Colchicum Sprouting When Received: Three for Thursday

– Posted in: Colchicums
10 comments

Sometimes when you get a mail order colchicum it is already sprouting in the bag. I have read that if that happens, you should cut off the blossoms and plant the corm. I decided to plant the corm at the appropriate depth, but leave the flowers uncovered until after they bloomed.

sprouting colchicum

Day one

colchicum sprouting

Day two

colchicum Beaconsfield blooming

Day three

Please remember this is an experiment. I have no idea if this is helpful or harmful to the plant. This is Colchicum ‘Beaconsfield’, by the way. More on that tomorrow.

Three for Thursday is brought to you by Cindy of From My Corner of Katy: “Pick 3 pictures of plants from your garden … tell us about 3 books you’ve read that you want to share … rant about 3 things that bug the heck out of you … show us 3 pieces of garden art or 3 photos of egregious crimes against gardening … you choose what your three will be.” Just have fun, be creative and leave her a comment when your post is up!

About the Author

Kathy Purdy is a colchicum evangelist, converting unsuspecting gardeners into colchicophiles. She gardens in rural upstate NY, which used to be USDA Hardiness Zone 4 but is now Zone 5. Kathy’s been writing since 4th grade, gardening since high school, and blogging since 2002. Find her on Instagram as kopurdy.

Now, the digging and dividing of perennials, the general autumn cleanup and the planting of spring bulbs are all an act of faith. One carries on before the altar of delayed gratification, until the ground freezes and you can’t do any more other than refill the bird feeder and gaze through the window, waiting for the snow. . . . Meanwhile, it helps to think of yourself as a pear tree or a tulip. You will blossom spectacularly in the spring, but only after the required period of chilling.

~Adrian Higgins in The Washington Post, November 6, 2013

Comments on this entry are closed.

kerri October 14, 2010, 10:24 pm

Those Colchicums from Lynn were doing the same thing in the paper bag by the time we got Kylie’s garden ready to plant them. We were greatly surprised when they bloomed so beautifully!

Lisa Ueda October 4, 2010, 9:21 pm

Love it, half the fun of gardening is in the experimentation. Awesome color.

gail September 30, 2010, 10:46 pm

I hope it makes many blooms next year!

Mr. McGregor's Daughter September 30, 2010, 5:00 pm

I’m not sure why it would make a difference. The plant gets energy from the leaves each year to produce the flowers. This corm is fully charged up, and has already formed the flower buds, so how could it become significantly less depleted by cutting them off?

Cyndy September 30, 2010, 2:38 pm

Hi Kathy, Mine bloomed their first season, about a month after planting last year. No noticeable ill effects observed. My planting tip with these sweet floppers is to interplant with stachys byzantina, similar to the geranium combo suggested by your guest blogger, but no clipping or mowing required…

Kathy Purdy September 30, 2010, 2:58 pm

Oh, yes, I have done a similar combination, but I used Lychnis coronaria, which has the same celadon foliage.

Layanee September 30, 2010, 2:26 pm

The advice is probably good given there are no roots while flowering but it is difficult to cut that bloom.

Deborah at Kilbourne Grove September 30, 2010, 2:22 pm

I have bought them like this before. I never once thought about cutting the flowers off, they are so precious. They come up fine the following year, but perhaps they would have been stronger if I hadn’t let them bloom.

Kathy Purdy September 30, 2010, 2:27 pm

I wish I could remember where I read that. It’s possible it was referring to fully bloomed before being shipped. But yes, obviously I couldn’t stand to cut them off myself.