About
Colchicum 'Violet Queen' is a perennial plant that grows to about 15 cm in height. It features semi-erect leaves that are broadly lance-shaped, measuring between 18 to 25 cm in length, visible from winter through spring. In autumn, this variety produces one to five funnel-shaped flowers, each 4 to 6 cm long, characterized by their pinkish violet tepals adorned with white centers and yellow anthers. Additionally, colchicums serve as a valuable late-season pollen source for honeybees.
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, Loam, Sand
- Soil pH
- Acid, Alkaline, Neutral
- Soil moisture
- Moist but well-drained
- Aspect
- South-facing, West-facing, East-facing
- Exposure
- Exposed, 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, Rock garden, Gravel garden, Wildlife gardens
- Fragrance
- Flower
- 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
- Using gloves to handle corms, plant 10cm deep in summer or early autumn in deep, fertile and well-drained but moisture-retentive soil in an open site in full sun; for more advice, see bulb cultivation
- Pruning
- No pruning required
- Propagation
- Propagate by removing cormlets when dormant in summer; for more advice, see bulb propagation
- Pest resistance
- May be susceptible to slugs
- Disease resistance
- May be susceptible to grey moulds (Botrytis), smuts, and tulip grey bulb rot