An old common name for colchicum was "the son before the father" since people were confused by flowers in fall but seeds in spring - thinking of the cycle as one that followed the calendar year. So we are not the first to be puzzled by which came first, the flower or the foliage (more euphonious than flower/ seed.) Though you would think even if they wanted to call seed = son it should have been flower = mother. Judy in thunderstorm New Jersey where surely my salvaged Lycoris squamigera will decide it's now time to wake up and flower