Are your daffs and crocus starting to show green? (Part II)

Oh! I have those triteleia, and they have started coming up. I'm looking forward to seeing them! They're new for me this year.

This is Helleborus orientalis Red Shades (meaning only the colour I think, more pink)

The Tritelea do take a while to get going, then all of a sudden you will have a big bunch from nowhere. They are quite sweet.

This is I think Crocus korolkowii, there is also C. kotschyanus, I got the cheaper one!


This message was edited Feb 14, 2006 10:52 PM

The first to open of my seed grown Hellebrus from an Ashwood Garden Hybrid I bought a few years ago, they are heavily spotted in different variations like H. guttatus

Wow! Awesome pictures and plants. Those last two kill me...

Ed. to add: I hope you will think of adding pictures of the plants further along to Plant Files.

This message was edited Feb 14, 2006 4:34 PM

Oh yes, when i get around to it! This can be more fun! I try to put at least 2 on a day, but sometimes need a break from it, I have lots to put on, and lots to come..

Beautiful - especially the last two - delicious!

I love the last helleborus and the cyclamen.

I hope it has cheered up some who are still in the depths of winter, it brings a smile to my face when I go out and all of a sudden there are little flowers everywhere. Nature is so beautiful!

Wallaby, you have me depressed. I'll be lucky to see a crocus flower in about 2 months time.

Todd, please feel free to look at my pics! Hey I am ~smiling~, gee 2 months is a long time for a crocus, don't be depressed. Just think of all that joy to come, then you can share yours with us!

-when ours are long done.

Now don't be cruel, not fair!

Do you want another pic? I have a tub full of daffs just showing buds, a very large tub full..

Wow, buds already - I've got leaves only so far - but as soon as I see my first crocus, my mood immediately lifts, because I know spring is on its way for certain.

Thinking about blooming:

Red certainly adds another dimension to the suprise of flowers in winter.

But all told, the combination of gold and violet shows up the best.
K. James.

What are those red flowers, Kenton, I can't quite make them out?

yes, I wanna know too

Hey your helleborus isn't so far behind, my spotty one was only opening yesterday, amazing how they know when to open even if in a different climate and country. Excepting one place of course!

The red ones look like pansies, the leaf looks right, and the yellow one I can see the pansy shape. That is a gorgeous red if it is a pansy, the light plays it up beautifully.

Snap!

I am madly in love with this Pansy. (Viola x wittockiana)
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/115525/index.html
I have not found a source for seed. Its advantage is that the red is approached (in breeding) from the orange side rather than the purple side. I don't know what I would do if the local nursery stopped offering them.
The others are simple violas. late-summer direct-sown-seed plants tend to bloom better in the winter, and better as a whole.

I had planned on taking a picture of my friend's Crocus s. s. 'Firefly' in her lawn fully open, but I think she watered her lawn and accidentally flattened the petals. -Too bad. It will still be glorious when the C. vernus bloom.

I can't stop thinking about those primula!
K James

I think I may have found what your pansy is from. Thompson & Morgan have one called 'Flambe red' but he pic is poor. The read up says 'pastel shades ranging through rose, flame red and ruby, forming a flambe effect'. The form looks the same, and they have those black whiskers. So this could be seed from Delta Pure Red or the same breeding programme, given the colours, and yours would likely be a selection. True F1 hybrids have to be produced from scratch every time, hence the high cost. They normally don't get to the market for a start, if popular they do become available. Of course they could be something totally different, but T&M is big and a breeder.

Don't you have any Primulas at your garden centres? They are always offered here, lots of lovely colours,, supermarkets have them too. If you want something long living look for the older types. I will take some pics when mine are in flower. Of course the large hybrids are very pretty, but you need to replace them every year to get a good show.

We get a cart or two at local garden centers of Primula in March, usually about $2 each. They will have a heated arguement with you if you try to tell them that they are perennials, since the tags say "annual"!

There's been a blanket of snow covering everything here for a week or so, and on Valentines Day unusually warm temps were back. Since I work as a floral designer, I of course did'nt get home till well after dark on that day! (Thank goodness it's over, swollen feet and sore back and all!) But yesterday I had the day off, the weather was lovely, and lo and behold, when the snow was melted, there are tulip pips all over the place! YIPEE! Doing the "spring is on it's way dance"!!
Neal.

Yeah Neal! Spring dances are so fun! I'm "on the road" this week so I'm not sure what its like at home
now - I left there when there was 15" of freshly fallen snow (Sun.) Maybe I can do that happy dance when
I get home next week.

Kenton - I love pansies and I love red. What a great combo -red pansies! Have you tried saving the seed?
They may not come true but its worth a try perhaps? I've had some luck catching the seedpods when the
are ripe and find they self seed if they are happy (even into nearby pots).

Tam

I think they are sterile- no seeds at all. If that isn't dowright horrible, I don't know what is.

Argh! Terminator genes at play! (Joking of course - I'm sure that they are not GMO pansies).
Tam

Oh, I sure am hoping for some nice reds in the mixed seeds I've sown. I have'nt played with seed starting indoors for years, and am having so much fun in this part of winter doing it. I've been transplanting mixed large flower face types, the smaller solid color violas, and johnny jump ups. All our fall bulb planning has really made me want to set them off with spring annuals. I checked some of the bulbs from Brent and Becky's I got late in December and potted up (placed against the house and covered with straw) and they're sprouting. It'll be fun to plant some of the bulbs with the annuals at the same time and not have to envision.

In a small space, that I'm determined this year not to allow to become a wreck, I have my little soil and container sterilization, potting, sowing, and transplanting, watering, and labeling stations, with clean trays to carry between stations (all easily tidied up and it turns back to a kitchen/dining room!). Then to the tv room, which is now also the grow light room. The shabby-chic straw bale and old window cold frame is going up this weekend, so I'm ready to bring on the cole crops. I just sowed tall snapdragons yesterday to! I'm so excited about those.

Neal

Love snaps - do they self-seed for you there?

It's been a few years since I've grown any, but it seems like I did find a stray seedling or two the next year. I have had them survive a few winters though.

The original plant survive, you mean?

I've had a few plants survive to bloom again the following year. There's usually a few seedlings too.

They are a short lived perennial here; usually one to three years at most.
Good luck on you project(s), Neal.

Those Red pansies' flowers are toast now from a 12F event here a few nights ago. The have more bugs on the way. There is a tip of a Mini Narc. Coming up that is reported to bloom with Galanthus. Perhaps it will do that next year.

I thought of Wallaby's when I saw this dashing Crocus in a friend's garden. Now I want a pile of these in my garden next spring! 'Gipsy girl?'

Here is the fruit of the warped humor of my friend with the galanthus/crocus lawn. This was in her antiquated house upon her arrival and now sits as "refurbished" as her house, but in her raised bed with Galanthus in it (and too many other perennials).
K. James

I think that's a beautiful planter, myself.

2zeus, yes, the original snapdragon plant survived 2 mild winters. I've read about some hardy perennial varieties I'd love to try.

Thanks Kenton. Gipsy Girl is wonderful; love the striping. The tub is a cute idea to.

Neal.

I really like washtub planter

After two or three really warm days, I found quite a few daffodils blooming and some hyacinths too. Now it's supposed to freeze tonight and not get out of the 30's and 40's fr highs the next several days. Really wacky weather we're having.