Colchicum etc

Paul Tyerman ptyerman@ozemail.com.au
Thu, 01 Aug 2002 17:29:24 PDT
At 10:13  1/08/02 -0400, you wrote:
>Hi Paul,
>
>I'm not familiar with the new snowdrop you mention (Galanthus enmasse), do
>you have a photograph please ?

John,

I may have missed a space there..... Galanthus en masse (i.e Galanthus "on
mass" or something like that).  Basically I was trying to indicate that I
have lots and lots of Galanthus flowering all around the garden.

Sorry for the confusion.

>
>I struggle mightily (read - 'fail miserably') with Colchicum luteum - I've
>tried bulbs inside, outside and this year will go for my ladies chamber.  I
>came close to flowering it last year and got a couple of nice yellow buds
>but they aborted and rotted (in the greenhouse) in our whacky warm fall.

Colchicum luteum flowers mid to late winter.  I have never seen buds appear
until a day or two before they open, usually in at least the dead of
winter.  To have it and kesselringii sending up buds in autumn is strange
to say the least.  I guess that "whacky warm fall" is pretty accurate <grin>.

>for seed I've had from elsewhere.  I've also collected and sown seed of C.
>szovitsii and it germinates well.  Others I've tried are much poorer - but
>this was always stored seed.
>
>I grow many species of dwarf colchicums (probably around 25), mostly in pots
>as I'm bulking them up to try some outside.  Earlier attempts were not
>successful although C. cupanii does just fine, even though the snow and ice
>burns the leaves back somewhat badly by winter's end.  The big species are
>all together under a redbud, or they were until the redbud died this spring.
>They should be fine but it gives me more urgency to lift and divide the
>bulbs - they've been in there for 4 years now and are way overcrowded.
>

Sounds wonderful.  I love the Dwarf colchicums myself, but they are
generally not easy to get here in Australia (although I imagine that in
most cases they aren't easy to get for you guys either).  I must look up C.
szovitsii to see what it looks like.  At least it sounds like it sets seed.
 It seems to be so hard to get seed of so many species, and unfortunately
that is the only way to get them easily into Australia.

Again, sorry for the confusion about the Galanthus "enmasse".

Cheers.

Paul Tyerman
Canberra, Australia.  USDA equivalent - Zone 8/9
mailto:ptyerman@ozemail.com.au

Growing.... Galanthus, Erythroniums, Fritillarias, Cyclamen, Crocus,
Cyrtanthus, Liliums, Hellebores, Aroids, Irises plus just about anything
else that doesn't move!!!!!



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