Colchicum autumnale ‘Album’

– Posted in: Colchicums, Plant info
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Colchicum autumnale album
This is the tiniest colchicum in my collection. I just got it in this autumn’s order from Odyssey Bulbs, and it was in full bud in the bag, a bit surprising since both Bowles and Russell Stafford say it blooms later than the straight species. I hope, as Stafford claims in his catalog copy, that it is indeed “a vigorous form, its abundance of bloom and rapidity of increase amply compensating for its relatively small flowers.” I am already thinking of moving it to the flower bed I showed you earlier. The petite white blossoms would fill in the gaps marvelously in the fall, but I have to see how vigorous the colchicum’s spring foliage is before I decide. It might overwhelm the spring ephemerals planted there. (Photo taken September 5th.)

About the Author

Kathy Purdy is a colchicum evangelist, converting unsuspecting gardeners into colchicophiles. She gardens in rural upstate NY, which used to be USDA Hardiness Zone 4 but is now Zone 5. Kathy’s been writing since 4th grade, gardening since high school, and blogging since 2002. Find her on Instagram as kopurdy.

If winter is slumber and spring is birth, and summer is life, then autumn rounds out to be reflection. It’s a time of year when the leaves are down and the harvest is in and the perennials are gone. Mother Earth just closed up the drapes on another year and it’s time to reflect on what’s come before.

~Mitchell Burgess in Northern Exposure

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