Cape Gazette GARDEN & FARM TUESDAY, AUGUST 13- THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2013 19
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In life, as in gardens, a little
controversy can help. Take
the Canadian band that was
asked to perform for the 1991
New Year's Eve concert outside
Toronto City Hall when at the
last moment a staffer for then-
Mayor June Rowlands felt the
band's name objectified women
and banned the band.
The public was outraged -
not at the band's name - but at
what was seen as political cor-
rectness gone too far. Predict-
ably, the band's sales skyrock-
eted and the world of music
has been richer for the band,
Barenaked Ladies.
Nothing gets a gardener's.
attention like bare naked ladies.
Plant them now and this fall
you can have "naked ladies"
bloom right in your garden.
They are called naked ladies
because the "naked" vase-
shaped blooms of Colchicums
spring up unannounced and
glow among the drabber colors chicums prefer well-drained,
of autumn. The leaves pop up slightly acidic soil with a pH 6.0
in spring and die back like daf- to 6.5. In early spring the corms
fodils, will send up big, pleated leaves
Colchicum The Giant is a that are beautiful in their own
large rose-lilac flower with a right. The leaves die down by
white base. The Giant blooms July. Let the leaves die natu-
over a long period with eight- rally, as they are storing energy
inch-tall, vase-shaped blooms, for fall blooms.
Waterlily Colchicum has lav- " After a few years, if your
ender-pink double blooms that clumps of flowers get crowded,
resemble water lilies floating in you can dig them up and sepa-
your lawn. Waterlily grows just rate them. Luckily the corms
six inches tall. are very easy to divide. They
Colchicum Speciosum is a produce tiny babies or "offsets"
five-inch-tall darker rose-violet quickly, so each one will grow
flower that is often four inches into a cluster of seven or eight
or more across. This species is within a few years.
a vigorous grower that spreads The bulbs grow much deeper
quickly, than you might expect, so
The all-white Colchicum dig deep enough to gently lift
Speciosum Album blooms solid the entire clump out. Pull the
white for a striking contrast clump apart with your fmgers
against green grass or conifer and immediately replant the
trees, corms a good six inches deep.
Colchicum bulbs are techni- The best time to divide corms is
cally corms, because they have early summer when the leaves
an underground stem base, but are yellowing.
most gardeners call them bulbs Colchicums (Colchicum
because that's what they look autumnale) contain colchicine,
like. Planted in August or early a poisonous substance that can
September, the corms will settle be toxic to grazing livestock.
in and burst into bloom within Colchicine is used to treat gout.
two months. Luckily, most household pets
Plant Colchicums in front of leave them alone. Always wear
evergreens or shrubs, tuck them gloves when handling any bulbs
among perennials, and even to avoid rashes or allergies.
spread some in the grass. Col- You can cut the delicate
blossoms for floral bouquets
without harming the plants.
And you don't even have to
plant the corms to bloom. Just
place them on a sunny window-
sill and they will bloom. Like
all forced bulbs, letting them
bloom without planting weak-
ens the corms, and you may
need to toss the windowsill
wonders after they bloom.
Colchicums are available for
a brief time from mall-order
nurseries such as I.W. Jung
Seed Company, 335 S. High St
Randolph, W153956 (800-297-
3123), online at www. iungseed.
com; or from White Flower
Farm, P.O. Box 50, Route 63,
Litchfield, Connecticut 06759
(800-503-9624), online at www.
whiteflowerfarm.com.
Order now, plant soon, and
your garden will enjoy what
Canada has enjoyed for years:
bare naked ladies. As for the
group Barenaked Ladies? They
are now best known for singing
the theme song to television's
"Big Bang Theory." And that is
the naked truth.
MATERS MATTER AT HISTORIC LEWES FARMERS MARKET
HISTORIC LEWES FARMERS MARKET volunteers Pam Sorce, left, and
during the market's seventh annual Tomato Festival, Mater Madness.
RON MACARTHUR PHOTOS
Cathy Stube put out tomato samples Aug. 10
Market-goers stop to
taste tomatoes during another
busy day at the market.
Market volunteer Kathy Bagden ex-
plains that striped cavern tomatoes
are perfect for stuffing.
Delaware Secretary of Agriculture
cherry tomatoes in a jar.
Ed Kee
takes a guess at the number of
