About
Colchicum x byzantinum Ker Gawl. produces multiple pale lilac flowers with white tubes, each reaching up to 5 cm long. The broad, ribbed leaves can grow up to 30 cm in length and emerge in the spring.
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
- Well-drained
- Aspect
- South-facing, East-facing, North-facing, West-facing
- Exposure
- Sheltered
- UK hardiness
- H5
Plant details
- Plant type
- Bulbs
- Habit
- Columnar upright
- Foliage
- Deciduous
- Height
- Up to 10 cm
- Spread
- 0-0.1 metre
- Time to full height
- 2-5 years
- Suggested uses
- Cottage and informal garden, Rock garden, Wildlife gardens
- Native to
- Turk., Syria, Leb.
- 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 moist but well-drained, deep, humus-rich, fertile soil. Intolerant of waterlogging
- Pruning
- No pruning required
- Propagation
- Propagate by seed, sowing in containers in an open frame when ripe or separate corms when dormant in summer
- Pest resistance
- May be susceptible to slugs
- Disease resistance
- Generally disease-free