I love this little-big flower, Crocus tommasinianus ‘Ruby Giant.’ The name is confusing here (if not a bit of a stretch) as it speaks to the flower size in relation to others in its species rather than within the crocus world as a whole. It is actually a cute little cup of a thing, much smaller than the big hybrids you see available as a forced potted bulb this time of year.
It is so graceful with its long, stretching neck and petals that open wide in the sun. I took this photo on a cheerfully bright afternoon last week and it was a delight to see them in exactly the same state today, nearly a week later.
Crocus’s (croci?) make my heart happy. The purple tommasinianus is lovely. I have some intrepid yellow ones that are braving our bi-polar Indiana spring.
I don’t know if these are ‘Ruby Giant’ because they are at least ten years old, but I do love them: http://bit.ly/cBwUnP
Gayla,
You’ve captured in this picture the way crocus glow in the sun.
In answer to Kari’s question, I think her crocus are the C. tommasinianus species, but not the “Ruby Giant’ cultivar. A good thing too as I find the straight species is hard to find, whereas “Ruby Giant’ and ‘Whitwell Purple’ are readily available.
The crocus flower is one of my absolute faves! Your photo is beautiful.
Excellent Idea.
Thanks
Sunil Roy