About
This plant features a corm that produces one to three flowers, each measuring up to 8 cm in length and displaying a deep purplish-rose hue with pale green or white tubes. In spring, it develops strap-like leaves that can grow up to 25 cm long and are a vibrant green.
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, Well-drained
- Aspect
- South-facing, West-facing, East-facing
- Exposure
- Sheltered
- UK hardiness
- H5
Plant details
- Plant type
- Bulbs
- Habit
- Clump forming
- Foliage
- Deciduous
- Height
- 0.1-0.5 metres
- Spread
- 0.1-0.5 metres
- Time to full height
- 2-5 years
- Suggested uses
- Cottage and informal garden, Wildlife gardens, Wildflower meadow, Rock garden
- Native to
- N Turk., Iran, Cauc.
- 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
- May be naturalized in turf. Grow in moist but well-drained, deep, humus-rich, fertile soil. Intolerant of waterlogging
- Pruning
- No pruning required
- Propagation
- Propagate by seed sown in containers in an open frame when ripe or separate corms when dormant in summer
- Pest resistance
- May be susceptible to slugs
- Disease resistance
- May be susceptible to bulb grey moulds