In the earlier post on this topic I blamed crickets. I got home late tonight and went out into the garden with a flashlight to check the colchicum. Evidently I blamed the wrong critter. Tonight I found the flowers covered with clusters of pill bugs (aka sow bugs and lots of other names; they are terrestrial crustaceans of the order Isopoda). I don't really know anything about the eating habits of sow bugs. Most sources describe them as eating dead vegetation. Maybe the pill bugs were only eating nectar. Something is chewing and eating the tepals of the colchicum right down to stubs. Ideas, anyone? Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where bottle gentians are blooming. My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/