Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Bulbs => Bulbs General => Topic started by: MR GRUMPY on January 02, 2020, 08:32:35 PM
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The New Year has started with this little beauty .
Colchicum munzurense
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Thanks Maggi .(•‿•(•‿•)
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You're most welcome, Steve ! [attach=1]
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Androcymbium dregei A colchicum relative
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This has been in flower since around Christmas. Colchicum hungaricum 'Velebit Star'. I presume that this can't be a registered cultivar as the flowers vary considerably in colour and most in cultivation appear to be seed-raised. I would love a pure white version though!
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Wurmbea stricta. A colchicum relative
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Colchicum kesselringii ‘My Choice’, from Lithuanian Rare Bulb Garden
It's not my choice ;D I think it's a very good form selected by the nursery owner, though.
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Indeed Tatsuo!!!
A very rare one Colchicum goharae, armenian species also described as Merandera.
I had the surprise to find the tube splitted, styles are visible from outside.
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It's very dark today and so windy, i don't think bulbous plants will deploy their flowers more next week.
Colchicum bifolium and Colchicum szovitsii
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First flowering of Colchicum szovitsii. Seed from Gothenburg Botanic Garden. There is a third flower just showing.
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That is lovely! How many years it took to from seeds to flower? I just sowed some C.szovitsii seeds in January. :)
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Leena, the seed was sown in March 2013 and germinated in February 2014. Another pot sown in 2014 also took a year to germinate and has one flower showing. So that is 5 and 6 years from germination. I'm sure more diligent gardener who repots and feeds regularly could flower them quicker. The flowers look bigger in the photo than they really are. It is a 7 cm pot.
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Thank you Roma. :)
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The autumn flowering colchicums have started here:
1 & 2) Colchicum "Lilac Major" is likely to be a form of C. byzantinum
3 & 4) Grown from seed - Colchicum NOT sibthorpii
cheers
fermi
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Another Colchicum byzantinum - this one was passed around as "Mrs Craig's colchicum" - she was one of the early members of the AGS Vic Group,
cheers
fermi
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Some spring colchicum
1. Colchicum luteum
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2. Colchicum munzurense
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3. Colchicum hungaricum Velebit Star
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4. Bulbocodium vernum
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This colchicum came to me from John B (mini-bulb lover) who originally got it as Colchicum psaridis, then was told that was renamed as C. zahnii and then was told that as it has purple stamens it must be Colchicum cupanii!
cheers
fermi
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If they have normal bulbs it is C. cupanii. If they have horizontal stolons it is psaridis/zahnii.
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I was given 5 small corms of Colchicum cilicicum in2008 and grew them on in pots. I had a few flowers after 4 years and again in the 2 subsequent ones. Since then all they have done is multiply and not a flower to be seen. What am I doing wrong? They are repotted evry other year. C. speciosum and autumnalis do well for me with the same treatment.
Any suggestions would be welcome.
Thank you
Erle on Anglesey
(red squirrels are charming I am sure but they play merry hell wth my pots!)
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I acquired a few colchicum cultivars last autumn, to trial them in our new garden with a view to adding some to a bulb meadow. We’re on a very poor, free draining sandy soil (c.4% organic matter, ph 8.5ish) and have a wet and windy climate (150cm rain per annum, winds up to 100mph in the winter just gone) and not much shelter established yet.
I’ve been super impressed with how they’ve all done, with the leaves standing up to the winds very well (I’m not surprised, having seeing them grow in the wild on Transylvanian mountainsides) and the bulbs increasing fantastically with only a light dusting of bonemeal at planting.
I trialled C. byzantinus ‘Innocence’, C. autumnale ‘Waterlily’, C. ‘Lilac Wonder’ and C. ‘Spartacus’ - the latter shown in the photo here, with each bulb producing two superb new ones. The best for flowers (duration of blooming and resilience to wind) was ‘Lilac Wonder’, although ‘Waterlily’ also did well as the flowers are born on shorter tubes. All bulbs were from J. Amand and of excellent quality with orders now placed for more ‘Lilac Wonder’ and ‘Innocence’ to be added to our meadow this autumn.
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Merendera montana from seed collected in the southern Picos de Europa, a bit slug-damaged unfortunately.
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Colchicum 'Innocence'
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The season has started slowly after a long period of drought, the last fresh nights triggered the bulbs.
The classical x agrippinum and byzantinum are the first to display their colors.
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My agrippinums are giving a super display at the moment too - it must be my favourite Colchicum of them all, with the splendid long-lasting flowering and nice tidy foliage. I have patches of these dotted over the rockery area and through an iris bed in the garden.
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Also Colchicum davisii is happy in a flowerbed so far (2 years). It's got an interesting, almost-stoloniferous/rhizomatous underground habit which makes pot-culture a bit irritating. This is the "PD.26938" from rareplants.
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This colchicum puzzled me when emerging.
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Later the true colour developed and showed that it is ´Lilac Bedder´, which I actually planted there. This appears to be a newer variety, does anybody know about its origin?
(https://up.picr.de/39357241im.jpg)
New in my garden is ´Altmarkstern´, which I like very much.
(https://up.picr.de/39357240st.jpg)
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It was a nice day yesterday (by current standards!) and a chance to get a few pictures. Today, by the way, is back to normal with drizzle and a heavy mist drifting down from Dartmoor.
My Colchicums have taken a battering this year, bu here we go.
The first is Colchicum agrippinum, which maybe I should spread out a bit?
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The others were kindly given to me, many years ago, by Thomas Huber, again maybe I should split 'em?
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What would be the best time of year to spread them out please?
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David, they won't have much root now, in spite of the flowers being out, so you could split them now. Otherwise, wait till the leaves yellow next year.
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Cheers for that Maggi, I'll wait until next year.
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A gift from a friend. Flowered early.
The Jerusalem Colchicum
Colchicum hierosolymitanum
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The first Colchicums here have been C.bivonae and C.davisii, both started to flower already in late August.
Now more are coming up and soon are at their best.
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Colchicums pushing up here as well in NE USA.
Two unknowns and Colchicum byzantinum Alba
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My early Colchicum species are in bloom now, these past few days: autumnale, byzantinum, and cilicicum.
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Colchicum autumnale
My #448, from Potterton and Martin in 1998
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Colchicum byzantinum
My #449, from McClure & Zimmerman, in 1998
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Colchicum cilicicum
#1912, from Brent and Becky's in 2004
It has been pretty dry this past week and warm, so they mostly still look very fresh.
Jim
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Later the true colour developed and showed that it is ´Lilac Bedder´, which I actually planted there. This appears to be a newer variety, does anybody know about its origin?
From Colchicum The Complete Guide (the excellent new monograph); Lilac Bedder "This little-known cultivar has flowers that stand up to the weather reasonably well. It has relatively large, lilac to light violet-purple flowers with slightly darker veins, the tepals amethyst-violet inside and with a prominent white centre. At one time it was sold by Ingwersen's Birch Farm Nursery in Sussex but is no longer readily available. It is not particularly distinguished and certainly inferior to many other more recently named selections." The full botanical description follows. Introduced by Visser, 1974
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In case you haven't seen it, an essential purchase for anyone interested in colchicums is the new RHS monograph;
Colchicum: The Complete Guide, by Christopher Grey-Wilson, Rod Leeds and Robert Rolfe.
It covers the botany and classification of the genus, including its relationship to Androcymbium and Merendera. All 104 species are described in detail with a key to aid identification. More than 80 of the most widely grown cultivars are illustrated and described.
It is a beautiful book, lavishly illustrated with many photos taken in the wild - I particularly love the image of massed C. szovitsii turning a mountaintop pink. And of course my 'wish list' of plants is increasing exponentially as I go through - who wouldn't want to try that deep coloured figlalii with the amazing maroon cataphylls? Any book billing itself "the complete guide" is of course asking for trouble but I was delighted with how thorough this one is. Fragrance is mentioned which is important to me. And lovely to see images of the new C. luteum hybrids. As someone who struggles to get Sternbergia to flower, I have wondered about getting that yellow colour into the autumn flowering cultivars and I would have liked more on how to go about hybridising, likely time from seed sowing to flowering etc but note that tantilising sentence "It is rumoured that Bondarenko has succeeded in storing C. luteum pollen under refrigeration and has used it to pollinate autumn-flowering hybrids, resulting in successful seedlings."
(as an aside, another thing I struggle with is ordering from Leonid Bondarenko. Has anyone succeeded? I can't get the website to work for me and have tried emailing him without reply)
So if you haven't yet bought a copy, make sure this book is on your Christmas list!
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Thanks for this review Gail.
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Thank you Gail. :) I will have to put it in my christmas book list. :)
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(as an aside, another thing I struggle with is ordering from Leonid Bondarenko. Has anyone succeeded? I can't get the website to work for me and have tried emailing him without reply)
I ordered from him in June (from his website), and paid at the same time with Paypal. Then heard nothing until late August a parcel came here with bulbs (not Colchicums this year). :)
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I also placed an order with Leonid in June, paying with Paypal. The full order was delivered about 3 weeks ago.
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From Colchicum The Complete Guide (the excellent new monograph); Lilac Bedder "This little-known cultivar has flowers that stand up to the weather reasonably well. It has relatively large, lilac to light violet-purple flowers with slightly darker veins, the tepals amethyst-violet inside and with a prominent white centre. At one time it was sold by Ingwersen's Birch Farm Nursery in Sussex but is no longer readily available. It is not particularly distinguished and certainly inferior to many other more recently named selections." The full botanical description follows. Introduced by Visser, 1974
Thank You so much, Gail! I knew the book was in the pipeline, but not that it´s already available. Definitely one I must have!
´Lilac Bedder´does well for me and is very reliable. Today it seems to be mainly offered by Baltic suppliers.
Scent is important to me, too, but the bees seem to be lured to the colchicums by it as well.
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Another insect making use of naked ladies in a nature reserve after rain - Tropidothorax leucopterus enjoying a dry spot.
(https://up.picr.de/39431004xu.jpg)
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Colchicum psaridis, a little jewel with running corms, leaves are >15mm large.
At the opposite the xxl Colchicum speciosum, i planted it under shade and after several years the bulbs are huge.
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Both are very interesting, Yann - does the C. speciosum always show more than 6 tepals?
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I went to East Ruston Vicarage Garden on Saturday to see the National Collection of colchicum. This is an amazing, very theatrical garden with always something of interest to see but I was frankly somewhat disappointed with the colchicum. The walk up to them has a spectacular white potato vine in flower but the wall plantings and shrubs are overshadowing the colchicums. There is no information and poor labelling. The area was overgrown and had recently been sprayed with weedkiller which had affected some of the emerging flowers. Obviously it has been a difficult year for everyone and hopefully next year they will be able to get a bit more attention.
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The collection;
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A spectacular clump of 'Innocence' was demonstrating just how good colchicum can be in the garden, and how attractive to honey bees - I watched one honey bee head down in a flower for a good five minutes...
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On Sunday I went to Felbrigg Hall. They used to have the collection there but I'd heard that they were no longer interested so went with low expectations but it was delightful. The naked ladies (Amaryllis belladonna) were at their peak blooming and absolutely gorgeous. (I've posted a couple of pictures on the Amaryllis thread).
They no longer have any of the more unusual colchicums but there are a lot of hybrids remaining in the walled garden;
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and I was delighted to see the colchicum are naturalising in rough grass between the walled garden and the orangery.
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The collection;
Oh dear, that's a bit of a mess, isn't it?
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Both are very interesting, Yann - does the C. speciosum always show more than 6 tepals?
No this year the bulb has 7 previous season it was 6. It can be nematodes that affect the bulbs, it's a known "problem" with dafoddils.
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and I was delighted to see the colchicum are naturalising in rough grass between the walled garden and the orangery.
Darling may i cut the lawn...of Colchicums ;D will ask the husband
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Thank you Gail for the pictures of the collections. :)
Do you know the name of the last one in previous page? I have one very much like it, I got it without a name so it must be something common. It is darker than my C.autumnale, and also the flower is a little bigger (but not as big as in hybrids). It is in the first picture.
The second picture is 'Autumn Herald' which is one of the best for me, and it increases well. Gail, what does the Colchicum book say about the origin of 'Autumn Herald'? I'm interested because it is so good, and it even produces seeds (if winter is not too hard).
I have bought mine from Janis maybe 10 or more years ago.
'William Dykes' is also a prolific one here.
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Do you know the name of the last one in previous page? I have one very much like it, I got it without a name so it must be something common. It is darker than my C.autumnale, and also the flower is a little bigger (but not as big as in hybrids). It is in the first picture.
The second picture is 'Autumn Herald' which is one of the best for me, and it increases well. Gail, what does the Colchicum book say about the origin of 'Autumn Herald'? I'm interested because it is so good, and it even produces seeds (if winter is not too hard).
Sorry Leena, the last one was one of those with no visible label.
Interestingly of Autumn Herald the book says "This selection is a mid-season cultivar with good weather resistance. There is a particularly good stand of it at East Ruston Old Vicarage garden". Raised by W.E.Th. Ingwersen, mid 20th century but parentage is not recorded.
I shall have to return and see if it has emerged.
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Interestingly of Autumn Herald the book says "This selection is a mid-season cultivar with good weather resistance. There is a particularly good stand of it at East Ruston Old Vicarage garden". Raised by W.E.Th. Ingwersen, mid 20th century but parentage is not recorded.
Thank you Gail. :) Here it always comes up in mid September and flowers well two to four weeks (depending if there are hard frosts). It is not the earliest I have, and not a late one either. It is very similar to 'Glory of Heemstede', but it comes up earlier than GoH. :)
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Here is another picture of 'Autumn Herald', taken today (the previous picture was last week).
And another one of the nameless Colchicum.
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One more. :) In the first picture the paler coloured Colchicum closer is 'William Dykes' and behind the path is 'Emerald Town'.
'Emerald Town' is one of Leonid Bondarenko's cultivars and the most striking Colchicum I have. It is quite early, and it's colour stands out. I planted one bulb in 2017 and now it has formed a clump. :)
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Here it's still summer, today 27°C and not a water drop in the air...
Colchicum cilicicum enjoy the sun while Colchicum cupanii suffered from the drought, in some of my pots flowers dried before blooming.
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One week ago I received my parcel from Leonid Bondarenko. I had ordered in July, paid with paypal and heard nothing about my order until it finally arrived to my surprise. Here is Colchicum 'Poseidon' from him, already in full flower some days later.
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I also have 'Poseidon' from Leonid, planted some years ago. It is a good Colchicum and multiplies well. It has not come up this year, it is one of the latest Colchicums I have, but it can stand frost quite well. :)
Here it's still summer, today 27°C and not a water drop in the air...
Here it is also unusually warm considering it is now almost end of September. Days are around +15 and next week end it is predicted even +20C! There hasn't been night frosts yet, though one night was +2C.
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Another one just received from Leonid and flowering at once: 'Jarka', a bicolour one, a bit similar to 'Harlekijn', introduced by Janis in 1992
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Finally a sunny day. Some of the Colchicum collection some with names others labels long gone.
Colchicum cilicicum with purple tipped anthers.
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Colchicum laetum hort. which is now, according to the new book, Colchicum 'Pink Star'
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The met office said only a 10% chance of rain today so I went to see the Colchicum trial at Hyde Hall. I hadn't quite appreciated how cold and windy it would be and should have taken gloves but some colchicums were nevertheless still standing. The trial actually finished last year but they have left the colchicums in position on a slightly raised bank by the dry garden. Clearly labelled and displayed.
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Colchicum speciosum 'Rubrum'
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Colchicum autumnale 'Alboplenum'
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Colchicum autumnale 'Album'
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Colchicum 'Dick Trotter'
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Colchicum 'Giant'
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I didn't notice any colchicums used elsewhere in the garden which seemed a shame. There were a few sternbergias and Nerine bowdenii in the dry garden.
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Thank you Gail for posting pictures from the trial :)
C.speciosum 'Rubrum' looks like my unknown Colchicum, at least from the outside.
Do I see right that there is tesselation in 'Giant'? I have one I got as 'The Giant' in a plant swap, and I don't know it's origin. It looks different than the one in your picture, and also it doesn't have tesselation. Maybe mine is named wrong and it is some other hybrid.
It grows in not so good place, too shady, but it still grows and flowers well.
In the third picture there is C.bivonae going over soon and behind it 'Beaconfield' just starting to flower. It is so good to have Colchicums which flower in different times.
In the fourth picture in the background there is 'Autumn Herald' (I have been able to divide it several times so that now it grows in many places in the garden), and in the foreground there is 'Antares' which I like very much. :)
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Do I see right that there is tesselation in 'Giant'? I have one I got as 'The Giant' in a plant swap, and I don't know it's origin. It looks different than the one in your picture, and also it doesn't have tesselation.
Of Giant, the book says; "very faintly tessellated within towards the margins" One of the largest-flowered cultivars, this has rather pale, coarse blooms. From established clumps they are produced en masse but have a tendency to fall over after a short time in bloom. This cultivar is however, extremely vigorous in the garden and quick to multiply. For this reason it is quite often offered for sale, sometimes unidentified and without a name.
often incorrectly listed as 'The Giant' (and actually was labelled as The Giant at Hyde Hall!)
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There is a suspicion that much of the stock is virused which manifests as streakiness in the flowers.
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I bought a single bulb of this Colchicum about 15 years ago and I'm afraid I have lost the label - I think it may be pannonicum but am more than happy to be corrected! It does well in a damp meadow area and the flowers hold up to rain better than many Colchicum. Last year I split it in the hope of spreading it around and was very pleased to find 35 bulbs!
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Nice to see the trial of Colchicums at Hyde Hall... but why on earth are they growing them over gravel? Surely that's just asking for the flowers to get flattened. ???
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Oh, your planting is delightful Tristan! I've bought some C. autumnale for a (socially distanced) group planting session around the village sign and hope they do as well as yours...
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Thanks Gail! I'm sure yours will thrive too, they seem very trouble-free plants. They look great in grass and seem to be very easy here, I love the way they pop up in autumn like mushrooms. I also like the big leaves in a meadow in spring too, they give a bit of texture.
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These photos from Matt Berry of Greenwings Holidays ( www.greenwings.co.uk )
Colchicum macrophyllum through the seasons in Greece
Photo 1: flowers, taken yesterday.
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Photo 2: carpet of leaves, taken in March.
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Of Giant, the book says; "very faintly tessellated within towards the margins" One of the largest-flowered cultivars, this has rather pale, coarse blooms. From established clumps they are produced en masse but have a tendency to fall over after a short time in bloom. This cultivar is however, extremely vigorous in the garden and quick to multiply. For this reason it is quite often offered for sale, sometimes unidentified and without a name.
often incorrectly listed as 'The Giant' (and actually was labelled as The Giant at Hyde Hall!)
Thank you Gail, it seems my plant is not 'Giant'. It is good to know, and Colchicums are not always easy to identify (maybe the book will change that). I like the one I have, it is also vigorous and has quite big flower. Maybe that is why someone thought it was 'Giant'. :)
Tristan, your Colchicum lawn looks so natural and wonderful!
The picture of Colchicums in natural habitat, wow. My Colchicums are mostly hybrids, they are good in garden and grow well, but species look so special.
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'Glory of Heemstede' is a good Colchicum at least in my garden:). I have it already growing in several places, here some pictures, and a close-up of the flower.
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Two more Colchicums. 'Lilac Wonder' is not my favourite, it flops as soon as the flowers come up.
'Nancy Lindsay' is better (to stay up), and I should move it to more sunnier place, here it is in full shade.
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Patience always pay, i was able to get seeds in 2015, 5 years laters i've got a gift, a very dark form of Colchicum stevenii.
I now apply amino acid at each watering, tiny bulbs set huge roots system that capture plenty of minerals.
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Yann:
Could you elaborate on the use of Amino acid.
Only on Colchicums and which Amino acid?
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A note to anyone waiting for a delivery of the new Colchicum book from the AGS :- they had a problem with some of the stock sent to them being damaged and had to wait for replacements - your order should arrive soon.
That gives you time to start the weight-lifting classes- it's a HEAVY book!!
See Gail Harland's review of the new Colchicum book :
https://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=17563.msg415679#msg415679
The new RHS monograph;
Colchicum: The Complete Guide, by Christopher Grey-Wilson, Rod Leeds and Robert Rolfe.
This book is available from the AGS bookshop - £32 for AGS members
https://www.alpinegardensociety.net/shop/colchicum-the-complete-guide/
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Not sure of the ID. Looks nice in later afternoon sunlight.
Colchicum
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Yann:
Could you elaborate on the use of Amino acid.
Only on Colchicums and which Amino acid?
I made my first trials on Ophrys. I grow in polystyrene boxes and i wanted to get good sized bulbs and lot of seeds for my invitro stock.
I then applied from august to december a large amount (too much) of pure amino acid i purchased from a spanish laboratory. 1 drop for 10l water. When i harvest my Ophrys to stock them in the garage in June i hallucinated with the bulb's size and perfect shapes.
The year after i tried on small colchicum bulbils, the size doubled in less than 6 months and they looked very healthy compared to other bulbils not watered with the magix potion. Since i reduced the concentration to 1 drop/20l + 4-6-36NPK.
Since there i now water 1 week with amino acid, one week with NPK, with at least 36K, sometimes i'm able to purchase 0-50-30 NPK (Grotek) fertiliser.
Saturday i'll post photo of the products.
I stock my mixture in a small 5l jerrican and use a dosatron pump 1/3 ratio. The amino acid don't like light and should be applied quickly with 1 week.
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Yann
Thanks so much. This sounds so interesting. I look forward to the images.
There are so many Amino Acids I wonder which one you are using.
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Yann
Thanks so much. This sounds so interesting. I look forward to the images.
There are so many Amino Acids I wonder which one you are using.
I use this one
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hydroponic-plant-Growth-hormones-Kelp-Fulvic-Humic-Amino-Acid-Soluble-Powder1-lb/351765358684
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Thanks, I have to give it a try.
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another Colchicum zahnii syn. Colchicum psaridis with a rhizomatous bulb and overlaping petals
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There're still few Colchicum in bloom, cupanii is one of these.