LOL... if anyone can please help my wife and I can not figure out what this plant is. We have only lived at this house for 2 years. It has never flowered before and last year it yellowed and died very early in the summer. As you will see there is 6 or 7 bunches close together. There does not seem to be a stem or anything in the center of the leaves. We are noobs to the gardening world but our new home is surrounded by tons of flowers and plants from the former owner. We are just trying to take stock of what we have and how to best take care of it. Thanks for any help you can offer. I have attached the photo.
Drift at the back is meadow saffron (Colchicum), solitary clump in front has overall structure of a daylily although I have never seen one as smooth and glossy looking as this appears here.
I think it gets pretty cold. Not zone 8, which it would need to be. And of course - Ron's got the answer to the "yellowed and died early in the summer" mystery. Tony, Colchicum is a bulb that sends up foliage in spring; that foliage dies in early summer and then flowers appear in fall. I'm not sure I could recognize the foliage of either the clump in the front or the drift in the back as such, but at least that is likely the TYPE of plant that it is. There are other autumn flowering bulbs that act the same way. Not Daylilies, however!
Looks like Colchicum, to me too. My uncle has a couple of plants that have been there for 20+ years. Meadow saffron aka fall Crocus. Blooms make a great show in the fall when others are dying back. Also, plant tops might have been discarded on the compost heap by the time fall rolls around, so the blooms might look like a new/different plant. Don't know what plant in front is, but if Ron says it looks like a daylily, I would agree until I found out to the contrary. :) If it is a daylily you should be able to dig/loosen the soil a bit from the edge and note the tuberous roots (swollen fleshy roots) at least in most modern versions of daylily. Not a surefire test but if such were the roots, you would be closer to an id. Blooms of course will tell the tale. Harry
Wow, thanks for all the help. Here is what I can tell you. Your right about the zone, we do get pretty cold. Zone is 5a & 5b where I am. I figured eucomis would not make it here. I do indeed have fall crocus in that garden and it is in that area. The crocus is quite small, still about 2 times the size of a standard spring crucus. These plants quite large though, each clump is at least about 2-3 fee diameter and stands 12-18 inches tall. Does a fall crocus put up such a huge amount of foliage in the spring? I'll get a closer picture of them an post it later. Thanks for the help guys.!
Ok, just before I left for work this morning I took another look at the plants. Now I realize in the photo the single plant towards thr front appears different to the clumps in the back, however upon close inspection they seem to be the same type. The one in front does have sligtly broader leaves but I thought that might just be due to the fact that it is not crowded.? They have the same "stem" grouping at the ground level. They are very glossy on front and back. The foliage is not fibrous. We have hundreds of day lillies, about 15-20 different kinds, and none of them look like this plant. I know nothing about the fall crocus, so I am willing to go with that, except I cant get past how big these clumps are. They are bigger than any clump of day lillies we have anywhere on our property. They remind me of our Yucca plants except the Yucca is a super fibrous leaf. But the clump size is pretty close.
You guys are good. You nailed it with the Fall Crocus. I NEVER would have put those together but after reading up about them, they do indeed have this giant foliage that dies off in early summer. Then if fall you get the crocus. Very nice little flowers in the fall but what a gigantic pile of dying foliage they are in the early summer....lol almost doesnt seem worth it. Anyway I thank you a million times over because it was killing us trying to figure what it could be.
