How could this happen? After explaining to Zoey in the comments of this post what colchicums were, I realized I had never shown what the foliage looks like. It’s not exactly breathtaking, so I don’t have many photos of it to share. I had to scan in this photo, which was taken in my very first spring here (1990). I’m sure I took it with the hopes that I might someday be able to identify the foliage. You can see one clump of strap-like daffodil leaves, which are about full height, and the broader leaves of the colchicum leaves behind them. This should give you an idea of the scale of the foliage. Keep in mind the flowers are about the size of crocus blossoms. (As with almost all images on this blog, click on the small photo to get a much bigger one.)
Now this second photo is a bit more interesting.I don’t often get to see this, myself. It is the seed pod of the colchicum flowers that bloomed the previous autumn. This is why one supposedly common name of colchicums is Sons-Before-the-Fathers. In a calendar year, the seeds show up before the flowers do. This is because the ovary, the seed forming part of the flower, is actually located at the base of the perianth tube, just underground. The peri-what? you ask. What looks like the stem of the flower is actually a tube of petal-like tissue, and the seed making parts of the flower that in a rose, for example, would be right below the blossom, are actually in the bulb underground. The ovary, now containing the seeds, is brought above ground in the spring when the leaves emerge. If I remember correctly (keep in mind the second-story renovation going on here–all my gardening books are packed away right now) the seeds have an aril, which ants like. The ants harvest the seeds for themselves and after they eat the aril, the seed germinates where the ants have stored it.
I have tried to grow colchicums from seed but didn’t get any to germinate. It is possible I harvested the seeds too early, but I see from this thread that plenty of experienced seed starters have had trouble as well, so I don’t feel too bad. There: more than you ever wanted to know about colchicums or even knew enough to ask. And by the way, Zoey, I have grown over two dozen varieties of colchicums. If you only saw 8, it probably means you missed the “Next Page” link, and didn’t see the remainder of the entries. The number after the category name shows how many entries are in that category.