Allure of the naked ladies!
Plant colchicums now – and you’ll be rewarded with glorious bursts of colour until late autumn
AS A TRAINEE gardener, I had to endure my supervisor’s repertoire of wind-ups. He took great delight in asking me to fetch things like a lefthanded spade or some elbow grease for the mower. Early one autumn, he urged me to follow him quickly as there were some naked ladies in the walled garden. He pushed open the gate to the space, we stepped inside and I gave it the once-over – there was no sign of anybody au naturel. Walking over to a sunny border, my boss pointed at some clumps of low-growing, bright pink, goblet-shaped flowers and declared that we had found the ‘naked ladies’.
His ruse was my introduction to the common name for colchicums, a group of cormous perennials that are admired for their exquisite flowers. Plant bulb-like corms in late summer and their flowers will add pops of colour from September to November.
The blooms are held on bare stems, hence their nickname. After they fizzle out, plants will remain dormant until dark green leaves emerge in spring. These will last into summer before turning yellow and dying back. In autumn, plants will flower once again.
Colchicums are native to parts of Africa, Asia and Europe, where they grow in a range of habitats, from woodland to rocky places. Of the 100 or so wild species, one is found in Britain – Colchicum autumnale bears lavender-pink flowers and is confined largely to meadowland around southern and central England.
Apart from the aforementioned naked ladies, they have several other sobriquets, including autumn crocus and meadow saffron. Their botanical name derives from Colchis, an ancient kingdom that was located in modern-day Georgia. The place is famed in Greek mythology as a destination for the Argonauts.
MANY wild species make excellent garden plants but plant breeding has led to scores of desirable varieties with flowers held on stems ranging from 2in to 8in. The usually goblet-shaped blooms come in shades of white, pink and purple, and some that are adorned with a chequerboard pattern.
All colchicums have single flowers apart from the notable exception of ‘Waterlily’. Introduced in the early 20th Century, it produces 4in-wide, fully double lilac flowers that contain up to 20 petals. Developed at Zocher & Co nursery in Holland, it was the result of crossing C. autumnale ‘Alboplenum’ with C. speciosum ‘Album’.
In my opinion, the one flaw with colchicums is that their foliage just isn’t that showy. Plants form robust clumps of lush, dark green leaves that are sometimes ribbed or pleated. Up to a foot in length, the broad leaves are loved by slugs and snails, and require protecting from pests during spring and summer.
Plant corms 4in deep in fertile, moistureretentive soil in full sun. For maximum impact, set them in small groups of five or more, spacing 6in apart. A word of warning – all parts of the colchicum are toxic, so wear gloves when planting, or wash your hands thoroughly after handling the corms.
These autumn-flowering beauties are ideal for naturalising in lawns, planting at the front of beds and borders, and for growing under deciduous trees and shrubs. Make sure you don’t try to elbow them into small gaps – leave plenty of space for their sizeable clumps of foliage to develop.
In spring, scatter a handful of balanced fertiliser granules over the ground when there are signs of growth. Resist the temptation to cut back foliage in summer, no matter how tatty it becomes. Let everything die back naturally to the ground to ensure corms are fully recharged to flower their socks off.
Over time, colchicums will form large colonies that have the potential to outgrow their allotted space. Every four to five years, lift the entire clump with a fork, gently pull the corms apart and replant in well-prepared soil. It’s best to tackle plants in late summer, after the leaves have died back.