Crocus 2013

It's a nice one Dave, I like the subtle violet lines. Most images of this species show pale violet flowers, so you're lucky to get a white form.  So many Crocus to try!  In general I have better luck with spring crocus than the autumn ones, here the autumn bloomers often get ruined by bad weather.

Thanks Mark

Interestingly the NARGS potful now in bloom are no different to the pics I've shown above.

Yes ..so many Crocus to try ---I was hoping that seedlings of C.asumaniae/mathewii ?? might have reached flowering size this season --unfortunately it appears they require another year.

Cheers Dave.

Toole wrote:

..so many Crocus to try ---I was hoping that seedlings of C.asumaniae/mathewii ?? might have reached flowering size this season --unfortunately it appears they require another year.

Cheers Dave.

I had C. mathewii for a few years, it never increased, and always bloomed while I was away at work and I never saw the bloom open in daylight. I went so far as to go out at night with a flashlight, to see the blue center... sad when you think about it. It eventually died out.

Crocus asumaniae on the other hand is a beautiful and reliable autumn bloomer, with deliciously fragrant blooms.  I've had it in bloom for the past 6-7 years or so, but it doesn't increase.

Good luck on your plants of these two species.

Opened today Crocus adanensis .

Cheers Dave.

Nice to see yours Dave - it is a while till I can see mine!

Another Crocus opened today in the warmth.Crocus sieberi 'Firefly' in the garden.

Cheers Dave

[quote=Toole]

Another Crocus opened today in the warmth.Crocus sieberi 'Firefly' in the garden.

Cheers Dave

[/quote]

Nice clump, Dave!

how long have you had them in the garden? Have they multiplied much?

cheers

fermi

Hello Fermi

I'm not sure where my original bulbs of C sieberii 'Firefly' came from many many years ago.

I have quite a number of smallish clumps all over the garden as i keep on splitting them .In our conditions it's a wonderful increaser.

Cheers Dave.

Here in the UK Autumn flowering Crocuses are getting underway. This year I've scaled down my bulb growing under glass (to give myself room to grow more small  European hybrid Primulas) and my Crocus collection will now only include those I've grown from seed. Here are the first two from 2009 Crocus Group seed, sown 16 October 2009, and flowering for the first time:-

Crocus pulchellus

Crocus longiflorus

Such delicate shades, David!

At our Arboretum rock garden, we have a few fall crocuses, but I have even tried a few bulbs myself, and so far, they don't like me.

Our interests do move around with the spectrum of horticulture, don't they?  Maybe sometime I'll get into crocus seriously, too.....

Two beauties there David.  I've grown a number of autumn crocus, still have a fair selection, but haven't grown the two you show. I don't have a greenhouse, so they have to make it outdoors, and when we have fair weather they can be wonderful, but often the blooms are ruined by inclement weather. I'm always amazed just how fast they can pop up, been checking every day for C. kotschyanus, always the first to show, and suddenly there they were in bloom yesterday, literally appearing overnight. I have two forms, neither is particularly good, with long leafless stalks, the flowers flopping about all over the place.

Editing my message to upload 2 photos. Checking labels, I have C. kotschyanus ssp. kotschyanus 'Reliance'  (corms planted in 2002), and a regular C. kotschyanus collected from Turkey (corms from Jan McGary in 2000).  They have moved around, seeding I suppose, and I don't really know which is which anymore. Many many more shoots just appearing.

My autumn ones are now moving. Crocus mathewii in flower today

Tony, now I'm reeling with envy, an absolutely beautiful crocus, simply sumptuous. Classic goblet shape from the side view too.  Is it fragrant?

By the way, these autumn crocus are also like candy to some unknown varmint, that eat the blooms at night, possibly a rabbit.  The kotschyanus blooms I showed were all eaten or nipped off the next morning, but there's plenty more buds coming (to feed my devilish adversary).  Coming up now is speciosus (always chomped) and a big clump of C. sativus, one of my favorites and usually left alone by critters.

Very nice Tony. Grown from seed?

Very nice Tony. Grown from seed?

Mark

no idea on scent something I find difficult at the best of times.

I am pleased with them ,they are my own seed collection and have turned out well.

Those Crocus mathewii are sumptuous

.  The royal colors of white, blue-purple and oranges are so strikingly vivid!

Lovely C. matthewii Tony, and all the more special from your own seed. Mine, ( also from seed, but not collected by me ) are a few days away yet. 

I'll make do with this one in the meantime. C. banaticus . No sign of it a few days ago, and this morning it opened quickly in the early morning sun . It's been a singleton for years, but this year, a bonus! 

A Crocus nerimaniae in flower today.

Sorry

it shows the picture is uploaded and I cannot see it so it is use your imagination time.

I cannot delete the post either.

[Moderator note: Tony, you were almost there, after uploading the image, a button appears next to the thumbnail, named "Insert".  Place your cursor where you want the image to appear, then click Insert, check your  edit window to make sure you like the image placement, when done, hit the "Post" button at the bottom.  Exquisite Crocus by the way!  Mark McD]

A couple of hours sunshine today, ( at last !! ), and two Crocus sp. were encouraged to open up.

The first of many of the extremely reliable C. speciosus in the garden,

and the first of what I hope will be six or seven seed raised C. mathewii, growing outdoors but in a pot. I will certainly be putting this species into the garden next year as it seems very tolerant and hardy ( here ).

Crocus mathewii is such a stunning species, must try it again.  My C. speciosus come up with fresh buds over a two week period, but each and every flower is either decapitated or totally eaten, just stubs left; still haven't discovered which varmint is doing this.  Last year they hit up about half the flowers on C. sativus, this year they've left it alone so far, but I haven't checked today.

Saffron Crocus, C. sativus:

Beautifully grown C. sativus Mark. You seem to have a clump going there? Any growing tips please? It's definitely one that I'm going to try again in the garden next year, 

Ron very nice,I do not think I could dare put mine outside.

here are two flowering today

Crocus laevigatus

Crocus cancellatus growing with the C. mathewii I showed before.

Very pretty and nice time of year for flowers- I still haven't tried any fall bulbs...

As for changes in focus and space- I think it's probably good we don't have unlimited growing space- we'd then need unlimited time to look after the plants..lol

Tony- you have some real beauties- matthewii is exceptional!

Mark and Ron- more lovelies...

Nothing so special here as those already shown... but Crocus speciosus is all I got! 

[quote=Longma]

Beautifully grown C. sativus Mark. You seem to have a clump going there? Any growing tips please? It's definitely one that I'm going to try again in the garden next year, 

[/quote]

From what I have read, C. sativus grows well in climates with sufficient summer heat and dryness.  I planted a number of bulbs from a "big box store" about 8 years ago, and it has flowered well, and increased each year since.  The corms are planted at the base of a white single-flowered form of deep-rooted Hibiscus syriacus, where I have lots of bulbs planted.  Maybe I just got lucky where I planted it, but it's been the best autumn-blooming crocus by far; wish I could give you more scientific advice.  Here's a photo from last year, on the same exact date (10/19/2012).

Oooooh, these are all so nice!

Mark, I would think that you would have to keep that hibiscus water all summer, making it not very adaptable for the Crocus.  But obviously not!

C. cancellatus is a real subtle beauty Tony. Is it one that may do well in the garden for me, given that I'm sure C. mathewii will do well here ? You do grow some wonderful Crocus sp. Are the majority from seed?

Lori - I love your C. speciosus, ..... it is a great plant for most gardens, 

WOW  Mark,  there's a few $$$$ worth of saffron there, .  Great growing !! I'm thinking I may need to use a sand / grit bed to grow it well here, even though we get little rain in summer.

[quote=Longma

                                                           the first of what I hope will be six or seven seed raised C. mathewii, growing outdoors but in a pot. I will certainly be putting this species into the garden next year as it seems very tolerant and hardy ( here ).

[/quote]

Any idea how long it took to flower from seed Ron ?.

Lovely Crocus pics by the way folks.

Cheers Dave.

These are in their fourth year Dave. Looking at the pot today I expect one more to flower soon, although the recent weather is very wet and really dull. I don't grow many Crocus from seed so don't know if this is normal or not. I have a few other pots of 'seedlings' of various species which have been equally easy to grow and should flower in Spring if four to five years is normal. My seed has always been freshly given, not sure if this is relevant or not with Crocus. Other forum members grow many more types of these from seed, including some real rarities, so maybe their experience is a better guideline than mine.

[quote=Longma]

C. cancellatus is a real subtle beauty Tony. Is it one that may do well in the garden for me, given that I'm sure C. mathewii will do well here ? You do grow some wonderful Crocus sp. Are the majority from seed?

[/quote]

Ron

As the cancellatus was growing with the mathewii I would expect them to grow in the same conditions in the garden. I find them very challenging here even in a glass house due to our humidity and lack of heat in the summer.

Yes most of mine are grown from seed collected by me  although a number come from swaps if they come from places I cannot get to.

[quote=Lori S.]

Nothing so special here as those already shown... but Crocus speciosus is all I got! 

[/quote]

Very nice, still. I find all the fall Crocus much nicer than the Colchicums..

A flowerless trip to Greece last week with just a few Crocus robertianus in flower on the last day when it rained. Hot and dry and the rain a month late made it look like a desert.

Another pictureless post even though I seem to have pressed every box!

[quote=Tony Willis]
A flowerless trip to Greece last week with just a few Crocus robertianus in flower on the last day when it rained. Hot and dry and the rain a month late made it look like a desert.

Another pictureless post even though I seem to have pressed every box!
[/quote]

Tony, there are FAQ posts here, describing two methods on how to post photos on the forum:
https://www.nargs.org/forums/announcements-moderators-and-administrators

You're almost there, after you upload a photo, a new INSERT button appears to the right of the uploaded photo thumbnail.  To actually place your uploaded photos into your message, place you cursor into the text message where you want a photo to appear, that use the INSERT button next to uploaded image thumbnail to "paste" it into your message.  You had two images uploaded, I went ahead and finished the operation for each uploaded image, hitting INSERT for each.

[quote=Mark McD]

Longma wrote:

Beautifully grown C. sativus Mark. You seem to have a clump going there? Any growing tips please? It's definitely one that I'm going to try again in the garden next year, 

From what I have read, C. sativus grows well in climates with sufficient summer heat and dryness.  I planted a number of bulbs from a "big box store" about 8 years ago, and it has flowered well, and increased each year since.  The corms are planted at the base of a white single-flowered form of deep-rooted Hibiscus syriacus, where I have lots of bulbs planted.  Maybe I just got lucky where I planted it, but it's been the best autumn-blooming crocus by far; wish I could give you more scientific advice.  Here's a photo from last year, on the same exact date (10/19/2012).

[/quote]

Mark, how long did it take the C. sativus to bloom after planting? I put some in late last year, and they survived. multiplied, but have yet to show any signs of blooming. They are in almost full sun, in well drained gravelly soil amended with some well rotted manure. Hopefully they'll show some color for us here next fall!

Gordon, I planted the corms in the autumn, and they flowered the following year.  They have continued to bloom year after year, although this year bloom was more modest and short-lived, I think because last year all the late autumn foliage (which is very dense, looks like turf grass) was eaten to the ground by rabbits and that may have weakened the corms.