“Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.” ~ E. B. White.
I went out early yesterday morning and found these colchicum blooms hiding beneath a giant ‘Empress Wu’ hosta next to a ‘Praying Hands’ hosta and another hosta that is one of those ‘Mouse Ear’ varieties.
It’s a wonder, isn’t it, how a colchicum can lie dormant all summer—after the foliage it sends up in the spring dies back—and then know when to send up its flowers.
They arrive just as the garden is starting to brown up, when a spot of color, is just the right touch of color, and wonder.
I’ve planted colchicums here, there, and a few other places in back, some from bulbs sent to me by Kathy at Cold Climate Gardening who collects these fall flowers.
My clumps of colchicums are getting big enough now that I think it’s time for me to dig up and divide some in the spring when the foliage appears. I’ll plant some around here and maybe share some too.
I did notice all summer long that a colchicum bulb had worked its way out of the soil, but I never got around to pushing it back in.
It bloomed anyway.
I picked it up to see if it had any roots at all.
It didn’t and that bulb looked awfully dried up.
But I finally planted it anyway.
Because I believe in it.
I believe in the wonder of how it knows to grow leaves in the spring and flower in the fall, and take it easy in summer.
Thanks for reading to the end. Are you growing colchicums too? How about autumn crocuses which come up even later than colchicums?
Carol, these flowers are gorgeous! I believe Colchicums are poisonous so deer don’t eat them? I bought one Colchicum ‘Waterlily’ bulb a few years ago and it has multiplied in my garden, I love it. Do you know if deer will eat other non-Colchicum type fall crocus? Id’ like to try some other fall-blooming bulbs, but with so many deer around my garden, not if they aren’t deer-proof.
I’m not an expert by any means on what deer eat or don’t eat… because I don’t have deer in my garden. So I’d have to do a little searching to know for sure but I think you are probably pretty safe with colchicums and fall blooming crocuses. But they still might nibble foliage in the spring…
I’m glad you’re enjoying your colchicums, Carol. It’s not unusual for a corm to get pushed out of the ground when they’ve multiplied. The best time to transplant is when the leaves have turned yellow and flopped over.
Good to know! Thanks!