Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Tuesday November 2, 2011- Happy Halloween and welcome to November

Happy Halloween


These were at one time part of the same pumpkin. So many people do not realize how the tops and bottoms of pumpkins can work nicely with carved images.


While the October garden slowed down quite a bit I want to post some comments about one of the flowers that was around, providing the occasional amazement that we all want in a garden. I am talking about fall crocuses.
These are crocuses that…bloom in the fall. Now please understand that I am not making a botanical observation. I do not know whether they are cousins of the spring flowering varieties. I do know they look like crocuses and will bloom from September until November.
Here are pictures with some observations as to varieties.
The first pictures are from an early blooming pink set that I have had for 3-4 years. I suspect that the name is Crocus sativus speciosus.





For the educational part of the program here is some botany. Garden catalogues divide fall blooming crocuses into two groups. One is the genus Colchicum, which is in the liliaceae family. The other is just listed as Fall Crocus and is in the Iridaceae family.
Here is more specifically what is said about crocus in that great source- wikipedia.
Crocus
Kingdom:
Plantae
Superdivision:
Spermatophyta
(unranked):
Angiosperms
(unranked):
Monocots
Order:
Asparagales
Family:
Iridaceae
Subfamily:
Crocoideae
Genus:
Crocus

Here is what is said about Colchicum
Kingdom:
Plantae
(unranked):
Angiosperms
(unranked):
Monocots
Order:
Liliales
Family:
Colchicaceae
Genus:
Colchicum

Here are pictures of a wonderful late white crocus- Crocus speciosus ‘Albus’


Finally here is a real gem, which has been blooming for several weeks by the walnut tree in the front yard. Of some interest is the fact that when one bloom is finished another will emerge apparently out of the same place. They have multiple blooms sequentially. That is kind of weird.


So there you have some fall crocuses. You can actually buy and plant them in August and they will bloom that fall. Buy a bunch next year. They will give you springtime rewards in amongst the leaves in the fall.
Philip

3 comments:

Catherine Woods said...

I have loved the crocus ever since my childhood in northern Illinois. For me, its appearance each spring signaled more sunshine and warmer days ahead. I love your autumn crocus, too, and even though they signal less sunshine and colder days, I still like the bookend quality they would bring to the garden season. So, next time I'm at the local nursery, I'll look into whether we have this type of bulb here in CO. Thanks, Philip, for this latest post; it has given me the impetus to do this.

Anonymous said...

How can you do this to us? All of this week's photos are beautiful. I nearly voted for the Pasque flowers because the dainty purple blossoms with their little hairy stems were magical. However, the pink poppy continues to haunt me. It is a beautiful, ethereal flower. So it got my vote!

philip Mears said...

Hello Anonymous.
The pasque flower is really nice, and has good support from the voters this week. The poppy always is good for dramatic pictures.
I do wonder what evolutionary twist produced hairy stems.