Colchicums

Everybody has a beautiful garden in the spring, says Joe Eck, a garden designer from Readsboro, Vt. "But gardeners want a real garden in the summer, fall and, truth be told, in the winter. The easiest of fall effects to achieve can be done with these bulbs."

These flowers are a well-kept secret among flower aficionados. "American gardeners are becoming much more sophisticated," says Eck. "They're in pursuit of the rare and unusual, what they haven't had a chance to grow before. And when there's that demand, then the market responds."

The problem with colchicums is that the market doesn't have long to respond. Growers have a short dormancy in July and August to dig, divide, package and send the bulbs to distributors. Soon thereafter they need to be planted. This is why you won't find colchicums sitting on nursery shelves.

It's also why colchicums are relatively pricy. One bulb can cost anywhere from $5 to $15. While they're pricy, that initial investment can yield high returns.

"In terms of their reproductive capacity, they're very easy to divide. They make many offsets quickly, so if you start with one bulb, you'll have seven or eight in a couple of years," says Eck. "Multiply that by perhaps 100, and you can see how quickly you can build up a very large collection."

However, colchicums do contain a poisonous substance called colchicine, which should not be ingested. Dogs and cats leave the plant alone, but it can be deadly to grazing livestock.

The corms tease apart easily after you knock the dirt off. Replant your new divisions about six to 10 inches apart. Planting depth for these corms is more important than spacing. A depth of about five to six inches will do, but they can even be planted as deep as one foot. The non-flowering corms can also be planted, but it may take a few years before they flower, however.

In Eck's USDA Zone 4 garden, colchicum will spend the winter covered by a blanket of snow. "Then in early spring, in late March or April, wonderful tufts of green cabbage-like foliage appear," he says. "It's really quite thrilling, quite handsome, very large, big pleated leaves which are attractive until July."

No matter how ratty the foliage gets in July, resist the temptation to cut it off. The plant is making food for the flowering season ahead, and while unsightly, the process is completely necessary. "The thing you need to take into consideration is that for a month, perhaps six weeks, the colchicums are going to be absolutely unsightly," says Eck, so he recommends diverting attention with other plants.

If you want to cut the flowers, it won't hurt the plant. In fact, colchicum flowers make beautiful floral arrangements. Or you can enjoy the colorful garden carpeting until it's erased by winter.