Comments on: Colchicum Foliage

By: Colchicums Sprouting in the Bag: New Garden — Cold Climate Gardening

Colchicums Sprouting in the Bag: New Garden — Cold Climate Gardening — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 17:15:10 +0000

[...] The leaves are from this past spring. If the ovary is fertilized, the seed capsule will emerge with next spring's leaves. The stalk, by the way, is not a stem, but a perianth tube. It is all part of the flower. The ovary of the flower is down there at the bottom of the foot, buried underground under normal growing conditions. If it gets fertilized and seeds develop, they will emerge the following year in the center of the foliage. [...]

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Sat, 15 May 2010 16:59:25 +0000

I don’t know what promotes seed formation in colchicums, but this is indeed the time of year to find seed pods if there are going to be any. I’m glad you have friends who find that interesting. I think I’m going to go look at my colchicum foliage to see if I have any this year.

By: Rose

Rose — Sat, 15 May 2010 16:52:32 +0000

Curiously, for the first time, I have 4 Colchicums (probably colchicum autumnale) with seed pods. There are a number of Colchicums in my garden but only these four, located in the same bed, have seed pods. I’m wondering what encourages their formation…weather, plant age? Anyway, curious enough for a bunch of gardeners to gather to view them…

By: Pruning strategy for forsythia | Cold Climate Gardening

Pruning strategy for forsythia | Cold Climate Gardening — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 11:53:50 +0000

[...] four seasons, taking lots of notes. For my first spring at this place, if I had assumed that the foliage coming out of the garden beds was old tired tulips that were no longer able to bloom, and had dug them out immediately, I never [...]

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Sun, 18 Sep 2005 18:02:25 +0000

I’m sure it depends on climate–and on personal taste. I don’t have problems with its appearance, though I do take care not to plant colchicums next to something that could get smothered when the foliage leans over. But I gave some corms to my neighbor and the dying foliage drove her husband nuts. He found it very unsightly. The real difficulty is that the flowers are much smaller than the foliage. Normally I would plant bulbs with such tall foliage in the back, so that as the leaves decayed they would be obscured by other plants growing up. But the colchicum flowers are so much shorter they would get lost in the back of a typical border. It’s mostly something you have to be aware of, but shouldn’t deter most people from planting–and enjoying–colchicums.

By: Chan S.

Chan S. — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 20:09:42 +0000

I enjoyed the colchicum foliage this spring. I was a little wary of what to expect, because I’d read so many complaints in gardening books about how prominent the foliage is and how long it takes to yellow and go dormant…but it reminded me of an Olympic torch, very graceful and statuesque. I’ll try to remember to take and post photos next spring.