Anemone b. "white Splendor'

Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com
Sun, 19 Apr 2009 16:48:40 PDT
So far there has been no mention of the effect of temperature in color
expression in flowers. As an example, Scilla mischtschenkoana blooms white
here; yet in cooler climes it's evidently very pale blue. Perhaps the
variations being reported for Anemone 'White Splendor' are due to that. 

Color aside, 'White Splendor' as I know it is distinct from typical Anemone
blanda in size: I'll bet once you know it you will be able to tell the
difference in a monochrome photo. 'White Splendor' reminds me of the flowers
of Sanguinaria canadensis. 

Roger mentioned seeming variations over the years in Crocus 'Lady Killer'.
I've notice the same thing, but I attribute my confusion to my
misunderstanding of these crocuses. It took me a long time to learn to
accurately distinguish 'Lady Killer' from 'Prins Claus'. Once you've seen
accurately named material of both, the difference is obvious. 

And surely Roger, you were not complaining, were you, when you got Crocus
biflorus alexandri for 'Lady Killer'?

The problems encountered in identifying the old daffodils intrigue me.
Photographs of 'King Alfred', for instance, appear in many publications from
the first half of the twentieth century. These will give you a good idea of
what the real 'King Alfred' looked like. But that might not be enough
information to identify 'King Alfred' now: lots of daffodils have come and
gone in the interim, and our modern sensibilities about those big yellow
trumpet daffodils are no doubt a lot less finely attuned to tiny differences
than the sensibilities of those who were seeing 'King Alfred' for the first
time a century ago. 

About two weeks ago a predecessor of 'King Alfred' flowered for the first
time in my garden: this is 'Golden Spur'. To daffodil connoisseurs of a
century ago, 'King Alfred' represented a quantum improvement over 'Golden
Spur'. I don’t see that much difference in the flowers (the plant habit
however is distinct). (And maybe that's why I'm not as active in daffodil
circles as some of you!) 

Jim McKenney
jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com
Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone
7, where there is so much happening that I've lost track of things already.
My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/
BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/
 
Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS 
Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ 
 
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