Colchicum Waterlily Ugly Foliage

I ordered some of these last fall. I thought they would look pretty under the birdbath, a little off to the side and at the front of that portion of the garden. The bloomed nicely and did look pretty by the birdbath. This spring the foliage started coming up and up and up. I would guess they are a good foot or more high and the stalks are really thick and ugly. They stick out like a sore thumb. Everytime I walk by them, I'm tempted to just rip them out. Does anyone else grow these? How can such a pretty flower have such ugly foliage? Anyway, I think I remember reading someplace they do not like to be disturbed. When is the best time to dig these up? How soon before that ugly foliage dies down? Can't be soon enough for me. Any suggestions for disguising these plants until Fall when I'd like to be able to enjoy the flower?

hi beaker, I have these and I have the same problem! For a start I had them by my south wall and the foliage does tend to get too big for some things. When I changed the bed I moved them, this can be done 'in the green' as I did it, although the food goes back into the bulb to feed it when dying down. A really good time to do it is when the foliage is just emerging so they can re-root and grow on.

They do make more bulbs and can be split so will take a little time to reach maturity, although the last ones I put in only missed a season. The leaves can be OK if amongst taller things that take over as they die back, mine are starting to die back now. The advantage of moving them now is you can see where they are, perhaps wait until they start to die off. Normally here they are planted in the autumn, I think mainly because plants in the green are not easy to sell. It's best if they don't dry out, another reason they will not like being disturbed, as dried bulbs need more time to re-establish.

I am thinking of moving mine that are in a bed where the leaves show too much amongst lower perennials, and when they flower the perennials are dying back so the flowers don't get shown off very well at all. They would really be best around evergreens.

If you can put up with the dying foliage for a little while they won't take long before you can remove the dead foliage, it comes away easily a bit like crocus.

You can see the foliage behind the trillium, the hydrangea behind grows and the spaces fill with other things by they die back and I don't notice them.

Thanks for the info, Wallaby. I'm just really stumped about where to put these where they won't be an eyesore. LOL, I was thinking the other day that maybe if I tied pretty bows on them, maybe they'd look a bit better. I'll leave them for now, but I sure do hope the foliage starts dying soon.

Yours don't look as bad as mine....

Ah but that was earlier.. bows sounds a good idea! Those in the pic I don't see now as everything else has grown around them, but the ones with the perennials are half dead and look grotty.

The foliage on my colchicums here in NC completely died back about two weeks ago. Don't know about MN though. I think the foliage lasts about 3 months from the time it starts getting "big".

Tom I looked at mine yesterday, the ones in the pic are still quite green but are a little more shaded. The others are not in full sun but get more, and are 'half dead'.

This pic taken 25th May shows the ones in more sun

This taken 23rd May from a different angle, also shows the spot the shaded ones are. They are behind the Centaurea montana in the centre of the pic at the rear, it grows up later and hides them. The ones in more sun do flower better though!

I suppose the best compromise is a sunnier spot with evergreen shrubs, with the foliage of shrubs detracting from the dead foliage while setting the Colchicum flowers off.