NIce, posierosie! Maybe mine will bloom soon.

Finally made a showing yesterday.

colchicum tenorii

Some more opening today!

Don't know what these are. Maybe the Giant?

Supposed to be Byzantium but I think it is a mislabel.

Waterlily

So very, very fresh and pretty!

So nice to see all of these, and plenty I've never heard of! Mine are just starting and I'm pretty excited about them this year. I might need to add a few more ;)

Nancy Lindsay has become so crowded a few bulbs were being pushed up out of the ground. Time to transplant!

They should be fine for another few years.

C. speciosum, this one is huge and nicer than usual this year. Maybe it's all the mildew and over the hill perennials around which make it look even better. I should have put a flower of Nancy next to it, they're so much smaller, maybe half the size if that.

The ones in the lawn are starting. Karen these are what I have as Byzantium... sorry it's not a closer shot.

Also in the lawn now is 'Innocence'.

I can't wait till the rest start, I wish I had a few darker ones.

These are all so pretty. I bought some last fall that bloomed and should come back in my climate, but only 2 of 3 put up leaves and there weren't a lot of them. I hope I get blooms this year but am not really expecting anything. I'll just have to enjoy the ones posted here!

Wow, Katob! What a beautiful showing of colchicums! Love them all! You must have grown these for awhile to get such nice clumps. I particularly like the darker shade of pink of Nancy Lindsay. Can you transplant them while they are blooming? Can they be safely transplanted after blooming? Can I ask where you purchase Innocence? They look bigger than the Autumnale Album. If you have a close up of Byzantinum, I would love to see it someday.

Karen here's a closer look at what I have as byzantium. It's similar to another I have from someone else and it doesn't seem to have as long a petal as yours... but I'm no expert and it is a species so I'm sure there's variation.

Nancy is one of my favorites, it's multiplied very well since I've only had it four years and started with just two bulbs (they sent me an extra!) and now have over a dozen. It's been doubling every year :)

I have no problems moving them in bloom. It's much easier to put them in a spot where they look good in bloom vs a spot where they get covered up, but it looked like a perfect spot in June. You can see they are just beginning to grow roots when in bloom so I think after flowering might be a little too late to dig and move... unless they were flowering while still out of the ground and haven't rooted yet. They like to do that and some year I might fill a bowl with dry bulbs just to see them all flower without any soil.

Colchium x agrippinum is flowering now. It's a smaller one and I've had it for a while and keep trying to spread it out a little more when it looks crowded. This is a good year since they had a nice easy and long spring and must have grown well.

Here's a closeup from one of the first ones to open. I always like the checkering!

Colchium x agrippinum's checkering is extraordinary! I love it! That close up shot is terrific. Thanks so much for sharing! I certainly don't see this everyday!

I have also found on the web various pics of Byzantinum as having more rounded petals like the one shown in your pic. I guess mine is some generic form of autumnale specie. I like it very much in spite of it being a mislabel.

Do you grow Waterlily? I think there is two forms of Waterlily? I was traded some Waterlily bulbs and they grow into these two forms. I really love these full rounded blooms of Waterlily.

Just also want to add that Nancy is such a vigorous grower and increaser. She must like your soil because it is amazing that she has increased to that many when you started with only 2 bulbs 4 years ago.

Karen those are beautiful pictures. I know some people are a little snobby about doubles, and I am as well, but those are great!

My waterlily is just barely starting, it's usually the last of my colchicums to flower so I'm never too thrilled to see it sprouting... but at least it flowers! My other double is autumnale plenum and it's got smaller flowers but just doesn't thrive in my garden. I rarely get flowers on it and should have tried it in other spots years ago, but :)

lilac wonder is flowering in the grass. It's a floppy mess, but I love its faults.

My single colchicums are almost done. The last to bloom for me is the white double, colchicum autumnale alboplenum. Thank you so much for your information about moving the bulbs when they start to bloom. I am so glad that you share this experience with me. I was able to move my white doubles to a better location last week and now they are blooming and doing very well. I got 3 of these bulbs 2 years ago and now I have about 6 blooming bulbs and 3 small bulbs. They were not doing well in the old location. I really love the white ones the best. They last much longer than the pink ones and the doubles look like white stars in a partial shade place. So pretty!

I put some bulb fertilizer down when I moved these to the new location so hopefully they will respond and multiply faster. :)

I know we talk about trading some years ago. I got so busy over the summers that I forgot about the colchicums. Do you think you maybe interested in trading some of your Innocence bulbs for these autumnale alboplenum sometime in the future?

I also got 3 autumnale plenum at the same time as the white ones above but they never bloomed and gradually disappeared over the years. When i dig them up, the bulbs look like they rotted. It probably does not like our climate.

The Giant...
I'd LOVE a White But Have NEVER Seen Them For Sale in The Garden Centre....
This One Will Get Put in Mum or Dads Garden When Done.....

Wow, my colchicum bloomed during a hot dry period, with brisk drying winds and it was a matter of a couple of days before they were gone.

I have two newly planted ones that haven't yet bloomed, so may get a longer and more seasonable display out of them, I hope.

My sternbergia clump just came into bloom (also early) and totally lost in the foliage of a gang-buster Japanese anemone. I gotta relocate these to somewhere that they can be seen. Oh, the existing colchicum is also lost in the same spot. Luckily the new ones are elsewhere.

Wow, ninecrow! That is a gorgeous spray of colchicum blooms! They bloom such a nice lavender purple color for you! I love this color! I think all of mine blooms pinkish. Is that from just one bulb or multiple bulbs? I am sure you can get white colchicums over in England. Your bulb source comes from Europe right? Do you plant them out after they finish blooming?

dbarron, I am so sorry to hear about the bad weather that came through during your colchicum blooming period. I agree that they do NOT like hot weather. We had a cool period when they started blooming. Then all of a sudden, we get this hot spell coming through and most of my pink colchicum blooms fade or are not looking good. The white ones appear to handle the heat very well.

I also have a few Japanese anemones and I certainly know what you mean. Mine are like 3ft tall! Would love to see pic of your sternbergia when they bloom.

That's ONE Bulb Karen and Yes Mum or Dad Get The Bulbs As They Have The Garden, I Live in a Flat...
***SIGH***

Colchicums are pretty cool in a pot imo. That one looks great!

I'm with you on the thumbs down to the hot weather. Mine are all frying up since it's hot and dry and they're in a fairly sunny spot. Plus I don't even want to go out there when it's edging close to 90 and the gnats are swarming. I blame my mother in law because this always happens the week after she closes the pool, so my apologies on her behalf.

Yeah Karen I don't get it. My regular autumnale does fine but the double ones just won't settle in. I've seen nothing from any of them but maybe they're just late (I say wishfully). Of course I remember the trading plans... but of course I should have remembered in July! I wanted to give a bunch of my no- ID bulbs away too and now I'm stuck with them for another year... even though they do look awfully nice this morning ;) . One of us will remember next summer!

btw if anyone lives near the Binghamton NY area, the garden writer and blogger and colchicum fanatic Kathy Purdy (of Cold Climate Gardening) will be having an open garden next weekend (Saturday the 30th) to show off her collection. As of last week she counted 50 types that she grows. Even if you can't make it in person her blog has a bunch of photos and write-ups for colchicums, probably the most info and experience you'll find online (outside of this 'Colchicums 2017' post of course!)

Well the sternbergia show lasted two days too, before hot and dry took them. No pics, but I have plenty from other years. This was last year.

Wow, quite a bummer to endure a year of giving them growing space (even if the Jap Anemone is doubling that space) and only get two days possible to view them. Bad year for autumn bulb flowers.

Colchicum Poseidon - it multiplies fairly quickly and produces nice clumps of plants.

I feel better knowing the warm weather is responsible for the quick fading of flowers. I might not have anything more to share if this keeps up!

I have a feeling my colchicum aren’t coming back, but my Sternbergia started to bloom today, with 4 more buds on the way in this spot. Such a pretty yellow.

Katob, thanks very much for sharing that blog info. I am going to check it out!

dbarron and socalgal, I love that deep yellow color of the Stenbergia. So bright and cheerful. Sounds like they are affected by heat too?

Poseidon is beautiful, Eames! Looks like you have a nice huge clump there!

Well, I spoke too early about the white colchicums taking on the heat better than the pink ones because they too have been quite affected by the warm weather. Some of them are starting to fade though they don't look as bad as the pink ones.

Very pretty. Mine came up almost at once. I planted several varieties years ago. Today, only 2 are showing up. I don't know anymore what these are. Water Lily will come up much later:

Well my newly purchased colchicums (planted Sept 10th) (speciosum and cilicium) are flowering poorly due to heat and drought, and I expect two days out of them (so sad). But there's always next year (and we can hope for better showings and weather).

Mine are also a little browned and wilted from the heat but tomorrow should be cooler so I'm happy about that at least... even if there's still no rain in the forecast.

Love the pictures. The clumps of new flowers look so fresh for this time of year.

One waterlilly flowering. I planted a few so hopefully they are taking a year off to adjust to their surroundings.

Let's see if my picture will now post.

I feel like my waterlily is also a little on the slow growing side. The first year they should be ok though. Did you see any flower stalks forming when you planted them? If they don't show in a few days I would suggest digging around a little to make sure they're not planted too deep or struggling to come up. In my experience colchicums won't come up through heavier soil like a daffodil or tulip will, and will actually die if planted too deep.

I made it up to Kathy Purdy's open garden last weekend. She really does have quite a few colchicums and there were probably about two dozen different types in bloom even though the bulk of them flowered earlier and were over quickly in the heat.

Karen- Kathy said that autumnale plenum gives her trouble but autumnale plenum album multiplies easily. She has the white one all over the garden flowering happily but said the pink doesn't always bloom and she's lost it in the past while trying to find a happy spot for it.

Sorry but I didn't take too many pictures. Colchicums line pretty much every flower bed.

she grows them with lower groundcovers like heuchera.

and thyme.

and also taller perennials like penstemon which she cuts back to the basal foliage after they're done flowering in late summer.

I missed pictures on a lot of the others because I was distracted by other stuff like Japanese anemones

and hydrangeas

I really have to stop growing all my colchicums in bare dirt. Having them mixed in with other things is much less 'sterile'?

Here' one of those big floppy messes which colchicum haters like to complain about. Rain would probably make a mess of it, but so far it's been dry, dry, dry here.

What a very nice mess!

Thank you for your guidance! If anything, I was worried I buried them too shallow. I think the waterlilly bulbs I got weren't the best and the foliage was subdued this Spring. I'll try to beef it up next Spring with lots of nice treatment.

One of mine never put up leaves after blooming last year. Could that be from planting it too deep? Two others put up leaves but very sparse. I may have to dig in and see what is going on, mine have not bloomed yet.

Beautiful Waterlily bloom, posierosie! It looks really nice with the pink flower (is it carnation?) I am glad that they finally put up a bloom for you! If I remember correctly, the ones that I planted during the year of purchase bloomed much later than in subsequent years.

Katob, thank you so much for sharing pics of Kathy's garden. It is so nice to see all these blooms at this time of year. I really enjoy these late bloomers of Japanese anemones and hydrangeas. Right now, my dahlias are putting on a good show too.

I definitely agree with Kathy's observation of the autumnale alboplenum. They do seem to increase faster than my waterlily which were bought at the same time. My autumnale plenun managed to send up two small flowers that quickly passed on. I bought 3 bulbs but after 2 years, there are now only 2 bulbs. They weren't doing well in the last location so I moved them last year. You are right about the soil condition needing to be airy well amended soil for colchicums to grow well. The singles are not as finicky as the doubles. From your pics, it looks like the colchicums really love your soil because they have grown into large clumps.

Karen the pink flower is dianthus kahouri (spelling might be a bit off). Great plant with green, not silver foliage and low blooms. It has a Spring flush then a few blooms all summer - I love it.

I really like it with colchicums! The foliage provides such a nice green backdrop for the colchicum bloom. I hope you don't mind that I copy your idea.

I would be flattered! It's one of my favorites. Not a big spreader, but has come back every year.

My Sternbergia are multiplying! I look forward to seeing their display in a few more years.

I tried to dig up my colchicum, I had planted them pretty deep. I found one and replanted, accidentally chopped another in two, and couldn’t find the third.

They look really cute along your walkway!

So bright and beautiful, socalgal! Thanks for posting their pics!

My crocus hadriaticus has tripled in size from last year

my one kotschyanus we'll not mention with its single half dried flower and no evidence of spreading!

I haven't seen a fall flowering crocus yet...though I should have about half a dozen different species. I still hope to, unless the wet weather rotted them or a squirrel found them.

Weather wise, we only started autumn feeling weather last week...finally, at long last he heat wave *may* be done.

Ok, have to reply to my own slightly veered topic, I have crocus speciosus 'Oxonian' ready to open (finally). I assume the rest will follow...kinda late this year (rain was late/spotty).

Please post pics of your autumn crocuses! I always wonder what they are like. The only ones I grow are the Sativas so I am really interested in other fall species.

Well, it frosted today...it may be a few days, but I have a good pic on flickr I can post of previous bloom.

Here's a medius and a speciosus. Color corrected on the speciosus to what the eye saw, not the camera. Camera sees purple. Err order reversed..speciosus on top.

Are you saying that the first pic is its true color? Wow, exquisite! What a gorgeous blue!

I'm saying that...and that they are two different species.

I must grow the first one (blue crous) pictured above. Can you share with me where you purchased the bulbs and its name?