I love September, a mellow month, and one group of plants I always look forward to seeing are the colchicums. One fat bulb can push up more than 20 flowers and each one appears through the bare earth so the old-fashioned (rather cheeky) name has always been naked ladies. These languid creatures look as though they belong to spring, not autumn, and they do look slightly incongruous.

Close to Hook Norton there is a wild colony of Colchicum autumnale on the side of the road and this was once a common plant of damp meadows and woods in Oxfordshire. John Killick, Roy Perry and Susan Woodall’s Flora of Oxfordshire records it as still plentiful in Wychwood.

Geoffrey Grigson in The Englishman’s Flora cites common names like Fog Crocus — the fog in question being the grass named Yorkshire fog. Most other local names contain the word ‘naked’ whether that be men, nanny or virgins.

William Turner writing in the mid-16th century) called it meadow saffron. He advised that “she is dangerous in all her parts” — a reference to the plant’s toxicity at every stage. Toxic as it is, this plant was used to cure gout by ancient Greek and Arabian physicians. Grigson also tells us that James I was dosed with the tincture. Bulbs from Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire were sent to London so that Tinctoria colchici could be made, and colchicine tablets are still prescribed today for gout. Plant breeders also use the substance to alter the chromosome counts of plants like iris and hemerocallis.

In the garden, colchicums enrich September. However, they are difficult to place owing to their large, coarse leaves which usually peak in March. These flop badly and discolour by early summer and this makes them hard to use with other spring-flowering bulbous plants, or among herbaceous plants. You need to grow them in quiet corners of the garden where little happens in spring and summer, or grow them with something that is likely to smother the foliage by May.

At RHS Wisley they use them round specimen trees set in lawns, under shrubs and against walls. They are effective in the crystal clear light of September, even in shade. Another gardener I know uses a ground cover artemisia so that they pop up through silver foliage. They should grace every garden because there is a great range that flower over six weeks or so. Colchicum agrippinum, a diminutive starry pink colchicum with tessellated petals, is always the first to flower here. It is happiest in a brighter position.

Large rose-pink goblets appear from Colchicum speciosum and the stems of the substantial goblet-shaped single flowers rise up to nine inches in height. These usually appear two weeks after C. agrippinum. There is a handsome white form, C. speciosum ‘Album’, that bears pristine flowers of a generous size. However don’t confuse this with the smaller C. autumnale ‘Album’. This is called ‘dirty bones’ in the bulb trade — enough said!

There are several fine named forms and these include ‘The Giant’, a colchicum with chequered pink flowers with white middles. ‘Waterlily’ is a serious double with lilac-pink flowers. This naked lady wears a crinoline and, although not as elegant as the singles,‘Waterlily’ makes an impact in the garden.

Colchicums are inexpensive to buy and deserve to be more popular.

A good selection of excellent bulbs (including colchicums) is available at Steventon Road Nurseries Steventon Road, East Hanney, OX12 0HS (tel 01235 868828).