About
Colchicum autumnale 'Album' is a perennial that grows from corms, featuring long, strap-shaped leaves that appear in spring and wither away by summer. In early autumn, it produces goblet-shaped white flowers on white stems.
About the genus
Colchicum are perennial plants that grow from corms, featuring typically coarse, broad, strap-like leaves. These leaves may emerge alongside or following the goblet-shaped blooms.
Growing conditions
- Sunlight
- Full sun
- Soil type
- Chalk, Clay, Loam, Sand
- Soil pH
- Acid, Alkaline, Neutral
- Soil moisture
- Moist but well-drained
- Aspect
- South-facing, West-facing
- Exposure
- Sheltered
- UK hardiness
- H5
Plant details
- Plant type
- Bulbs
- Habit
- Columnar upright
- Foliage
- Deciduous
- Height
- 0.1-0.5 metres
- Spread
- 0.1-0.5 metres
- Time to full height
- 1 year
- Suggested uses
- Cottage and informal garden, Rock garden, Wildlife gardens
- Toxicity
- TOXIC if eaten. Wear gloves and other protective equipment when handling TOXIC to pets - see the HTA guide to potentially harmful plants for further information and useful contact numbers
Care notes
- Cultivation
- Grow in a sunny position in deep, fertile soil that does not dry out. Intolerant of waterlogging. See bulb cultivation for more detailed advice
- Pruning
- No pruning required
- Propagation
- Propagate by seed, sown in containers in an open frame as soon as ripe, or by division, separating corms when they are dormant in summer
- Pest resistance
- May be susceptible to slugs
- Disease resistance
- May be susceptibe to colchicum smuts, grey moulds and tulip grey bulb rot