Comments on: Colchicum Design Ideas from Montrose Gardens

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:58:51 +0000

Botanically, colchicum and crocus are two different genera. There are some colchicums that are called autumn crocus, and there are crocuses that bloom in autumn as well. Colchicums send up leaves in the spring which die down in the summer. Then the flowers appear in the fall without any leaves. If your husband cut the grass down during the summer, it should not have harmed any of the bulbs there, because that is when they are dormant. If you really have colchicums, what you will see this spring is very broad leaves. If what you have is crocus, you will see grass-like leaves plus flowers in the spring from the spring-blooming crocus, and then grass-like leaves plus flowers in the fall, from the fall crocus. Rodents love to eat crocus, but colchicums are poisonous to them. If no plants come up at all, then I would say you used to have crocuses, but some sort of rodent ate them. Weed whacking in summer should have no effect on them whatsoever.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:14:28 +0000

Two seasons ago, a neighbor friend shared some of her colchicum (fall crocus) with me.
They did wonderfully in a mound under our aspen trees with other spring crocus. Accidentally, last summer my husband weed-wacked (cut down the grass where the leaves appear while trimming the there. Do you think there’s any hope? Also, I’m having trouble finding replacement bulbs. Places seem to be ‘out of stock’.

By: Brian Bixley, author of Essays on Gardening in a Cold Climate — Cold Climate Gardening

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 14:11:05 +0000

[...] than ten years later, Brian Bixley resurfaced in my life, commenting on a blog post of mine. It was another one of those doors that blogging has opened for me, being [...]

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 00:00:25 +0000

I dig them up just as the foliage withers–late June, early July. I replant the largest and put the rest in net bags and give them away. The teeny ones left I plant somewhere new in the garden (it takes me all summer to make up my mind) right about now–before Labor Day. So if you can find your now-dormant colchicums, now would be a fine time to lift and divide them. They can be planted right after blooming, too, but may take a year to hit their stride, and may heave in the spring.

By: Leslie Shields

Leslie Shields — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 23:48:25 +0000

Hi Kathy, Wondering what the best time would be to transplant and divide some clumps of colchiums.

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 19:19:05 +0000

Dear Mr. Bixley, I may not have found the title imaginative, but it was certainly descriptive, and in the days before online searching and shopping a descriptive title was certainly the best way to ensure that those interested in the subject matter would succeed in finding it. Please don’t take offense at my smart-aleck remark. Thank you for providing more details about your colchicum planting arrangement. I first discovered your essay in Horticulture, and went on to request your book from the public library, but was never able to locate a copy for myself. Thus I didn’t have your precise words at hand when I wrote that post last year. I really enjoyed your book, and I’m pleased to make your acquaintance, if only online. Please do stop by again.

By: Brian Bixley

Brian Bixley — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:42:40 +0000

Hello Kathy, I’m sorry you didn’t care for my book title, Essays on Gardening in a Cold Climate. ‘Gardening in a Cold Climate’ was chosen as a admiring touch of the hat to Nancy Mitford; ‘Essays’ to indicate that the book consists of a series of pieces on widely different subjects; particular plants, garden design, garden literature and garden history, with very little of a ‘how-to-do-it’ nature. I expect a better title could have been found. The colchicums here are in a bed 40′ x 10′, and are planted under white-flowering crabapples, perennial geraniums and with many spring-flowering bulbs. The geraniums are then mown to the ground in the third week of August (right now!), and a second time at the end of October, so that the bed is ready for snowdrops, aconites, Virginia bluebells, etc., all flowering before the colchicum foliage appears. BB

By: Leslie

Leslie — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:07:18 +0000

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

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:58:48 +0000

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!

By: Sue

Sue — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 11:29:31 +0000

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 =-.