I've never seen colchicums bloom this early
After two days of much-needed rain, I decided to walk around the garden to see what I could see. I wasn’t really expecting to see colchicums blooming, because they usually start in September. Perhaps the extended hot and dry spell, followed by the cool, rainy weather encouraged them to break dormancy early. At any rate, it was a pleasant surprise. These ones should be the variety ‘Zephyr’.
Tagged as:
autumn,
Colchicums
About the Author
Kathy Purdy is a colchicum evangelist, converting unsuspecting gardeners into colchicophiles. She would be delighted to speak to your group about colchicums or other gardening topics. Kathy’s been writing since 4th grade, gardening since high school, and blogging since 2002.
What differentiates a bulb from a perennial plant is that the nourishment for the flower is stored within the bulb itself.…There is something miraculous about the way that a little grenade of dried up tissue can explode into a complete flower.
~Monty Don
in
The Complete Gardener pp. 142
Beautiful. I checked and they are even good in my zone. Where would be the best place to order them from and is one species better than another? Thanks.
I bought mine from Odyssey Bulbs, but ‘Zephyr’ is sold out. They do have other colchicums available still. Odyssey Bulbs has the largest selection, but many other bulb companies sell at least a few kinds.
Interesting … one of my Oxblood Lilies bloomed last week, which is about 3 weeks earlier than expected. By the way, it’s so funny to me to see Violas blooming in August!
The Johnny-jump-ups get a bit scraggly by August, but with this rain we are heading into fall and they are getting a new lease on life.
Beautiful photo. Congrats on them starting early.
Guess I’ll head out tomorrow and start pulling back all the foliage of other plants that are probably snuffing out mine as I type.
Oh, that does seem early. I would call that stage close enough to be blooming! We have C. speciousus that will not show until October.
I have great hopes to see them soon~ I love these beauties! gail
My Colchicum ‘The Giant’ have sprouted, but they aren’t blooming yet. I haven’t checked to see if that’s early, but I suspect not. Yours blooming early is interesting.
Well, do you call the colchicums above sprouted or blooming? They are showing color but they’re not open yet.