Colchicum & relatives 2020

[Gail]

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;


and I was delighted to see the colchicum are naturalising in rough grass between the walled garden and the orangery.

[Maggi Young]

The collection;

Oh dear, that's  a  bit  of  a  mess, isn't  it?

[Yann]

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.

[Yann]

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  will ask the husband

[Leena]

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.

[Gail]

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.

[Leena]

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.

[Leena]

Here is another picture of 'Autumn Herald', taken today (the previous picture was last week).
And another one of the nameless Colchicum.

[Leena]

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.

[Yann]

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.

[Thomas Seiler]

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.

[Leena]

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.

[Thomas Seiler]

Another one just received from Leonid and flowering at once:  'Jarka', a bicolour one, a bit similar to 'Harlekijn', introduced by Janis in 1992

[ArnoldT]

Finally a sunny day.  Some of the Colchicum collection some with names others labels long gone.

Colchicum cilicicum with purple tipped anthers.

[Thomas Seiler]

Colchicum laetum hort. which is now, according to the new book, Colchicum 'Pink Star'