Fabulous Fall Colchicums

Loving this group of autumn-blooming bulbs

Today ’s photos descend from Kathy Purdy , a great collector of fall - bloomingcolchicum .

I garden in Oxford , New York , which I wish to say has a Zone 5 wintertime ( sometimes even Zone 6 ! ) with a Zone 4 growing time of year ( late spring hoar and former autumn frosts ) . I first encountered colchicums when we moved into our first home , a nineteenth - century farmhouse , over 25 years ago . Some gardener before me had plantedColchicum ×byzantinumamong thepeonies .

C. × byzantinumat my current home

At first I was contented to check the weird slipway of Colchicum . Their leaves add up up in early spring . The colchicum leave of absence are in the back . In mid - May they are an attractive feature of the garden .

As the weather warms up , the colchicums go dormant , meaning the leaves sprain a sickly yellow-bellied , eventually flop over , and turn brown . The yellowing colchicum leaf are not the most attractive companion for the blue love - in - a - mist , and they will only get spoiled before finally evaporate . This is enough to put some gardeners off from growing these endearing fall - blooming industrial plant , but I opt to call it a design challenge . There are many ways I have met this challenge , but the soft is to plant them on the outskirts ofhemerocallis , genus Heuchera , andhostaclumps .

I have over fifty different sort in my garden now . Some have already eat up blooming for this yr , and some have yet to go . But here are a few that are blooming decently now .

C. × agrippinumhas very distinct checkering ( which plant scientist call tessellation ) on its flower petal . Other colchicums have this checkering , but it ’s more insidious .

‘ Beaconsfield ’ is one of the more bright emblazon Colchicum in my collection . It looks great backed by golden lemon balm . . .

. . . and it really knocks your socks off when planted en masse .

‘ Harlekijn ’ is probably the weird looking one in my collection . A harlequin is a jester , and from a certain slant , ‘ Harlekijn ’ look a bit like a motley fool ’s crownwork .

‘ Poseidon ’ is a vigorous grower , and it has another attribute I favor in a colchicum : a purple tube . ( Colchicums have a tube of petal tissue paper rather of a bona fide shank . )

‘ Antares ’ is exquisitely rosy-cheeked with pink . There are pure whitened genus Colchicum as well .

At over a foot tall , ‘ World Champion ’s Cup ’ is the with child colchicum I farm . It ’s border by Primo Black Pearl genus Heuchera , with a ferny bit of mountain fringe for direct contrast .

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