Colchicum byzantinum

by Kathy Purdy on September 15, 2008

Colchicums from Byzantium

These colchicums were growing here when we moved in, and have multiplied freely. They are very adaptable, as you might expect from a bulb that has been in cultivation for over 300 years. The botanist who named them got his from two Viennese ladies who got them from someone in Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine empire. They are almost always my earliest blooming colchicum.

About

Kathy Purdy discovered the joys of writing in fourth grade, when she started corresponding with a former classmate. She's been writing letters ever since, first on looseleaf, then electronically, and now as weblog entries. That makes you, the blog reader, her pen pal. Her first independent (though frustrating) attempts at gardening were made in high school, though the gardening bug didn't bite hard until her mid-thirties, when she found herself mistress of a rural home on 15 acres. • USDA Hardiness Zone:4 • AHS Heat Zone: 3 • Location: rural; Southern Tier of NY • Geographic type: foothills of Appalachian Mountains • Soil Type: acid clay • Experience level: intermediate • Particular interests: colchicums, narcissus, cottage gardening, NY native plants, gardening with/for children

Despite these losses and setbacks, like King Sisyphus, gardeners forever keep rolling that rock up the hill, convinced we are progressing toward the day it will stay in place up there and not roll back on us, the day our gardens will be just as we want them.
Arthur T. Vanderbilt, II

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Kathy Purdy September 17, 2008 at 8:04 am

Yes, Kerri, we gather elderberries and make elderberry-apple pie with them.

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kerri September 16, 2008 at 10:59 pm

Love those colchicums Kathy! They look very pretty peeking through the grass and the sedum. How nice to see them in Carol’s garden too :) I just planted caryopteris Blue Beard, a passalong from our son and wife. Theirs produces seedlings readily and thrives in Rochester.
Oh my, that grape pie looked wonderful. I’ll bet it didn’t last long! We have quite a few concords this year. Jelly making time! I also make elderberry/apple. It’s delicious. Do you gather elderberries?

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