Planting colchicums
Jane McGary (Sat, 07 Aug 2010 09:35:10 PDT)

Roland wrote,
For sure plant your Colchicums first

If I get a colchicum that has started to flower before planting, I
just remove the flower bud before planting it in the normal position.
I think it's better to lose the first year's flowering, which will
not be normal in any case once it has initiated while out of the
soil, and get the bulb settled without its having to spend the energy
to bloom. Once you're used to colchicums, it's not difficult to
situate the bulb upright -- except for a few small species such as C.
boissieri and C. minutum that produce horizontal, wormlike corms,
which can just be put in the ground in any position and they will
figure it out.

Incidentally I recommend wearing disposable latex gloves if you're
handling a lot of colchicum plant material, whether leaves or corms
and roots. I don't know whether the toxin can be absorbed through the
skin, but better safe than sorry. These gloves are also good to wear
if you're handling a lot of hellebore material, especially when
cleaning seeds -- you can get quite a dermatitis from hellebore. Some
people also react to Narcissus but I haven't found it a problem.

Just this morning I lifted the last of the bulbs that were dormant. A
few are flowering now, such as Allium sanbornii and Brodiaea
californica. The Brodiaea could be lifted anyway, as in this group
(which also include Dichelostemma and Triteleia and a few other
genera) the stem usually is detached from the bulb, or almost so,
when the flowers open on their long stems. Apparently the moisture
and nutrients in the stem itself are enough to nourish flowering,
seed set, and ripening. You can throw a stem of Dichelostemma
ida-maia out into the field and it will get on with its job quite
well. No doubt that is why I have rather too many of them, but they
will be a nice addition to the new garden and are beloved by hummingbirds.

Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA