Every year I forget about this sweet charmer of spring. Disguised under a mat of creeping thyme, up pop the dainty fuchsia-pink flowers. I panted a half-dozen corms several years ago, in a sunny spot towards the base of the slope behind my house. Since my soil is heavy clay, I amended with some red shale gravel, color-coordinated with the rocks that are naturally embedded in the clay. And by now there are several flowers emerging at each point-of-planting, suggesting that the corms are multiplying away underground. At the time I planted, I was struck by the corms appearance, a smaller version of colchicum. And at one time they were, I believe, placed in that genus. So how come I rarely see these offered, grown, mentioned? As their name suggested they are a welcome harbinger of spring. Judy in New Jersey, where this morning's rain has intimations of snow and sleet.