opening and closing of crocus; was: fall crocus
Antennaria@aol.com (Tue, 17 Aug 2004 19:23:18 PDT)

Jim McKenney jimmckenney@starpower.net wrote:

Hi Jim,

It might come down to taste in things. At one point in my bulb
consciousness, I thought to myself "these dang number of crocus all look alike". But upon
closer inspection they do not. Personally, I find C. tournefortii amongst the
most beautiful and alluring of all crocus I've grown thus far... perhaps the
photos don't do it justice. On my web page, I write "[it is] the most
sublimely beautiful autumn crocus of all, with open chalices of satiny lavender-blue,
a heart of golden yellow, and those absurd divided styles of hot red-orange
hanging outside the flower like a bell clapper. Flowers in late October -
November."

http://plantbuzz.com/Alpine-L/ATOW/…
i.htm

The flowers are open, chalice-shaped, and ample with a certain "substance", a
characteristic that can be hard to quantify. The intricately divided
red-orange styles that hang outside of the flower are hilarious and complete the
allure of the species.

Bingo!!! As a working man myself... with a daily 1-1/2 hour commute each
way, I often why I even bother to plant crocus; both spring and autumn types...
as I know some species literally flower their heads off, yet I NEVER SEE THEM.
I'm off to work in the early AM, and the buds are tightly furled, and when I
get home in the evening with the last few specks of daylight, they are of
course, tightly furled closed up as ever. Same is true of Tulipa and other
sun-reliant genera. My hope is, that eventually when I retire one day, I will have
such a collection as to amaze myself in what they actually look like in
flower. One can dream, or occasionally play hooky to see these beauties in their
prime..

Mark McDonough Pepperell, Massachusetts, United States
antennaria@aol.com "New England" USDA Zone 5
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