Autumn bulbs

[Todd Boland]

Trond, your floppy pink colchicum is 'Lilac Wonder'...I have that floppy son of a so and so myself..I keep meaning to toss them out!  C. speciosum and its selections always has nice stiff stems and stands well even with wind and rain.  Here are the ones at work.  They should be open tomorrow if we get any sun.

[Hoy]

Trond, your floppy pink colchicum is 'Lilac Wonder'...I have that floppy son of a so and so myself..I keep meaning to toss them out!  C. speciosum and its selections always has nice stiff stems and stands well even with wind and rain.  Here are the ones at work.  They should be open tomorrow if we get any sun.

Yes, thanks Todd. When you say I remember the name. I had mixed it with some other plants.

[Hoy]

Here are some standing upright!
This is the bluest crocus I've ever seen be it spring flowering or fall flowering. I believe it is Crocus niveus blue form* from Janis Ruksans.
* Certainly not niveus but a form of speciosus.
Anyway, they still are the bluest that I have!

[Hoy]

This is Colchicum speciosum, I suppose.

[Booker]

Hi Trond,
I took this image of a lovely stand of Colchicum speciosum in a Midlands garden yesterday before presenting a lecture to the Alpine Garden Society Warwickshire Group last evening.

[Hoy]

Hello Cliff!
A nice bunch! The plants you (and Todd) show however, are not exactly like mine. The colors differ both on the "stem" and the tepals, but maybe it is only different clones. Mine come without a name from friends.

[Todd Boland]

Trond, Cliff's image are the real speciosum...typically rich purple-pink.  Yours is probably some hybrid...and there are many only subtly different.

Here is Colchicum Jarka...another Ruksans purchase.  The slugs did some damage but typically the petals are tipped white.  The second is Crocus nudiflorus.  I expect your C. niveus are actually C. speciosus since niveus is suppose to be white-flowered.

[McDonough]

Trond, Cliff's image are the real speciosum...typically rich purple-pink.  Yours is probably some hybrid...and there are many only subtly different.

Here is Colchicum Jarka...another Ruksans purchase.  The slugs did some damage but typically the petals are tipped white.  The second is Crocus nudiflorus.  I expect your C. niveus are actually C. speciosus since niveus is suppose to be white-flowered.

I checked Janis Ruksan's 2010 bulb catalog, and he does indeed list Crocus niveus BLUE form, which is a surprise to me, as I've only known the pure white and pink-flushed forms of niveus.  Janis writes that the flowers are a light blue lilac, with the golden throat of niveus.  Upon seeing Trond's plants I immediately thought I was seeing C. speciosus, as you pointed out.  Trond, any possibility of a label mixup, because those darker blue veined flowers look just like C. speciosus, they lack the deep egg-yolk yellow center and base of niveus, the color very apparent from the outside of the flower as well.

[Hoy]

I checked Janis Ruksan's 2010 bulb catalog, and he does indeed list Crocus niveus BLUE form, which is a surprise to me, as I've only known the pure white and pink-flushed forms of niveus.  Janis writes that the flowers are a light blue lilac, with the golden throat of niveus.  Upon seeing Trond's plants I immediately thought I was seeing C. speciosus, as you pointed out.  Trond, any possibility of a label mixup, because those darker blue veined flowers look just like C. speciosus, they lack the deep egg-yolk yellow center and base of niveus, the color very apparent from the outside of the flower as well.

You are certainly right as usual, Mark, except  that I have no labels to mix! I assumed it was niveus as the only crocus described as blue that I've purchased is the niveus form.
I can't remember planting any speciosus and I thought they were not that blue color anyway!

[Hoy]

Trond, Cliff's image are the real speciosum...typically rich purple-pink.  Yours is probably some hybrid...and there are many only subtly different.

Here at least two unnamed forms of Colchicum are in "everybody's" garden. They grow and spread well and are often divided and given away so "some hybrid" is good enough!

[Todd Boland]

Looking more carefully at your mystery Colchicum I am of the opinion that one is actually 'The Giant'.  They certainly look like the inside of mine.  That one is among the most popular around here too.

[McDonough]

I did some research on the blue color forms of Crocus niveus, hoping to find some photos, including the blue one Janis Ruksans sells.  I found pics and discussion on SRGC Forum of three different blue forms of C. niveus (beautiful things they are), including Janis Ruksans' form from Peloponnesus, Greece.


Crocus niveus blue form or Crocus niveus bicolour
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2639.0;attach=95161;image
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2639.0;attach=95163;image
Discussion:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=2639.msg63096#msg63096

more images
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=855.msg21413#msg21413

Janis Ruksans dark form of Crocus niveus from Peloponnesus, Greece (the one he sells in his catalog)
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2725.0;attach=95053;image

Other croci Janis photographed in Peloponnesus
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=2725.msg63092#msg63092

Another light blue C. niveus:
(Crocus niveus in the Mani Peninsula, southern Peloponnesenear near its upper altitudinal limit)
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=82.0;attach=957;image
Discussion:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=82.msg930#msg930

[Hoy]

Thanks, Mark. It is obvious that niveus is completely different from mine!

[Todd Boland]

Four record breaking warm days have made the Coclchicums bloom like crazy.  Waterlily has never been open so early...usually its almost November and it is always the last to bloom...not this year!  I am still waiting for the double autumnale alba and speciosum album to bloom.  Pictured here are Colchicum agrippinum, Colchicum byzantinum, Colchicum The Giant, Colchicum Waterlily and Crocus nudiflorus.

[Hoy]

Very nice, Todd. You will still have some warm days to enjoy the blooming but we will have heavy rain and strong wind the next few days. It is the remnants of Igor. I am afraid that my Colchicums ans Croci will be flattened.