I am guilty, guilty of having twice visited Sissinghurst this year and not having posted anything about it. Had this been any other garden I might have been forgiven, but on both occasions Sissinghurst was in its prime and more than worthy of sharing with you. I may still do so in the depths of winter when we all need a little joy. For now I will assuage my guilt by not dallying over an account of my third visit, which will extend over two posts. The first celebrates a bulbous flower, sometimes mistaken for a crocus, which makes an appearance just as everything else in the garden is on the wane. That flower is the colchicum, variously known as ‘meadow saffron’ or ‘naked ladies’.
Both common names are easily understood, if not very accurate. In England we have a native colchicum, Colchicum autumnale, which populates areas of rich meadowland. Its similarity to the non-native autumn flowering saffron crocus, Crocus sativus, lends this pretty bulb the epithet, ‘meadow saffron’. Colchicums flower before producing leaves and are frequently pink-flowered, hence the fabulously suggestive nickname ‘naked ladies’, which I rather like. (You can have a lot of fun just replacing every instance of the word colchicum in this post with ‘naked ladies’ – go on, I dare you!)
At Sissinghurst Colchicum autumnale earns itself a place in the herb garden by dint of its medicinal uses in treating gout and Mediterranean fever. However, all parts of the plant are poisonous in the wrong hands and definitely should not be eaten.
Sissinghurst’s colchicums demonstrate exactly where these wonderfully hefty bulbs prefer to grow. The translucent goblets erupt from the sward of the orchard and from sun-kissed patches of earth in the rose garden where they remain undisturbed for years. A little shelter is helpful when siting the bulbs, as some less robust varieties can be laid low by boisterous autumn weather, which I find heartbreaking to see.
Colchicums are mostly native to warmer, sunnier parts of the world than England, so like to be on the dry side during summer and moist, but not wet, in winter. The bulbs should be planted where they can build up into large clumps and so that the foliage, which appears in early spring, can be concealed as it dies down in summer. This isn’t too much of challenge for most gardeners. Alternatively, it is possible to cultivate colchicums in pots, using a 50:50 mix of grit and John Innes no.2. I am experimenting this autumn with three bulbs of Colchicum ‘Water Lily’ AGM, a double-flowered, pink hybrid, which I would find hard to place elsewhere in the garden.
The flowers associate well with ferns, grasses and sedges provided their foliage is not too leggy come autumn. Both C. autumnale and C. speciosum are robust enough to compete in semi-rough grass, which must be left unmown between August and June when the leaves disappear. There are a great number of species and named varieties available, most of which I find very hard to tell apart, but for starters I’d recommend C. autumnale ‘Nancy Lindsay’ AGM and plain C. speciosum for pink flowers and C. speciosum ‘Album’ AGM for pure white flowers. I shall let you know how I get on with C. ‘Water Lily’.
With their fresh, lusty goblets rising unhindered from the ground each autumn, colchicums provide a much needed shot in the arm for a garden when all else is fading. Sissinghurst is not a garden which requires a shot in the arm at any time of year, but even here the sight of them rampaging beneath the ripening apples and fading roses is a refreshing tonic.
All photographs taken at Sissinghurst Castle on August 24th 2014
Categories: Bulbs, Container gardening, Flowers, Foliage, Kentish Gardens, Plants, Practical Advice
Reblogged this on Linda's wildlife garden and commented:
Lovely and thank you for sharing have a blessed day
Beautiful color this time of year when it seems like ‘green’ reigns everywhere you look. 🙂
Thank you. Do you grow colchicums in New England Judy?
Lovely reading about your visit to this magnificent garden. I feel guilty, very guilty of never having visited it before last week – a wonderful place and brought more to life by your words here.
Thank you Nigel. I am glad you got to Sissinghurst. There is so much written about it, but there’s nothing like experiencing a garden first hand. Where next?
Thanks for a nice blog about the colchicums at Sissinghurst, Dan. It was a good read and I learnt some new facts about colchicums. Glad you enjoyed your visit to the garden, if you would like to have the chance to work in the garden with us, perhaps you might be able to take a day off on Sept. 16th and come to our ‘Autumn Gardening Day’. It would be nice to meet you in person. Helen
Hi Helen. I’ve planted some more Colchicums this weekend (a bit late, but they are not shooting yet) as I was so inspired by yours. Under normal circumstances the offer of a day working at Sissinghurst is not something I’d turn down, but we shall be on holiday in Cornwall. Let me know if there are any days later in the year, or in spring, so I can sign up well in advance. It would be nice to meet you too. Dan
The colchicums are glorious, I must have some and may try in a pot as you say you will do. Thank you again for such wondrous photos and informative blog.
You are making me blush! Thank you for the lovely comments. I think growing them in pot is a good idea, especially in year 1, as you can really appreciate the flowers and keep them somewhere quite protected, away from slugs and snails. After that you can plunge them in the ground and see how they do. The bulbs I have planted in the ground are yet to emerge this year, but I keep checking for sight of them.
I Fell in Love with the beautiful colchicums in Sissinghurst last week. Now back in Germany again I wonder where I can order them, because neither at Sissinghurst nor elsewhere I succeeded to buy them. Would you help me please?
Hi Brigitte. They are widely available here from bulb specialists and garden centres. Have you tried the German equivalents? If you’ve had no luck there, you could try this company in the Netherlands: https://www.eurobulb.nl/index.php/shop/20/Autumn+flowering+bulbs/Colchicum.htm
Dear Gardener. Yes I have tried all German equivalents, but they have not these beautiful kinds of colchicums as I have seen in Sissinghurst. Now I try in the Netherlands…thank you so much for your great help and quick reply! – By the way – Your photos and the whole blog are wonderful! I will recommend it to all my gardener friends in Germany (Bavaria)!
Thank you Brigitte. I spent time in Freising and Munich when I was studying Landscape Design as a student so it’s lovely to know I have followers in this beautiful corner of Europe. Have a great weekend and good luck with sourcing your colchicums.