Colchicums late 2008

[Hagen Engelmann]

Good morning Dominique,

yes we should help the new fans of colchicum, because the plants are more better then their reputation. Do you have some pics of D TROTTER and C s MAXIMUM.

Hello Jim, here I have only a german translation of P M Synge. So you have the original and know it better.

*"ATRORUBENS" lebhaft purpur-karmesinrot ohne Würfelzeichnung, eine sehr ansprechende Varietät, die der Species C. rubrum sehr nahe kommt, aber etwas hellere Blüten hat.

You are right, rubrum is another cultivar, like album.

[Boyed]

some pics of colchicum from my garden

colchicum Neptun - large-flowered and tall variety with pointed petals, equally good as 'Posaidon'

colchicum 'Posaidon'

[Boyed]

colchicum speciosum Album - best of the bests
colchicum 'Lilac Wonder' - very floriferous and elegant
colchicum 'Larisa Dolina' - lily-shaped flowers, named after famous Russian pop singer

[Boyed]

colchicum byzantinum - very floriferous, but has weaker tubes and is slow increaser
colchicum 'Violate Queen'
colchicum 'Zephyr' ?

[BULBISSIME]

Here is Colchicum pusillum, the tiny species from crete.



and Colchicum autumnale var. album plenum

[Hans A.]

Thanks to all for these wonderful pictures - hope to contribute also some pics a bit later, as just yesterday I found the first sign of growth in the garden ...

[Jim McKenney]

Hello Jim, here I have only a german translation of P M Synge. So you have the original and know it better.

*"ATRORUBENS" lebhaft purpur-karmesinrot ohne Würfelzeichnung, eine sehr ansprechende Varietät, die der Species C. rubrum sehr nahe kommt, aber etwas hellere Blüten hat.

You are right, rubrum is another cultivar, like album.

Thanks, Hagen, you've added a word to my German vocabulary: die Würfelzeichnung - so that's what tessellation is called in German! 

Yes, I think the translation of Synge is incorrect.

I noticed something else in the translated passage you quoted: the use of the word die Species. I'm used to seeing the word die Art, and  since this seems to be used in German for both species and cultivar, I've often wondered how Germans understand which is meant. Does one rely on context?

[mark smyth]

Zhirair my 'Larisa Dolina' is much taller that yours

[Hagen Engelmann]

My too, Zhirair. Neptun will flower next days. Poseidon is over. Do you know where these cultivares come from?

[Hagen Engelmann]

Good evening Jim, there is some confusion in the translation of Synge. The cultivar ATRORUBENS is written great (it`s not a hybrid) but RUBRUM is written small, like a  german Art. We often say species or Art, it`s the same. Sorte is the cultivar (hybrid or not isn`important).

[Boyed]

Hagen,

I don't know the parentage, but as far as I am concerned, both 'Poseidon' (aka 'Jaroslavna') and 'Neptun' were bred in Latvia. Anyway, they obviously differ from many almost similar looking pinkish purple cultivars.

Mark, I know that 'Larisa Dolina' is tall. I planted mine right during blooming, as I got it late in the season.

Relating colchicum pseciosum forms;
in literature (at least in the ones I had a look at) album, , giganteum, rubrum, Atrorubens, turkicum and veratrifolium are listed as forms or variations and treated as species. Anyway, I don' know any sourse or grower who cultivates the form rubrum.

[Boyed]

By the way, Hagen,

I strongly recommend you to grow colchicum 'Pink Goblet'. If you like colchicum speciosum Album, you will certainly like this one too. It has the same perfect shape of speciosum, just with pink flowers.
Here is the photo

[Hagen Engelmann]

Hi Zhirair, I also mean, the best form of all colchicums has C s ALBUM. Elegant and globular. Hope PINK GOBLET will enjoy/delight me some days later.
My first POSEIDON came from Prague under the name C purpureum, never heard before and after. So Poseidon must be an old cultivar (bought it in 1982).

[Anthony Darby]

The painted lady butterfly (Cynthia cardui) gives some idea of how big these flowers really are!

[mark smyth]

I grow too many of my larger Colchicums in pots and cant wait for a new bed to be built in the back garden when they will be grown. The Colchicums will be in a lower bed around the larger bed so their large leaves dont get in the way during the summer