Spring Bulbs Pictures and discussion, Part III

...and can't stop these babies from growing!

Lucky you, still waiting here, a bit late i think for some.

Wow a pure white tulip! And lilies reaching for the sky! Mine are still underground!

This is another single but they weren't open this afternoon, the green pattern is much more rounded like a horseshoe

I think this one is G nivalis and different to the other, but some seem to have a slightly smaller and paler green. This one looks to have a bit of a 'kick' at the edges of the green, the first single doesn't

A side view of the double with flaring tepals, this has 1 green mark on a tepal at the front, like a horseshoe. The other double looks chubbier and the tepals don't flare

wallaby, you and Galanthophile are really inspiring me about snowdrops, so you will both be equally blamed for my next collecting frenzy! lol (I'm certainly not going to hold myself responsible! hehe) I'm loving these close shots and having the subtle differences pointed out.
They'll be great on the hill behind my house where the elevation will give a good view of them.

Thanks Tammy. While I do have a pretty good memory about gardens, your shrub border inspired me to semi-copy it last fall, so that was a no brainer for me, lol.

Annapet, are those lilies your pixies? You're going to have a lily show before you know it!

Neal - wow. I'm honored!

Wallaby & Galanthophile - awesome. I have just a few snowdrops I got from White Flower Farm
(someone gave me a gift certificate). They had not even broken ground when I checked last but
I'm gonna check again tomorrow. Your photos are just lovely. Thank you.

Tam

I hope the cost of a few snowdrops doesn't break the bank! Mine were already here, I just replanted them and they have divided and seeded very well.

Well I mentioned the Mallard ducks a couple of days ago, I did get some pics, so here they are. The male at the back stayed behind, he must have been the 2nd in line, you can just see him amongst the dead iris leaves

How wonderful! They are quite decorative too.
Tam

Moonglow, I am soooo filled with Zone Envy. I don't miss the daily treck from Brentwood/Antioch to Corte Madera, but I DO miss the weather! I will have to make a point of visiting our Corp. Office on Paradise Drive when the Irises bloom. Unfortunately I probably won't make it there before the Daffs have finished. But, at least I can say that I saw the tiny tips of daffs poking out of the snow at my place this morning - Spring will come, Spring Will Come, Spring WILL Come... I guess I am just forced to be patient! Keep posting your pictures, everyone - they're giving me hope that SPRING WILL COME (this is my first winter in Z6b; I'm a native and transplant from zones 8, 9, and 10. I think I'm a tender perennial that needs a greenhouse for winter....)

Well Wallaby - what you probably have is nivalis and nivalis flore pleno - the green markings are very variable and that's why there are around 700 varieties of galanthus! In flore pleno some of the petals are quite elongated. You can pretty much tell nivalis by the thin bluish green leaves. Here is a group of my nivalis

Now look at these leaves on woronowii - much broader and greener

I bought a few pots of what were labelled as mixed snowdrops a couple of years ago and although I haven't managed to ID them there was a tremendous variety in flower size and shape. A great buy! What you normally find in Garden Centres are nivalis or occasionally ikariae, woronowii or elwesii which has great green marks. This one has a split green mark

This one a sort of fluted perianth

And this one has very long petals

This is one of my favourites - Augustus - expensive but so unusual and different I just had to have it!

If anyone is interested in snowdrops you can have a look at my album at www.galanthophile.gardenbuddies.com/gallery/albums

My head is spinning. I will ahve to work more than full time next summer break just to buy some more Galanthus. I was tickled that the first one bloomed on Jan 1.

Kmom- Welcome tou your new site. Certainly you will begin to like things that will give your warm-climate colleagues zone envy in return!

Tabasco- I will post some pointers about the sucesses and fallacies with my friend's crocus lawn, and post pictures as it begins to bloom throughout the rest of it: The bulbs are best planted in little clumps, and leave a path to walk through! Clumps are easier to step over (Kylee has a great Chinodoxa lawn picture for this), as wide-spread bulbs leave no place for tip-toeing! Also, it is not great for the lawn, but a person can give the lawn a really good, short mowing just before the crocus break ground, or in the late fall. Late-blooming vernus got buried in the vigorous turf for her last year, and reseeders spread best.

Wallaby- is that a drainage pond?

Get better Neal- spring ends flu season, eh? (But brings Hayfever to those certain poor souls)

Moonglow- you can't possibly have that many plant kicks and still be sane! Brugs galore, Lilies galore, Bareroot Roses galore, Narcissus galore... You don't like mass plantings, do you? (By the way- the new bed's soil is finished and unsurpassed, so I've finally planted those bulbs- thanks again.)

Tammy- we all can't wait to see how you project unfolds. I'm afraid you have made the perilous mistake of building a reputation, and we have very high standards expected of you!

K. James

(I know they aren't bulbs...)

Thanks for that link, Galanthophile. (Can we just call you "Gal," is that proper?)
The caption here is "Bang." It should make a nice bulb companion.

Tell us, with some of those Galanthus pictures, did you cut them and stage them indoors, or did you simply prop up a background color behind it outdoors?

Thanks James! Yes Gal is perfectly acceptable! Or Ann if you want to use my proper name! I don't cut the flowers, sometimes if they are still potted I bring the pot indoors to photograph but otherwise I just place a piece of card behind the flower and hey presto. I find it cuts out the background "clutter" and makes the purity of the bloom stand out. There are some great suppliers in the UK for named forms but I think they are more difficult to find in the US?

Quite.

Kenton - I love that "bang" pansy!!! I thought I'd gotten over my orange obsession too.
Tam

I just bought four small violas a couple of days ago called Sorbet Orange Duet. They're an orange and purple (and shades of each) combination. Yummy!! They're inside for now, but will go outside when it warms up a bit.

Those 'Sorbet Orange' are a knock-out. Being smaller, they bloom more when it si cold than the bigger ones. I suggest taking it outdoors when ever possible if the temperature is above freezing.

The pictured one above is Viola x wittrockiana 'Matrix Orange'

It's 47° right now, so they are enjoying the great outdoors. It's supposed to be 60° later in the week, so I imagine they'll have fun out there for several days in a row. They get to sleep inside during the cold nights, though. Thanks for the advice, Kenton!

I love those Kylee, and had forgotten about having a few a year or so ago. Hope I find some here. Once they're hardened off a bit, they can go on in the ground can't they? If I remember correctly, seems like I've often planted violas throughout March.

I have those little violas called heartsease self set around, and they cross with the bigger ones I've had. I haven't grown any for a long time, they just self set, some get to be huge plants and flower forever. That pic looks unreal! Such a combination, I had an orange one a few years ago, they grow again the following year and are quite tough, now I'm thinking of getting another! Too much!

Galanthophile, if there are that many I don't think I will chase the rest of them! Well not yet anyway! I have a lot and they look lovely and last a long time, what more can one want??

James Co it is a drainage drain of sorts, call it what you will depends on where you come from! We would have called it a creek, here a dyke, further north a beck, or if you're posh (oh ye) a beck. All road sides have them here to drain water from the land, it is supposed to go into the National waterways. Ours has a very old engineering brick lining, with a hollow 'well' just through the pipe under the bridge. That pic of the ducks was a bit further up in front of the neighbours house, which is adjoined to us. Hers is messy, we keep ours neater, I have bog plants planted at the edge. The iris are the big yellow flag type, it was full of them when we moved here. We keep it dug out, but since she made herself a nuisance we no longer offer to do hers!

Neal, I like to plant my Violas in Septembr to get them established to bloom in teh winter. They die in the summer heat, but not before leaving a mess of seed to germinate in the cool of the ealry fall, just in time!
Thanks, Wallaby.
K. James

wallaby, we call those ditches. Here in Ohio, where it's farm country, most ditches are kept cleaned out of what has yours looking so lovely, so they drain better.

Yes, Neal, I do believe I can plant those outside this month. I'm going to do as Kenton suggested, and put them out during the day when it's above 40° or so. We're actually supposed to get up to 60° on Thursday. :-)

If you want some, just drive on up to Wapakoneta to Village Green Garden Center, where I bought those. They had LOTS of them! It's just a little ways up the road for you. ;-)

Narc. Midget

Closer

Yummy!!!

I have Tete-a-Tete and Pipits breaking ground. :-)

gorgeous photos! please keep them coming. i hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and wishing you all a great week ahead.

i've lost it a while ago, kenton =). i also grow peonies (yes, in 10a) and they are budding now.

those are not my pixies, neal. i have to look at my records to find out what they are. i planted lilies wherever i can plant them. gone really bonkers....but it seemed like i didn't plant enough narcs. i really, really love them.

janet, yours is paradise. i wish i have more space.

speaking of PARADISE, that is my exit, kmom. please let me know when you are going to be in town. perhaps we can nursery hop or something.

it's going to rain all week. no fun. hmmm...then the soil will be soaked and easy to work with. i can plant more LILIES. lol.

Hi guys,

Last year I received some very rare and beautiful cocus hybrids from famous Ltvian bulb breeder Janis Ruksans. I planted some varieties indoors for forcing and for increasing the propagation rate.
Now some of the crocuses are blooming and I am happy to introduce some to you.

This is crocus heuffelianus hybrid 'National Park' purple with dark purple tips at the petal edges. Nice color combination, isn't it? I just love it. Cr. heuffelianus is a close relative to crocus vernus and grows wild in Carpathian mountains. It is not as large as Dutch crocus vernus hybrids, but very beautiful.

Another pic of crocus heuffelianus hybrid 'National Park'

This is the other crocus heuffelianus hybrid, but I am not sure about its name. It was labeled as cr. heuff. 'Wildlife', but did not come true to name. I should find out its name asking Janis for identification.

I also have not hybridized crocus heuffelianus form, but I planted them in the garden and will show the pics as soon as it blooms.

This is nice crocus veluchensis very pale form. It is larger than cr. heuffelianus, but I think that cr. huffelianus is much more beautiful. Crocus veluchensis is very late blooming outside. It is said to bloom in May.

These are our native early spring flowering merenderas trigyna. There are white, pink and bicolored forms. Merendera is a close relative to colchicum, but differs from it by having no flower tube. Its petals just appears right from the leaves.

wallaby, here in eastern KY it's not even a creek, it's a crick LOL.

Kenton, I always forget to plant them in fall, but now that you mention it, I think I'll go ahead and pick up seed while they're available to start this fall.

Boyed, those are so wonderful, thanks for sharing.

Boyed!!! They are gorgeous. Thank you for sharing your little beauties.
Tam