I think we are at the peak of colchicum season. The very earliest ones are finished, the mid-season ones are in their prime, and the last are just getting going!In the very first Colchicum Patrol, I came upon Colchicum autumnale. Now her pale sister is blooming. I know I planted more than just these few. [...]
Colchicums
Colchicum Patrol: Week 3
September 26, 2013 – Posted in: Colchicums, What's up/bloomingAn interesting thing happened between last week's colchicum patrol and this one. Take a look at this: I don't know exactly when the color intensified, but it seemed to happen overnight. It delayed the posting of this patrol, because I went back and took new photographs of many flowers to reflect the new color. I [...]
Colchicum Patrol: Week 2
September 17, 2013 – Posted in: Colchicums, What's up/bloomingHere I am on week 2 of the colchicum patrol. I see I promised I would show you last week's colchicums as open flowers, but I changed my mind. I am just going to show you the newly opened ones because there just isn't time. With the exception of the white byzantinum, they have all [...]
Colchicum Patrol: Week 1
September 8, 2013 – Posted in: Colchicums, What's up/bloomingMy longtime readers know I have a "thing" for colchicums. Their botanical weirdness--blooming in fall without leaves, which show up in spring and die down in July--fascinates me, yes. But when you have as many different kinds as I do, it is just plain fun to go out on "colchicum patrol" to see what's come [...]
Lilac-Pink Is The New Gold: Garden Bloggers Bloom Day September 2012
September 15, 2012 – Posted in: Colchicums, What's up/bloomingMany gardeners complain of a surfeit of yellow and gold in the fall garden, but mine is a preponderance of lilac-pink.The dry spell we had this summer caused many spring bloomers, including the Phlox subulata 'Purple Beauty,' to rebloom this fall. When I planted the phlox on either side of the Colchicum agrippinum, I thought [...]
‘Disraeli’ colchicum
September 10, 2012 – Posted in: ColchicumsI have seen a lot of photographs of colchicums in books and magazines, including my own article on colchicums, where the color seemed unnaturally saturated and intense. I had never grown a colchicum that richly colored, and I suspected that the photographs had been "adjusted" to make them more appealing. Those photos may very well [...]
Colchicums Sprouting in the Bag: New Garden
October 1, 2011 – Posted in: Colchicums, New House, New GardensWhen we first started the process of buying our new house, I thought we'd be moving in August. In early July I started digging up colchicum corms as the leaves died down, indicating they were going dormant. It turns out the first date proposed for closing on a house is usually wildly optimistic, and my [...]
Colchicum ‘Beaconsfield’
October 1, 2010 – Posted in: ColchicumsThis is a recent acquisition from Odyssey Bulbs, in full, though battered, bloom on September 15th. It does not seem to be as tesselated (checkered) as Colchicum agrippinum. But since this is its first year, and since I was out of town for its peak bloom, we'll revisit that issue next year. It appears it [...]
Colchicum Sprouting When Received: Three for Thursday
September 30, 2010 – Posted in: ColchicumsSometimes 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. Please remember this is [...]
Earliest Colchicums Ever
August 24, 2010 – Posted in: ColchicumsAfter 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, [...]
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