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• (Jack Frost is the personification of frost, ice, snow, sleet, winter, and freezing cold. He is a variant of Old Man Winter who is held responsible for frosty weather, nipping the fingers and toes in such weather, coloring the foliage in autumn, and leaving fern-like patterns on cold windows in winter)

Starting in late 19th century literature, more developed characterizations of Jack Frost depict him as a sprite-like character, sometimes appearing as a sinister mischief maker or as a hero.)

A hardy evergreen bulbous perennial with narrow, sword-shaped foliage and white, crocus-like flowers in autumn. [RHSD, Hortus]. Sometimes mistaken for Zephyranthes atamasco [Hortus].

Horticultural & Botanical History
First botanically described by John Lindley in 1823 as Amaryllis candida [BR f.724/1823], placed in Zephyranthes by Herbert in 1826: ‘We had an opportunity of comparing its flower immediately with that of Atamasco, and and have no doubt of their belonging to the same genus.’ [BM t.2607/1826].

‘This plant, conspicuous by its fleshy, semicylindrical and rush-like leaves, which resist the severest frosts of our usual winter, has ripened its seeds for me after snow had lain upon them for three weeks. I have seen the quicksilver fifteen degrees below the freezing point (Fahren.) without its losing more than the ends of its leaves. I have not been able to ascertain that it is indigenous in the west of South America, though abundant in old gardens in the valley of the Lima. There is no difference in hardiness of the constitution of the bulbs from Lima and those from Buenos Ayres, where the banks of the Plata are so covered with it that it is understood that the river was called La Plata, meaning silver, on account of the profusion of its white blossom on the shore.’ [Herbert p.176].

‘This species was sent to the Horticultural Society in 1823, from Peru, where it was collected by Mr. Cowan.’ [BR f.724/1823].

‘We received bulbs of it, in 1822, from our lamented friend General Paroissier.’ [LBC no.1419/1830]. BM t.2607/1826.

History at Camden Park
Zephyranthes sp. is listed in all published catalogues [B.461/1843] but we cannot be sure that this refers to Zephyranthes candida. Macarthur specifically included Zephyranthes candida among desiderata to Loddiges’ Nursery, 6th January 1845 [MP A2933-2 p.28] and Zephyranthes candida is marked with a ‘c’, meaning grown at Camden, in an 1836 Loddiges’ catalogue held at Camden Park making it likely it was grown in the gardens around this date [CPA]. An earlier introduction could have been lost.

The nursery trade calls at least three genera of bulbs autumn crocus. Obviously this causes more than a little confusion amongst gardeners.

Crocus speciosusTrue Crocus are in the Iris family. Long thought to have ninety species in the genus lately chromosome tests have raised this to nearly two hundred. Their native range is from Portugal and Morocco to western China. Most species are winter or spring flowering but there are a few that bloom in the autumn which are available to Australian gardeners.. Crocus flowers have three stamens and narrow leaves with a central white stripe on the upper surface.

Lambley has a good selection of both autumn flowering Crocus and Colchicum. All are beautiful but one in particular, Colchicum speciosum ‘Album’ is considered by many gardeners to be one of the most beautiful of all flowering bulbs with large pure white perfectly shaped chalices. Having said that all the varieties of Colchicum we offer this year are beautiful.

Crocus speciosus as a group is arguably the finest of the autumn flowered crocus species with a widespread distribution in South Eastern Europe, Turkey, Caucasus and Iran. E.A. Bowles wrote sixty years ago “...... but best of all it is beautiful and hardy.... Left to go its own way it will spread freely in borders and even under deciduous shrubs, and then provides carpets and mimic pools of blue in autumn as rich as those of bluebells in spring.” This species grows easily here planted under prostrate thyme.