From the category archives:

Colchicums

Colchicum autumnale ‘Album’

September 10, 2004

This is the tiniest colchicum in my collection. I just got it in this autumn’s order from Odyssey Bulbs, and it was in full bud in the bag, a bit surprising since both Bowles and Russell Stafford say it blooms later than the straight species. I hope, as Stafford claims in his catalog copy, that [...]

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Autumn Queen, revisited

September 3, 2004

It’s that time of year again–colchicum season. I thought that this year, in addition to talking about my new acquisitions, I would try to focus on the ones I didn’t get around to posting on last year, and avoid deluging you with photos unless they were clearly better than last year’s. And having thus firmly [...]

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Colchicum atropurpureum

January 27, 2004

Yes, colchicums again. Or still. I can’t help it. When I start a project I like to finish it. And the box with all my colchicum books and notes has been banging around first the dining room, and then the living room, for far too long. Ask Collin, who has to clean the dining room, [...]

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Harlequin

November 29, 2003

Colchicum ‘Harlequin’ is apparently new enough that only Odyssey Bulbs, from whom I bought it, has any information on it: “With their pointed, twisted, creamy-white segments, blotched irregularly with purple toward their bases, the flowers (borne in September) of this aptly named and utterly distinctive cultivar really do give the impression of a jester’s hat [...]

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Lilac Wonder

November 21, 2003

The first time Colchicum ‘Lilac Wonder’ bloomed for me, I wondered if perhaps I didn’t plant it deep enough, it flopped so. I think I even made a note to dig it up when dormant and reset it deeper. It’s just as well I didn’t, because, as Bowles describes, “‘Lilac Wonder’ has a very long [...]

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Colchicum bornmuelleri of gardens

October 21, 2003

According to John Bryan in Bulbs, “the plant usually grown under this name is a form of C. speciosum with yellow anthers.” Elsewhere he also says it has a white throat. I’ve looked at the photo of the “true” C. bornmuelleri, and I definitely have the impostor. It has yellow anthers and a white throat, [...]

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Nancy Lindsay

October 18, 2003

Colchicum autumnale ‘Nancy Lindsay’ bloomed quite a while ago. She only threw forth two exquisite blossoms, and I somehow didn’t get out there with a camera in time. It would have been worth it, for Russell Stafford rightly describes her as having “abundant, bright-pink, purple-stemmed blooms . . . in September and October. Vigorous.” Yes, [...]

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The Triplets: Impostor Colchicums

October 18, 2003

I think of these colchicums as triplets because, even thought they are supposed to be three distinct plants, I can’t tell them apart. In the photos they appear to have more difference in color than they do in real life. The supposed ‘Album’ is in shade when the other two are in sunlight, so I [...]

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Colchicum byzantinum

October 3, 2003

These are the plants that started my fascination with colchicums. They were growing all around some peonies when we moved here. The foliage came up in the spring, very wide, about a foot tall, and bright green. I kept waiting for them to bloom so I could figure out what they were . . . [...]

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Autumn Herald and Violet Queen

September 30, 2003

These were the next two to bloom after ‘Autumn Queen’. ‘Violet Queen’ I’ve had for a while. According to E. A. Bowles in Crocus & Colchicum, which is considered to be the definitive book on colchicums, ‘Violet Queen’ “has long pointed segments closely tesselated [that means checkered] on a bluish lilac ground contrasting pleasantly with [...]

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September blooms and garden chores

September 25, 2003

It has remembered it can rain. We have had rain and snow on the fires enough to get them contained, clear the air, and make some plants bloom out of season. Oriental poppies & rosemary both must be thinking, wow, that was awful, it must be spring now that it is better. [...]

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Autumn Queen

September 9, 2003

This is Colchicum ‘Autumn Queen,’ one of my recent purchases. It’s the one that was practically blooming in the bag, so it’s no surprise it was up two days after I planted it.
By the way, there’s an article in the October 2003 issue of Horticulture that tells you everything I know about colchicums. It made [...]

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Goodies in the Mail

August 31, 2003

It’s colchicum season again, both for planting and blooming. What’s a colchicum? Well, I gave this brief explanation last year, when colchicum season was in full force. Since colchicums bloom in September and October, they need to be mailed out earlier than the other bulbs you plant in the fall. My colchicum order from Odyssey [...]

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