Autumn Bulbs.

 More Autumn Flowers.

Jon has sent me a photo of his Colchicum variegatum from Marcus Harvey seed, it has taken 5 years for it to flower, but well worth the wait as I don't think anyone is selling this beautiful Colchicum in Australia I haven't seen it listed anywhere. Marcus collected the seed in Ambelos, Stamos in Greece.

Another of Marcus Havey's Colchicum this is Colchicum macrophyllum I have struggled with the name of this bulb as it has hugh pleated leaves like a Veratrum. That part is fine but when I read Brian Mathew book The Smaller Bulbs he says Colchicum variegatum has purple anthers but E A Bowles in his book Crocus and Colchicum for Gardeners states in Colchicum macrophyllum "The connective of the young anthers is white tinged with lilac" and looking on the internet it say Colchicum macrophyllum has mauve anthers. So this has a funnel shaped flowers with a white throat and pale tessellated flowers that I really think is Colchicum macrophyllum and it is great to compare it to Jon Colchicum variegatum.

Colchicum sfikasianum from Archibald seed 2/2008 0317.650  a very pale form which is ok for me as I have a lot of dark flowering forms and it forms a contrast to the ones that are out at the moment. I'm not sure why we are not growing more Colchicum in Australia as they are so suited to our climate. Ok our lawns are all brown but the Colchicum are all out and flowering and with their tessellated markings they are a joy to look at, you can always control their leaves just tie them back from precious plants or put in a small stake so that they don't interfere with other plants close by and they need no watering at all in the summer months, in fact they just love a baking to make them flower well. One Colchicum bulb can have at least 3-6 flowers per bulb, so why wouldn't you grow them.

Colchicum kotschi another from Archibald seed 2086 this time I hope that date is correct, where has the time gone, collection number 314.750. The flowers come out very pale and fade to the very dark colour at the front.

A wee little flower that first flowered a few weeks ago and I forgot to take a photo of it, and it is flowering again today to cheer me up as my mum passed away in the last few days, its been a tough week, the brown background is our lawn which we do not water, as all the water goes on to the garden. With the first heavy rain, it will green up again in days. Acis rosea Scottish Rock Garden Seed  2016.

I would like to thank Jon publicly for the work he has put in with Bicon, with his gentle nature and sound reasoning, it looks like we will be able to get our seed into Australia from the seed exchanges, as long as they are listed on the Bicon permitted seed list. Please let us know if you have not received your seed from the seed exchanges as they are being held in Sydney, apparently they have mountains of unnamed seed there mostly from China. But if you get empty packets saying they have taken your seed please get in touch, as we may be able to help you get it back, as with Gavin from Perth in WA.

Thank you for reading.