Pert lavender-pink flowers sporting checkered interiors pop up the last week in August here and keep flowering to late September. Because...Read More they bloom before autumn rains on short, sturdy stems, C. x agrippinum's flowers don't deflate and keel over as later, larger Colchicum autumnale flowers often do. Strong, upright leaves with undulating edges appear in late winter, valued for their sculptural quality.
Colonies planted during the 1920s persist near old homes here, equally happy in full sun or partial shade, and on marginal soils along alleys and sparse tree lawns without summer water, and like other plants lumped together as autumn crocus, C. x agrippina was a popular passalong because of the ease of dividing them. Attractive to bees, but does not set seed here, instead expanding as the corms multiply. They respond to division every few years with exuberant growth.
Probably a hybrid between the checkered C. variegatum, native to Greece and Turkey and C. autumnale, native to the British Isles. No one claimed credit for the hybrid, although there was a vogue for colchicums in Britain in the early 1900s. Quite possibly the hybrid resulted from the human act of planting exotic C. variegatum near native C. autumnale in an English garden, with a pollinator as the direct agent. C. agrippinum takes after C. variegatum in sporting some of the strongest tesselation (checkering) seen in the colchicums, and in thriving in climates with hot, dry summers and rainfall autumn to spring.
Deer and voles avoid C. agrippinum because of the highly toxic alkaloid, colchicine, in all parts of the plant. This toxicity is responsible for the species name agrippinum, after Agrippina, a Roman empress accused, perhaps unjustly, of poisoning her husband.
A showy little plant that asks for nothing but a bit of earth in which to grow.
This is an old garden plant which, like C. byzantinum, is not known in the wild. E.A. Bowles wonders whether it is a hybrid between C. v...Read Moreariegatum and C autumnale in his "Handbook of Crocus and Colchicum", and that makes sense to me. As Todd says, it increases rapidly, soon building up large clumps (at least here in Newfoundland,) and is ideal for the rock garden. In view of this I wonder why it is still so expensive in the trade! My original 2 corms came from Broadleigh Gardens in the UK in 1980 at 80p each, and last time I checked they were selling them at £6 each corm! I've never seen them on sale commercially in Canada, but have given lots away and sold them to raise funds for our local Botanical Garden - as far as I know all the C agrippinum grown around here come from those 2 corms! Look out for them.
In view of what Baa says I should mention that they get no special protection here and our winters are a lot colder than her's in Hampshire.
Of all the Colchicums I've grown, this is one of the best. The flower stems are short, so the flowers don't flop like many varieties. T...Read Morehe leaves are also quite small and an interesting grey-green. Other Colchicums have horrible large floppy leaves that act as slug fodder, but slugs don't seem to bother this one. Despite the listing here as zone 7a, I have grown this one for years in zone 5b. It multiplies fairly quickly.
A cormous plant that is considered a hybrid by some.
Has deep green, strap like or linear leaves. Bears quite large (consi...Read Moredering the size of the whole plant), funnel shaped, pinkish purple flowers.
Flowers mainly September-November
Likes a well-drained, moist, leafy, fertile soil in full sun. It dislikes too much competition so grow away from tall, floppy plants. It may need a winter mulch in areas that get regular frosts.
Pert lavender-pink flowers sporting checkered interiors pop up the last week in August here and keep flowering to late September. Because...Read More
This is an old garden plant which, like C. byzantinum, is not known in the wild. E.A. Bowles wonders whether it is a hybrid between C. v...Read More
Of all the Colchicums I've grown, this is one of the best. The flower stems are short, so the flowers don't flop like many varieties. T...Read More
A cormous plant that is considered a hybrid by some.
Has deep green, strap like or linear leaves. Bears quite large (consi...Read More