Anna Pavord: If you want colchicums to spring up in your garden at the tail-end of summer,...

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The rain that spoilt August Bank Holiday for so many people was only the second decent bit of rain we'd had since May. So as the water butts filled up and the trough by the greenhouse began to overflow, I wasn't complaining. The rain brought forth mushrooms (ideal conditions this season) and colchicums, the flowers pushing through the ground like fat, fleshy crocuses. They are said to like good, deep, fertile soil, ground that is well-drained but that never dries out completely, but as so often in gardening, the clump that is doing best defies the rules. It is growing in rather dry, rooty soil at the foot of a box ball.










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