Colchicum & relatives 2019

[Mariette]

A special feature of this site is the coincidence with Viola calaminaria.

[Mariette]

We were not the only ones enjoying the flowers of Colchicum autumnale.

[Maggi Young]

We were not the only ones enjoying the flowers of Colchicum autumnale.

I'm not  surprised!  Anyone would  enjoy  the  sight!

[Yann]

The last rains damaged the garden colchicums but in the greenhouse the show has started

[Leena]

Mariette, how lovely to see the variation in flowers. And grasses keep the flowers from falling down.
I have yet to find a good place for C.autumnale, the bulbs I planted couple of years ago have increased and are growing well but among weeds, so I haven't taken any pictures.
My favourite Colchicums are hybrids like 'Glory of Heemstede' which increases well and I have been able to divide it to several places in the garden. It even had seeds pods for the first time this summer, which I'm very happy.
'Antares' was one of the first Colchicums I bought over ten years ago. It hasn't been a good increaser in my garden, but I love its pale flowers. It is said to be an early Colchicum to flower but here it is not so early, so sometimes I wonder if I have the right cultivar, but anyway I like it. I even got some seeds from it a year ago (never before and not this year). I sowed them, there were at least 10-20 seeds, but only two seedlings emerged in the spring. I'm happy for even those two.

[Mariette]

I'm not  surprised!  Anyone would  enjoy  the  sight!

Thank You, Maggi! Here´s another meadow saffron with its nightcap still on.

[Mariette]

My favourite Colchicums are hybrids like 'Glory of Heemstede' which increases well and I have been able to divide it to several places in the garden.

Leena, I marvel always at the beauty of Your garden - it´s wonderful what You achieved!

Under the name ´Glory of Heemstede´I bought twice the same clone, once from Latvia and once in Belgium. It looks similar to what You show, as far as I can judge. It´s also the one which increases best in my garden.
Rodney Leeds wrote in his book Autumn Bulbs that it´s the same like ´Conquest´, a variety he described as having heavily tessellated and rich purple flowers. There is also a picture of ´Conquest´showing a group to which this description is well applied.
What I received as ´Glory of Heemstede´shows a much lighter colour and weaker tesselation. E. A. Bowles described in Crocus and Colchicum  ´Glory of Heemstede´with a closely tessellated bright rosy pattern, which fits more or less for the clone I grow under this name, though the filaments of mine are greenish, not cream-coloured deepening to yellow bases, as Bowles wrote.

 Bowles wrote that ´Danton´and ´Conquest´were the deepest coloured and handsomest of the tesselated forms but felt at a loss to say whether they were the same or not, as they were so similar.

Unfortunately I´m lacking the original descriptions of the breeders - perhaps a more knowledgeable specialist may help?

This is what I grow as ´Glory of Heemstede´.


 

[Yann]

It'll be very interesting to get a few of history of these cultivars, not much can be found.

[Leena]

I'm also interested in the history of these cultivars  . Thank you Mariette for what you wrote!
I don't have any book about Colchicums and there is very little information in the internet, at least not collected in one place.
My 'Glory of Heemstede' was bought from Sulev Savisaar in Estonia 2013, and it has the same tesselated pattern as in Mariette's picture, and looks very similar, so I think they are the same. I have two other ones which have tesselated patterns: C.bivonae which is the earliest, and 'Violet Queen', which has stronger tesselation and stronger colour than GoH, and starts to flower around the same time as GoH.

Colchicum byzantinum 'Album' was planted a year ago, and it looks itself, with red tips in carpels (?).

[Gail]

I don't have any book about Colchicums and there is very little information in the internet, at least not collected in one place.

This month's copy of the RHS magazine The Garden has a plant profile on Colchicum and reports that there is to be a book on Colchicum in the RHS Horticultural Monographs series, written by Kit Grey-Wilson, Rod Leeds and Robert Rolfe, due late 2020....

[Mariette]

Thank You, Gail, for Your information! I trust the book will be a long awaited help for all who love the colchicums!

[Leena]

This month's copy of the RHS magazine The Garden has a plant profile on Colchicum and reports that there is to be a book on Colchicum in the RHS Horticultural Monographs series, written by Kit Grey-Wilson, Rod Leeds and Robert Rolfe, due late 2020....

Thank you Gail!
I can get my hands on The Garden, and will look forward to the book about Colchicums.
Although many of them are hardy also here, they are not very common, and most of the time the only ones you can find in the garden centers are 'Waterlily' or 'Lilac Wonder' which are not the best, or at least I think so. However, they have been also here for a long time. I have a friend who lives in a farm and the mother of her husband had planted Colchicums in her flowerbed maybe in 1940s. And it has survived without any care for decades.

[brianw]

I see that Merendera attica, filifolia, montana and sobolifera are now Colchicum atticum, filifolium, montanum and soboliferum and Bulbocodium vernum is now Colchicum bulbocodium.
source "The RHS Plant Review"
Apologies if I am repeating old info.

[Yann]

Despite the heavy rains of the last week Colchicum are emerging all around the garden somes in better state than others. Surprisingly no slugs this autumn 

Colchicum automnale flora pleno ('pleniflorum') and Colchicum cilicicum under deep shade.

[sokol]

Surprisingly no slugs this autumn 

Yann, here are enough of them.