Many gardeners complain that it is difficult to place colchicums in the garden because of their unusual growing cycle, in which their leaves grow in the spring, die down in the summer, and then the flowers emerge in the fall. The colchicum bed at Montrose Gardens in Hillsborough, North Carolina, pictured above, contained many colchicum design ideas that could be implemented in any garden.
Approaching the bed from this direction, we are actually leaving the house and gardens proper and moving toward the entrance gate.
Colchicums star in this bed, but the other plants were carefully chosen to work with them. (Click on the photo to enlarge)
A bright magenta petunia and dark purple foliage plants echo the color of the colchicums. They share the same hue but their values are quite different. The grey-green of some of the foliage plants is the opposite of the colchicum’s bluish pinks and flatters them by contrast. Similar interactions are going in this photo from my own garden:
Different hues of pink and green play off each other.
There are white colchicums in this Montrose Gardens bed, too, but they get a different design treatment:
The black grass makes the white flowers stand out.
Colchicum autumnale var. alboplenum stands out in a bed of dark ajuga
The hellebores are background plants now, but were in their glory when the colchicums were leafing out.
Colchicums are hard to love when they're going dormant.
Even I, the self-appointed colchicum evangelist, must concede that they are not at their best at this stage. What you may not have noticed in the Montrose photos above, but which I could see at the time, was the presence of hardy geranium foliage. Hardy geraniums are making lovely mounds of greenery, spangled with blooms, just when the colchicums are at their worst. Depending on which hardy geraniums you plant, you can easily camouflage the waning colchicum leaves with some lusty geraniums. And the geraniums are usually due for a cutback shortly before the colchicums bloom. It’s a win-win situation that I first read about in an essay by Brian Bixley in Essays on Gardening in a Cold Climate
I was very happy to find these colchicums blooming at Montrose Gardens. Since so many of these southern plants were unfamiliar, stumbling across these flowering bulbs was sort of like meeting up with your next door neighbor when traveling abroad. I was pleased to see that the same siting and planting techniques that I have used to incorporate colchicums in my garden were also used at Montrose Gardens, though with a southern plant palette.
Colchicums: isn’t it time you planted some?
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Two thoughts – you might want to give that “hardy ageratum” a try. I garden in zone 5/6 in CT and it is hardy here, rambunctious in fact. Second I have interplanted my colchicums with bergenia. It seems to work well but am going to try some with geraniums great tip. Thanks
Maybe I should try to plant some again. Last fall, I planted a couple in the middle of a front yard bed, and the leaves came up this year, but the blooms did not. I was left with a gap in the bed that drove me nuts. I put a pot in the area, hoping it was not over where a bloom would come up, but it shouldn’t have been over both. I think I put the pot there after they should have been up, though. I wonder if they will come up next year.
.-= Sue´s last blog ..Not Ready =-.
Sometimes they do skip blooming the first year, so if you get the leaves again next spring, I bet you will get flowers, too. However, there is a gap of a couple of month between the leaves dying and the flowers emerging, so hang onto that pot, too!
well, I honestly don’t expect that I’ll have enough colchicums to worry about how they fit into any design, but I certainly like seeing these lovely examples, especially as I missed this and many other GWA tours.
Twitter: @Patsybell
You have inspired me. I am going to try some Colchicums in my garden next season. I’ve avoided them because the bulbs are pricey. But we can always use fall color in the perennial beds. Thank for this informative post.
.-= Patsy Bell Hobson´s last blog ..How to Preserve Basil =-.
Patsy, the bulbs are pricey, but most of them seem to multiply fast. I usually just buy one of a particular cultivar, and then lift and divide after about 3 years.
Yes, I know they’re supposed to be planted by August, but these were on sale for half off, so I bought them anyway. The bulbs were nice-sized and very firm, so I figure they’ll be fine for next fall. I was just very surprised when one showed a lavender flower now. It’s flowering at ground level, but it doesn’t matter to me. I never expected a thing from them this fall.
.-= Kylee from Our Little Acre´s last blog ..Then the Sun Came Out =-.
As you know, I recently planted some Colchicums. I had nine of them, and planted them in groups of 3 each. I’m working on a post about them, because guess what? One is BLOOMING! Wasn’t that just last week when I planted the bulbs?
.-= Kylee from Our Little Acre´s last blog ..Then the Sun Came Out =-.
That’s why most bulb suppliers ship them before the other bulbs, and why you need to order them early. They will bloom in the package if you don’t plant them in time.
Twitter: @suburbangarden
Geranium ‘Gerwat’ (Rozanne) would make a fabulous planting partner with Colchicums. Hmm, I happen to have some of both – I guess I should give that a try.
My son & I both love the foliage of Colchicums, almost more than the blooms. Hellebore foliage does make an excellent foil for the Colchicum foliage. I just need to figure out which to move, the Colchicum or the Hellebore?
.-= Mr. McGregor’s Daughter´s last blog ..It’s A Bittersweet Symphony =-.
Twitter: @flowergardengal
Kathy, I think your ageratums might be heliotrope. But can’t be sure from the picture. Heliotrope is an annual here in our zone 7 gardens but worth planting cause it smells so good.
Very nice article and was a joy to read especially since it was about an NC garden. Loved meeting you there.
Anna, I have grown heliotrope as an annual before and I know it wasn’t heliotrope. I agree, it’s not the best photo.
Twitter: @reddirtramblin
Kathy, thanks for the link love. Good information on where to place these beautiful fall bloomers.~~Dee
.-= Dee/reddirtramblings´s last blog ..Do you know what day this is? (Hint: gifts are involved!) =-.