Colchicums late 2008

[tonyg]

At the start of September Colchicum variegatum erupted with far more flowers than in previous years.
More recently Colchicum montanum has delighted.  I grow both an 'old' form long in cultivation and some that I raised from seed I collected in the Pyrenees about 10 years ago.  The latter are a little darker.
Finally Colchicum boissieri a really nice dark form with good sized flowers for such a small species.

[Boyed]

Wonderful photos, Tony!

beautiful colchicums, especially colchicum boissieri - highly impressive!
Interesting - I like colchicums very much, but donn't like merenderas at all, though your merendera montana looks pretty good.
Colchicum variegatum is one of the most interesting, but I don't succeed with it. I gorw it for several years, but it doesn't want to bloom. I think the reason is semi-shade - bulbs don't get enough warmth in summer to produce blooms.

[Hagen Engelmann]

Morning all,
Hello Luit, there was a small talk about WATERLILY, so I posted the other PLENUM. C aut PLENUM is here real the last. I don`t want to miss it. Snowdroptime is already in my pots.
Hi Tony, beautiful flowers, if I had a tunnel...

[tonyg]

Wonderful photos, Tony!  beautiful colchicums, especially colchicum boissieri - highly impressive!
Interesting - I like colchicums very much, but donn't like merenderas at all, though your merendera montana looks pretty good.  Colchicum variegatum is one of the most interesting, but I don't succeed with it. I gorw it for several years, but it doesn't want to bloom. I think the reason is semi-shade - bulbs don't get enough warmth in summer to produce blooms.

Glad you like them - the C boissieri is one of my favourites, I have grown it outside in a sandy raised bed but I think it is best with some protection from extreme cold.  Colchicum variegatum is in the same greenhouse raised bed as my Cyclamen graecum, I think the full sun and extra heat in summer helps with flowering.

[Jim McKenney]

If gardening teaches us nothing else, it teaches us patience!

The colchicum in the attached photos came to me four years ago as 'Glory of Heemstede'. It is blooming this year for the first time. I have no idea why it took so long for it to bloom: the corm I received was a big, blooming size corm.

This is not what I expect 'Glory of Heemstede' to look like.

Would anyone like to hazard a guess about its identity? There is little evidence of tessellation. Several things about this cultivar stand out: it is very tall, the blooms rise straight out of the ground to about ten inches. And it seems to be keeping its tulip shape instead of opening wide (which virtually all colchicums in our climate do).  Also, the outer tepals are very wide, an inch and a quarter in the blossom shown.

Whatever it is, it's handsome and easy to like.

[Jim McKenney]

Oops! The second image didn't make it the first time.

Here it is.

[olegKon]

Jim,
I received my C. "Glory of Hemsted" 4 or 5 years ago as a bulb and as yours it is flowering for the first time this year. I posted a pic in this thread #186 at the very beginning of its flowering, so the colour is darker now.
Some more Colchicums flowering:
Colchicum Glory of Hemsted
Colchicum giganteum
Colchicum Beaconsfield

[Boyed]

Oleg,

are you sure of your colchicum 'Beaconsfield' being true to name?
This variety has a different shape of flower, base and the flowers are tessalated. Yours look something different.

[olegKon]

One can never be sure, Zhirair. They were received with this name. Thank yuo for drawing my attention to this misidentification. If anyone has ideas of what they really are, I'll be much obliged

[Hagen Engelmann]

Hi Oleg, I also mean what Zhirair says: Your BEACONFIELD isn`t it. It looks more like VIOLET QUEEN. But here both are over. Hope I can post  pictures in the evening.

[Boyed]

Oleg,

I noticed that your colchicum 'Beaconsfield' has somewhat darker tubes. In my collection colchicum 'Lilac Wonder' also develops such tubes. You can have a look at it on page 14. Maybe you can find something common.

Hagen
I think 'Violate Queen' has darker flowers and somewhat different base. Anyway, it is quite difficult to identify colchicum cultivars among so many pinkish-purple varieties, which look almost similar with only slight differences.

[Hagen Engelmann]

Yes Zhirair, it`s so like you says. I also meant LILAC WONDER. VIOLET QUEEN is too starry and the ends of the segments are more pointed, they are not light round.

[Hagen Engelmann]

Good evening Oleg, Zhirair! hHere is a pic of some closed flowers of LILAC WONDER. (VIOLET QUEEN was a mistake of mine). I think it is the cultivar Oleg showed us. We can try a swap all together next year. But this cultivar in no rarity.

[olegKon]

Zhirair and Hagen, thank you so much. It really looks Lilac wonder. I expect som more colchicums to flower later. Some of them can be misnamed. I'll be grateful for any corrections of their names.
Hagen,
is your C.autumnale Plenum flowering already? Here it doesn't appear untill late october and often is covered with snow blooming. If winter is early it tries to flower under snow and what I have is just poorly looking flowers after the snow melts in spring.

[Hagen Engelmann]

Yes Oleg, C autumnale PLENUM is blooming now.