Crocus and Juno today
James Waddick (Sat, 14 Mar 2009 16:47:53 PDT)

Dear Friends,
I was looking over today's round of new crocus flowers and
found a Crocus tommasinianus with 9 petals,semi-double. That got me
to wondering about crocus with double flowers and came across the
listing of Janis Ruksans C chrysanthus 'Goldmine' he claims is the
world's first double flowered crocus. Does anyone grow this and what
is it really like ?

Earllier this week we had 2 nights in the low teens (around
12 degrees F), so even after some warming up I was semi-shocked to
see the Juno iris 'Sindpers' up and opening 2 flowers. This is a
beautiful blue, early Juno I bought from Jane McGary a few years ago
and it has formed a nice clump. Most other Junos are up already too,
but only I. aucheri (one of 'Sindpers' parents) is showing buds.

The forecast calls for a week in the 60 to 70 degree range so
I suspect spring is here even though it seems way too early.
Snowdrops are essentially over and crocus are peaking. This seems way
too early with official spring still a week away.

Best Jim W.
--
Dr. James W. Waddick
8871 NW Brostrom Rd.
Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711
USA
Ph. 816-746-1949
Zone 5 Record low -23F
Summer 100F +