Fall Crocus
totototo@telus.net (Sun, 17 Oct 2010 15:59:21 PDT)

Fall crocus blooming here:

Crocus speciosus in variety, including the white form.

Crocus salzmanni

Crocus nudiflorus

Crocus kotschyanus

The cultivars of C. speciosus seem to be totally confused in commerce. Over the
years I've bought bulbs that claimed to be this or that cultivar, but though
some are darker and some are paler, it's really not possible to say which bulb
is which cultivar. I suspect the growers' stocks are badly contaminated by
seedlings, as also seems to be the case with Anemone blanda 'Charmer'.

Crocus kotschyanus comes in three or four forms. First, there's the badly
virused one that is the most common in commerce. The flowers are small and
badly deformed. If you end up with that one, dig them up and destroy them.
Second is a commercial form that's not virused but has rather small flowers
that don't have much impact. Then there's an unvirused form with flowers as big
as Crocus chrysanthus; this one I got from a naturalized patch of mixed Cc.
speciosus and kotschyanus. Finally, from time to time there's one that has a
flower that's nearly white, though not large.

--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada