RARE BULB NURSERY. LATVIA
by Dr. Janis Ruksans & Liga Popova

One of last crocuses blooming here is Crocus cvijicii. Planted side by side with C. veluchensis they sometimes hybridise, but plants on second picture comes from intentional cross. On third picture are hybrids from reversal cross where veluchensis was seed parent. On the last - Crocus pestalozzae blue form.

Just now started culmination of Anemone blooming in greenhouses. Our native nemorosa and ranunculoides only comes out of pots, but species from Southern dfistricts are in full bloom. Anemone blanda form from N Caucasus, Enem vil. in Krasnodar district Russia. It is single locality of blanda in those territories which during Soviet time remained under Russian occupation (some still really are, as decolonisation of mid-XX-century didn't touched Russian Empire). It could be different as it has very different tubers - they are not rounded (club-like ?) as in Turkish blanda, but looks like small branches - elongated and sometimes branching.
Anemone caucasica is small version of blanda distributed in Caucasus. It hybridises with blanda and if you want keep clean stock, multiplying from seeds - you must keep both isolated during flowering.
Anemone blanda is very variable in colour. Unfortunately some very beautiful selections didn't alive in this horrible winter.
And as last one is Anemone biflora from Markezi in Iran - another one which brings bright red shade in dwarf Anemone collection, although more often are grown yellow forms of it.

All still are white but warm air comes in and outside is fog - from contact with cold snow. On Monday is even +15 forecasted, Hope it will realise. May be next weekend snow will be gone. Now I'm showing some frits from greenhouse

Fritillaria raddeana - grown in greenhouse. Tired to worry about night frosts in open garden, although in greenhouse it don't feel very happy - it is too hot. But hope that losses will be not so great than after frost killing of leaves at start of development in open garden.
Fritillaria strausii and volunteer in pollination. Bees still are not flying, but they are replaced by some flies. Earlier I had beehives inside greenhouse, but losses (between bees) which in evenings are flying in dirrection of sun and not back in "house" were too great.
Two F. alburyana - from Kop Gec - very light pink, more traditionally looking
- and purple one LST-234 which by my opinion must be regarded as dfifferent. It perfectly replace itself from seeds and seems that not hybridises with traditional light pink form.

Some Erythroniums pictured today - American E. grandiflorum, then very early bloomin E. dens-canis form from Eastern Carpathians. I collected it near vil. Lipcha during one of my very first trips to mountains. Following is white blooming E. caucasicum collected by me in Georgia. Erythronium, sibiricum is extremely variable - here form from E Kazahstan, collected just near China border.

We passed the first night this year without frost. It is quite dark but short moment with sun shined and we both - I and my stepdaughter Liga made some pictures of crocuses
Excellently is blooming white form of Crocus veluchensis.
From late blooming species one of most spectacular is Crocus pelistericus and its hybrid with C. scardicus - C. gothoburgensis
As last in this entry is spring blooming form of usually autumnal Crocus laevigatus from Cyclades in Greece

Long waited changes came - seem that last one was first frost-free night. We still have a lot of snow, but it is melting and coming days must be even warmer, so I hope that next weekend, when group from Ireland will come to visit nursery, roads will be passable for bus.

But blooming in greenhouses continue and in this entry I want show you few Corydalis - two unusual things and two selected seedlings.

Curiosities are Corydalis repens - it has wonderfull spotted leaves and comes from Far East, originally was collected by Baltic Siberian Expedition just in last moment before Russia introduced visa regime (we then still used Russian pasports, hiding our Latvian pasports during travel in previous USSR, because we spoke fluent Russian). Another I got from my friends - Corydalis brunneovaginata. It comes from N Sichuan in China and has strange large bulb formed by very fleshy scales and petiolar bases,I got it only last autumn and was afraid, that may will not pass this winter. But all was OK, so now I wait its blooming.

The last two are solida type seedlings. Really I stopped selecting of new ones but when previopus spring I walked on meadow where some 5-6 years ago was bulb field I spotted one very unusual specien with salmon orange flopwers. So I carefully took it out and potted together with turf. Now it blooms in pot and I gave to it name ORANGE GLOW. Another came up from selfsown seedling in wrong pot, but looks quite interesting, too.

It was heavy snowing up to midnight but then sky cleared and frost hardened. In morning outside was minus 7 but minimum termomether showed that temperature in greenhouses dropped only to minus 2 C. Now is full sun and snow are quickly melting. From my houses dark roof water runs down as waterfull spring. Here I'm showing two Gymnospermium - pictured this morning: G. altaicum and G. albertii. Both are good growers and when my garden was situated on coarse sand based soil, they perfectly grew in garden and even multiplied by selfsowing. Now my garden is based on heavy clay, so I'm growing them now in greenhouse.

Scilla libanotica is very pretty. I got it from Bob and Ranweig Wallis run nursery named "Buried Treasures" - just as my book, but books name was chosen by publishers and it has nothing common but some bulbs with this nursery.

As last picture in this entry is Fritillartia assyriaca. It is blooming quite long time and this season was the first frit blooming with me. Original plant was collected by me in Iran (WHIR-190).

Yesterday we had sun and nicely opened crocuses, so it was possible to make some pollination. On pictures you can see pollinations of Crocus caricus (form got from Rik (Hendrik) in middle is seedlings of Crocus heuffelianus cv. 'Carpathian Wonder' and on third picture - pollination of Crocus minutus.

And now tthree pictures of Caucasian Iris reticulata. The first is very light blue found for me by my friend Zhirair, another purest white for from Armenia (again found for me by Zhirair) and on third picture you can compare the really white from Armenia (on left) with new one cultivar White Caucasus, which really is sligjhtly bluish shaded (on right side)

Today our weather guru Tom Bricis forecasted horrible frost (down to minus 18 C - hope not on my place) on night to Sunday, but following weekend spring must finally come here and even + 15 C and great floods offered. My house and nursery is on hiltop, so regardless of 30-40 cm of snow covering all my fields, floods are not dangerous for me.

So now I'm picturing in greenhouse reticulata irises. On first two pictures are recently described Iris zagrica. On the first it certainly is zagrica from Iran, on second - most likely zagrica, but this one is gathered in Iraq by Henrik Zetterlund.

Then follows two gatherings from Iran (WHIR-108 and WHIR-134) which I would like to name Iris hyrcana, although the first one has quite small flowers and as last two are two another Iranians - WHIR-156 and WHIR-136 - one purple colored, looks closer to typical Iris reticulata, another bluish toned.

Rik, I'm not spraying with Aktara but using watercan I'm watering soil in pots. Insekticide enters bulb and kills warm inside. So I'm using it only on Galanthus, Acis, Leucojum and Narcissus grown in pots in greenhouse. Bees are sleeping now. On outside beds I am making shallow row by line of snowdrops, then by watercan fill in solution of Aktara and after that by rake I am closing row. So all possible damage to nature is eliminated. Outside I use it twice - in spring when snowdrops emerge and again in summer when snowdrop leaves dies. I do not know other way to kill this pest.

Aktara is a neonicotinoid insecticide; it's very harmful to bees and one of the reasons with the troubles with bees; never use it during the flowering period, only after flowering.

Best wishes

Hendrik

Cyclamen kusnetzovii is hardiest cyclamen and single one which can be grown with limited success here outside. In wild it is distributed in two small localities in Crimea, Ukraina. It excellently grow with me and abbundantly blooms. My stock is rised from few seeds collected on one of its native localities and multiplied by seeds got in my nursery from handpollinated plants at their first blooming.

I have great problems with my Amarillidacea plants - they suffer from bulb fly. I couldn't image so serious damage but last autumn I found that fantastic looking bulbs of Acis valentinae all had flies grub inside. So today I treated all pots with solution of AKTARA. It is reported as good chemical against grubs in bulbs. On pictures you can see part of my pots with snowdrops. In front rows Galanthus transcaucasicus. You can see empty pots in back rows - most likely there bulbs are killed. On another picture Galanthus panjutinii only last year described from Abchasian mountains - rebelling teritory of Georgia, actuially occupied by Russia inserting there puppet government

Started blooming of Hepatica. I'm not specially multiplying them, but a pair could be offered in future - Hepatica transsilvanica and Hepatica nobilis Rosea - excellent large blooming selection from wild.

On other pictures cultivars selected by my friend Juris Egle from Grobina in Latvia. The first from new ones is Alande, Then Grobinas White and as last is Zilgme.

In additionion unidentified double blue form of Hepatica nobilis.

just trying how it works, nice flowers in the greenhouse!

Today is 1st of Aprill - the day of jokes and nature really presented for us a joke. Again it is snowing and snowing. Fortunately not so cold more - this week not lover than minus 10 forecasted. As you can see from attached pictures - everything is covered by white carpet. Although it is not coldest winter ever recorded. Average March temperature in 1942 was even 5 degrees lower than this year and colder winters were once in early 50-ies and once in early 60-ies, last century.

Fortunately in greenhouses bulbs generally alive, although not everything seem to be happy. Some leaf tops of Juno irises are damaged. Serious losses are between Onco irises and some aroids suffered, too. But in general I'm satisfied with my bulbs and how they passed this unusually cold and long winter. Snow melting offered only somewhere in mid-Aprill. But there is historical record about 80 cm of snow in my district even 18th of Aprill.