Re: cyclamen, snowdrops, winter aconite

Greetings from flatland Champaign, IL U.S.A. . .

re. Bobbi Diehl's comment about "something" eating crocuses; or is is croci?

For years, we blamed the squirrels.  Last year we saw a cardinal plucking
the stamens and inadvertantly demolishing the bloom.  Lots of protein in
pollen.  Chicken wire or hardware clotch cage should do the trick to keep
him off his protein "snack."  For us, damage was done only to the "giant"
white and yellow/orange hybrid crocus.  The smaller species "snow" crocus
have not been part of the cardinal's diet.

Enjoy.

Greg Smith

-----Original Message-----
From: PRIMROSES [s*@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU]On Behalf Of
Bobbi Diehl
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2002 9:10 AM
To: shadegardens@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
Subject: Re: [SG] cyclamen, snowdrops, winter aconite


Gene:

I have C. hederifolium, purpurascens, and supposedly cilicifolium growing
outside. As I recall, hederifolium blooms in fall; cilicifolium in
January. I hope my purpurascens has survived; I bought it last summer from
Nancy Goodwin at Montrose Gardens and it was blooming then; had the most
delightful fragrance. I bought some C. purpurascens from Dutch Gardens a
couple years ago and they turned out to be hederifolium--which is probably
the easiest species to start with.

Dig snowdrops and winter aconites "in the green" but not in bloom--e.g.,
in April sometime. Plant under a dogwood or similar tree, e.g., in light
deciduous shade. They are good with hellebores; hostas, which will come up
later; mini daffodils (NOT regular daffs, they are too aggressive); and
small ferns. Survival rate when dug at this time is practically 100%.
After April the foliage dies down and you can't find them. They bloom for
me the next year and the bulbs increase. The winter aconites seed about
and can be quite showy, but only open on sunny days. I have them all over
the east side of my [old] yard. Will have to dig some up this spring to
transplant to the new place. Snowdrops too. Neither of these are very
successful when planted as dormant tubers or whatever they are. If you
order a dozen winter aconite tubers, you will be lucky if even one
survives to bloom the following spring.

By the way, snowdrops are fragrant and make a nice little early spring
bouquet to have indoors.  Put them on a piece of mirror to show off the
insides of the flowers. I have several different kinds of snowdrops but
have no idea which is which. Just stolen from different places! :-)  I'll
be happy to bring you a shovelful this spring if I get down there, Gene.

Incidentally, I don't have much luck with crocus. Something eats them as
soon as they bloom.

Bobbi Diehl
Bloomington, IN
zone 5/6

On Wed, 6 Feb 2002, Gene Bush wrote:
> Just so no one misses a beat on the subject of
> cyclamen... are you growing the hardy cyclamen in your gardens? I am
> successful with two species here. C. purpurascense the European cyclamen/
> purple-leaf cyclamen and C. hederifolium the baby or ivy leaf cyclamen.
>     Bobbi, I am a tough further south than you and I do not have winter
> aconite or crocus in bloom as yet. Where did you get your snowdrops? Do
you
> have several species or hybrids?
>
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