Sun ! Crocusses !
Jane McGary (Sat, 15 Dec 2007 13:31:34 PST)
Antoine Hoog wrote
The crocuses Jim mentions have now finished here. Still blooming is Crocus
niveus, several clones from the Mani Peninsula of the Peloponnese. This
continues to bloom after other clones of Crocus niveus, from near Kalamata
and from Mali peninsula have finished. It is our latest blooming one in the
open garden until the spring crocuses start.
I enjoyed seeing C. niveus in the Mani Peninsula a year ago, especially
since this region's population includes many blue forms of this more
typically white species. The blue form is available in cultivation and
seems to come fairly true from seed; I raised some from seed given me by a
correspondent in the UK. Crocus niveus doesn't do well in the open garden
for me but flourishes in the bulb frame, making very large corms. Some
flowers are still in good condition now in mid-December. The only other
species flowering are C. laevigatus and C. ochroleucus. The former barely
survives in the open here, but the latter is a very sturdy, persistent
plant. I think C. ochroleucus hangs on the the garden because it pulls down
very deep, where perhaps the voles don't encounter it, even though it's
quite a small crocus.
Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA