Arboretum & Botanical Garden Bulletin Board
Plant of the Month
Fall Crocus, Naked Ladies
Colchicum sp.
Location: Grid U9, O31 Above the chip path east of the gravel road and below Xeriscape Garden sign
Fall Crocus are very confusing plants, although the flowers resemble spring flowering crocus they are not related. The flowers emerge in the fall, technically without even a stem, but more obviously without any leaves. The flowers are quite delicate and only last a couple of weeks in ideal conditions, then the flowers wither away and the plant goes dormant for the winter. Then the following spring, leaves and seed pods emerge that last for a month or so, then they go dormant until the flowers emerge a few months later. Weird… on top of that, they also have what are known as contractile roots that allow the plant to move their corms deeper into the soil all by themselves!
In my earlier careers I was in retail nursery businesses. We sold Autumn Crocus along with other more familiar spring flowering bulbs like Tulips and Daffodils to be planted in the Fall. The surprising feature of the Autumn Crocus was that they would send up their flowers while sitting in the bin on the shelf!
The Fall Crocus in the Arboretum all started from a small patch growing out where the original farmhouse was west of the barn.
Monthly Projects
September in Moscow is often our most pleasant month, pleasant temperatures, a little rain and still enough daylight to enjoy it. However, it is also a seasonal transition and that often means we see some dramatic weather and that was certainly true this week. I am not sure it qualified as a ‘Haboob’, but it was certainly the most dramatic dust storm I have seen in Moscow. Quite a bit of damage in the Arboretum, but also a long way from being the worst ever, probably a dozen or so significantly broken trees and one total loss.
The nice weather has allowed us to get quite a few new plants in the ground including a couple hundred Palouse Prairie native wildflowers, some new tree introductions from the USDA and several other random replacements. We still have a substantial order of fall bulbs coming along with some other odds and ends to plant.
Upcoming Events
- TBD
When visiting the Arboretum, please remember that for your safety, the safety of others and for the protection of wildlife and plant collections, no pets are allowed. Ice on ponds is very unstable — stay off any ice.