by their distress, she installed them in three chubby little pots, fed them, gave them a good drink of fresh water...
It was no longer time for the Crocus Magic Danse, of course...but look...like three Sleeping Beauties waking up after a long, long sleep...look ! They wake up!

Do you want me to introduce them?
Here they are : the first one is Goulim, the slender One, in a pure amethyst skirt, then Nivey, with the pure white tunic of True Innocence and his wonderful necklace of the finest coral, and Mathew, the shyest of the three, bearing on his breast the most extraordinary blue sapphire you could dream of...

But hush, hush, my friends! Don't you tell my story around : Their brothers are still safe, as long as you keep my secret...who knows what other envious Beauty-Hunters might do if they knew....you promise me?
Zéphirine

[mark smyth]

So we have just over a year for the first members get together to be organised. Sounds like a great idea.

[DaveM]

I give in!!
A wonderful wee tale, Zephirine