Spring flowering in Oregon

totototo@telus.net totototo@telus.net
Sun, 06 Mar 2011 14:30:09 PST
On 4 Mar 2011, at 13:39, r de vries wrote:

> Crocus sieberi 'Bowls White'

Recte, 'Bowles White', named after the great English gardener E. A. Bowles. The 
earliest of the spring crocuses in my garden, and a durable plant.

Consciousness of Bowles is now receding into the mists of the past, to the 
detriment of modern gardening (imho). Among other plants named after this great 
man are Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve', and Ranunculus ficaria 'Bowles Double'.

He wrote a number of books: one on Narcissus, one on Crocus and Colchicum, and 
three marvelous accounts of his garden, "My Garden in Spring", "My Garden in 
Summer", and "My Garden in Autumn and Winter." While the two on geophytic 
genera are now technically obsolete (but still worth reading), his "My Garden" 
books are perfect for a dark winter evening when the garden is a soggy/snowy 
mess.

Bowles also contributed profusely to the horticultural (and, I think, 
botanical) periodical literature but alas! no one has ever gotten moving on 
publishing a "collected works".




-- 
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada


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