PBS Forum

Beautiful!

Thank you, Uli.
Very helpful.
Regards,
Mike

Two photos (of the same plant) of (Clivia caulescens x mirabilis) X self, blooming now for the first time since I sowed the seed (from South Africa) 5 years ago.  This is very typical of the flower shape and color of the five Clivia species other than Clivia miniata, which is the one most people think of when they think Clivia.  These can be, and are being bred with Clivia miniata, resulting in a flower sharing traits of both parents to varying degrees.

Wayne,
Like Martin, I also really like the Hypoxis. 
Well grown - beautiful!

Diane,
It could be Crocus heuffelianus or a cross of it. Many years ago I was part of a group order of bulbs from J. Ruksans.  I can't now remember what I ordered, but I could have ordered C. heuffelianus from him.
If my memory serves me correctly, other early blooming crocus that have been or still are part of the garden are C. abantensis, ancyrensis, angustifolius, chrysanthus (many cultivars), corsicus, etruscus, flavus (late, but some cross over), fleischeri, gargaricus, imperati (early, but maybe some cross over), korolkowii, kosaninii, malyi, minimus, olivieri, sieberi, vernus, and versicolor.
The honey bees have made a wonderful mess of it all (although maybe upsetting to those who prefer pure specie differentiation).

A few photos (poor) that show some of the variations.]DSCN0248.jpeg[/attach][attach DSCN0248.jpeg[/attach]⬇�⬇�⬇�
Note to David: things went better this time, but was still tripped up by the attachment 'insert' button.  There is no indication, that I was able to discern, that verified it had registered 'insert' without going to 'preview' to check.  It's a bear to try to remove an attachment once it's been inserted (too many times).  Overall, I think the site works well.  Thanks for all your work on this. - Mike

I couldn't resist.  Crocus tommasinianus and its natural and naturalized hybrids have been blooming here in the soggy PNW since Jan. 19th.  They are the highlight of the year for me.  The common becomes the majestic, at least to my eye.

The honey bees in the second and third photos are doing all the work for me, which is why the tommies are naturalizing here, along with help from ants that have spread them far and wide. The bees are after the pollen (not the nectar) for its protein content, which they need this early in the year (foraging when temps rise above ~ 48℉).  They strip the anthers bare in their frenetic activity.  Fourth photo is from a previous year to show natural variation (I've had numerous other early blooming Crocus species which could possibly be in the gene pool).

This is my first attempt (actually 3rd) to post on the Forum. It has been a struggle.  First, it would not allow loading more than two photos even though it indicated there was still room. The 'upload all" button wouldn't function, nor the preview button. On the second try it allowed loading the same photos, but I learned if you click the "insert" button more than once it will insert the same image each time it's clicked. The preview button functioned this time, but when returning to the original text would not allow "preview" again. Third try, all seemed to work. So I have no Idea if any of this will post or not.
Sorry to be a tech dud instead of a tech dude.