Species Crocus in the back yard

[DelawareJim]

I have a special fondness for species crocus and some of the first are opening along the fringe of the wood between us and the neighbours.

Crocus tommasinianus






Crocus ancyrensis




Tommy crocus are about 1/4 to 1/3 the size of the common Dutch crocus and C. ancyrensis is about the size of a penny and expands to about a nickle when fully open. I brought two clumps of the Tommies with me when we moved from Delaware about 10 years ago and they are reseeding quite happily. The ancyrensis are from bulbs planted fall 2008.

Cheers.
Jim

[krisw]

Great pictures, Jim! They were popping up all over the place (cherry blossoms too) in Vancouver. I was just telling Lauren how I'd like to plants some of these in our yard.

[DelawareJim]

Hey Kris;

I'll be putting a Crocus order together this summer so feel free to pile on.

My usual sources for the more common crocus are http://www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com, http://www.johnscheepers.com, and http://www.vanengelen.com.

I'm trying a new source this year at http://www.odysseybulbs.com for more exotic species. They have Crocus gargaricus ssp. herbertii, which is a stoloniferous crocus; unique to the genus.

Cheers.
Jim

[DelawareJim]

This has not been a particularly kind year to Crocus. Thw wind and heavy rains have been tough on the flowers. I did manage to capture a few between storms.

Enjoy.

Crocus chrysanthus 'Gypsy Girl'. Chrysanthus originates from the mountains of central Greece.

[img]<a%20href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/15234374@N ... '"%20/></a>[/img]

[img]<a%20href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/15234374@N ... '"%20/></a>[/img]

Crocus chrysanthus 'Cream Beauty'. Cream Beauty tops out about the size of a dime when fully opened.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/15234374@N07/5522168587/" title="Crocus chrysanthus 'Cream Beauty' by DelawareJim, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5258/552 ... 2904_b.jpg" width="1024" height="685" alt="Crocus chrysanthus 'Cream Beauty'" /></a>

Crocus korolkowii. Originally from Uzbekistan, these were grown from seed and show some nice variation in the feathering of the outer sepals.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/15234374@N07/5522814388/" title="Crocus korolkowii patch by DelawareJim, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5214/552 ... b215_b.jpg" width="1024" height="685" alt="Crocus korolkowii patch" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/15234374@N07/5522221367/" title="Crocus korolkowii feathering by DelawareJim, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5253/552 ... 412f_b.jpg" width="1024" height="685" alt="Crocus korolkowii feathering" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/15234374@N07/5522806644/" title="Crocus korolkowii medium feathering by DelawareJim, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5252/552 ... 8306_b.jpg" width="1024" height="685" alt="Crocus korolkowii medium feathering" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/15234374@N07/5522803296/" title="Crocus korolkowii medium feathering by DelawareJim, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5252/552 ... cd53_b.jpg" width="1024" height="685" alt="Crocus korolkowii medium feathering" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/15234374@N07/5522209919/" title="Crocus korolkowii dark patch by DelawareJim, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5174/552 ... 149e_b.jpg" width="1024" height="685" alt="Crocus korolkowii dark patch" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/15234374@N07/5522206433/" title="Crocus korolkowii open flower by DelawareJim, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5300/552 ... 07f3_b.jpg" width="685" height="1024" alt="Crocus korolkowii open flower" /></a>

Cheers.
Jim

[krisw]

Very nice, Jim! These are the first crocuses I've seen this year. Lauren and I commented yesterday when we saw some daffodils, and were like, "you know, we haven't seen a single crocus yet this year, when they're normally first." Very nice pictures too!

[fredyk]

where is my facebook-like "like" button. LOL. I like this

[Hurley]

I love these flowers! For me, it means springs here. I saw a large patch today and they were the first I've seen this year. Thanks for sharing!

[SCMurphy]

Can't mow the lawn until the crocus blooms have faded....

[g01ngog]

I need to learn how to take pictures like this with my D70

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

Can't mow the lawn until the crocus blooms have faded....

Why not?