Let me just prepare you ahead of time that there’s not much of an update, even though it’s been one day short of a full month since there’s been a blog post here. That’s a long time I admit, but it’s been dry, I’ve been back to work, and it’s been dry. The dry always gets me. Crunchy grass, dusty raking, and stuff just sits there and slowly debates whether or not it will hold on or go to the light. Watering would do magic, but for some reason I absolutely hate watering. One kinked hose, knocked over pot, or a watering can that needs a refill rather than being enough for the whole porch and I’m cursing up a storm. Plus I hate getting wet from watering. I can stand out in the rain until hypothermia threatens, but gosh if I get a little water on my foot or a spray in my face… I digress. I don’t like watering, it leaves an ugly taste in my mouth and maybe that’s my excuse for blog neglect. But…. the colchicums are blooming, and to see something up and fresh in a brown and wilted garden is maybe not inspiring, but at least it’s hopeful.
A nice bouquet of colchicum blooms braving the heat and drought. Some sort of C. speciosum, it came to me mislabeled.
Hopeful is also the rain which finally found us late last week. I’m remarkably optimistic again so lets hope it’s not another month before this blog is revisited!
‘Pink Star’ I believe, an excellent, long blooming cultivar that last for a few weeks even in the face of no water and glaring September sun.
So colchicums. I think you know the drill. Poisonous so resist eating them, leafy spring foliage which dies back in June, Flowers which appear just as the rest of the garden is starting to give up.
The tail end of the colchicum season in a crispy and dusty colchicum bed.
There are quite a few colchicum in this garden now. Finding different forms takes a bit of searching, and sometimes finding a correctly named different form is a struggle, but it’s worth it. To me at least. I hear there are plenty of people out there who have just a single bunch or two and are very satisfied, and I even have a friend or two who don’t grow any… but I try to keep open minded in my friend group, and hope one day they’ll embrace the diversity.
‘Glory of Heemstede’ trying to rise above a mess of chrysanthemum. Finding a spot where the low blooms of colchicum display well, after everything else has grown up during the summer, is sometimes a struggle.
This year I’m maybe admitting that some colchicum are nicer than others, and by that I mean put on a better show and have a longer bloom season. Keep in mind that shady practices and a questionable gardener and garden soil really influence my favorites, but this year I would say my longest blooming, best shows are from C. cilicium, x byzantinum, ‘Disraeli’, ‘Giant’, C. autumnale ‘album’, ‘alboplenum’, ‘Sparticus’, x agrippinum, and ‘Pink Star’. Maybe I’ll add the floppy ‘Lilac Wonder’. She flops so don’t expect anything else, but is so reliable I can’t leave her out.
‘Sparticus’ has a smaller flower in a light shade of pink. Always neat, and even after a week or two still fresh as ever.
By the way, if you’re in the US and struggling to find a few more unusual ones it might not hurt to contact Kathy Purdy at Cold Climate Gardening, or Facebook or Instagram… she doesn’t reeeaallly sell them, but if you’re really nice and sound desperate and she has spares you never know who might send you a price list next summer 😉
x Agrippinum is a good one for smaller gardens. The spring foliage is small and low and no trouble at all and the low flowers last for a while. I plan to move a few into the new rock garden, I think it’s a perfect spot.
So do I have enough colchicums, or perhaps too many? Hahahaha, of course not! I still need bigger patches, even if there might be one or two who could do better. I should be splitting clumps right now as they flower, it’s easy to find them and if you do it before the flowers fade it’s unlikely the roots have sprouted much yet, and you can see exactly where the good spots for more colchicum are!
Colchicum here and there. C. autumnale ‘album’ is a tiny white flower, but probably one of the longest bloomers, and it does well here. Don’t be fooled by the petite blooms though, the spring foliage is regular sized.
And that’s all I’ve got. The rain brought a tint of green to the lawn so I spent all day Saturday chopping down dead things, mowing up dried things, and going over the “lawn” to take the top off all the weeds. I even edged and blew off the walks. It looks so so so much better and even inspired me to dig up a bed in the potager and plant some lettuce seedling for the fall.
I found a $3 six pack of lettuce seedlings at my local farmstand, split them and it’s probably the best $3 I’ve spent in a while… although the $3 cauliflower I bought was a delicious monster!
Hope your autumn is off to a good start. I’m mildly optimistic even if I have far fewer chrysanthemums than I need and there are still no fall blooming snowdrops up but you have to count the wins, and the rain was a definite win. Maybe it will inspire me to manage a few replies to month-old comments and maybe another blog post some time sooner than later, but my history says otherwise. I think you will have an excellent week regardless!
sorta like suburbia 
The colchicums are just the thing to shake off the dry late summer doldrums! They are very pretty. To my eye, your garden still looks quite green, and great job on getting the lettuces going. I’ve been stalled lately but the urge to garden is striking finally.
A few spots held on to the green thanks to a leaky hose which gave the area a spray every time I watered elsewhere, but I have to agree that many areas went through a much much longer dry spell which went much deeper than ours. Hope you’ve had a good bit of rain since! Also I hope the urge to plant is going well. I have bulbs which I should have planted weeks ago. There’s always something lol
Beautiful varieties, Frank. You are not a half-measure guy when it comes to numbers of species, particularly with galanthus and colchicums. The rain this past week was so welcome, but we really could use more. The ground soaked it all up and the stream is back to low flow. I’m not complaining, just wishing the water table gets refreshed before winter. 😉
I hope you do a mum post, you have so many lovely ones! Have a great week ahead. 🙂
Oops. This month I’m realizing that I lost a bunch of nice mums the year before last. It doesn’t bother me much all summer, but then suddenly October rolls around and you realize why it’s worth the extra work and waiting. My plan is to collect and sow seeds this winter, so we will see if that actually happens because I seem to recall thinking the same last year.
The summer was hot and rainy. Now it’s hot and dry. Forced to drag out the hoses today for the first time this season. New Hydrangeas, ferns and Primulas to plant and attempt to keep alive. Your Colchicums are spectacular. My few are still hiding.
Hopefully your weather has taken a turn for the better in the last few weeks. We’re having a rain day but mostly just drizzle rather than the inch they had predicted. I’ll take it though. It was dry enough that all the hydrangea paniculata flowers browned, so I cut them all down last year. It’s early but I couldn’t stand looking at them any more!
That’s a great selection of Colchicums! I notice you grow them on raised beds which is where I have found they do best. We have had two especially wet winters and I have lost some very large clumps – one group of 50-60 ‘Waterlily’, for example, which I had grown for years. Getting new varieties is a challenge here also.
Hi Paddy, yes you’re right about giving them decent drainage. I’ve also lost a few during wet winters and now try to keep them out of any low spots. A shame to lose all those ‘Waterlily’ corms. It makes such a bright and long lasting display and I’m sure you had quite a few years invested in growing, lifting, and dividing over the years.
Here it is nearly impossible to find C. speciosum ‘Album’. We have to endure glowing reviews which claim it to be the most elegant and beautiful of all the colchicums, but I have never received the correct plant when I’ve ordered. Also it’s very rarely listed.
I have no Colchicums. I don’t think they’re as common here in the Midwest but, also, I have very few patches of full sun. Spring Crocuses get plenty of sun before the trees leaf out, but I don’t think the autumn ones would be happy in my garden. Maybe if my next spot has more sun I will add some, because I really like them. This is a beautiful post. I’m glad you got some needed rain. 🙂
Hi Beth,
I wouldn’t be surprised if colchicum are uncommon in the Midwest. They’re not exactly common here in Pennsylvania either, I don’t think I’ve seen them offered outside of a rare one year only show at a local nursery about a decade ago. I pick them up here and there. It takes much longer than it should 😉
Yeah… mine always seem happier in the sun but people claim they can do well in shade as well so maybe it’s just me!
Thank goodness you got some rain or your garden may have shrivelled up altogether! It seems the Colchicums are fine with hot and dry though. I had no idea there are so many different ones! The newest craze perhaps – colchicummania. 😂 Snowdrops are old hat, colchicums are the in thing. Well, until snowdrop season starts again I suppose! 🤣
Hahaha, yes! Colchicummania could easily be a thing! I don’t know if it could catch on like snowdrops but you never know 😉
Actually around here snowdrops aren’t even a thing so I won’t hold my breath. But I’m sure I can make a few converts given enough time!
I might have my first snowdrop next week. Fingers crossed 🙂
To your list of good-doers I would add Nancy Lindsay and Poseidon. Also I think Pink Star and Lilac Wonder look very similar. What do you think?
Hahaha, I left Nancy off the list because I felt she could have tried a little harder this year! It’s probably more me not admitting that her new spot is really what she wants, but in the meantime I’ll hod it against her 😉
MY ‘Pink Star’ is earlier and less floppy than Lilac Wonder, but I can’t say for sure my Pink Star is correctly labeled…