COLCHICUMS are dramatic and colourful plants to brighten up our gardens at the end of the season, with a freshness that is more spring-like than autumnal. You see them in garden centres from the end of July onwards —large lumpy corms with white flesh revealed beneath the crackling brown skin (technically, a membranous tunic). The flowers start to emerge from August to October and will do so even if the corm has not been planted. Sometimes, you see naked, unsold bulbs already flowering rather pathetically in their various shades of pink or pale purple.
Everyone starts by thinking these gorgeous creatures are autumn crocuses, whereupon horticultural smarty-boots delight in pointing out that they’re not even in the same botanical family. The truth is that colchicums do indeed resemble crocuses, at least to the nonbotanical eye, but they are generally taller, up to 8in tall and more substantial in appearance. Some have pretty markings on their petals (accurately, tepals); others are white-flowered or doubles. For real experts, there is even a bright-yellow spring-flowering species called C. luteum, but it is not easy to cultivate well.
There are about 100 species and almost all the easy-to-grow ones are native to the hills of the Mediterranean, eastward into Turkey and Central Asia. Our own native Colchicum autumnale, however, occurs as far north as the Baltic sea. Travellers encounter it by the million in the meadows of France, Switzerland, Germany and northern Italy.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
