Are your summers dry enough?

Yes - some of the species definitely grow in zone 9a or higher. They do better with excellent drainage and good sun otherwise the flowers fall over and look lanky.

You can leave them inground to multiply until they get overcrowded - then lift and thin out. It can take several years to reach this point.

Plant out in July on to November in fine grass, or under high deciduous trees, or in normal beds. No chilling required at all. Just get them in before they start flowering if possible. They'll flower out of the ground, with no soil at all.

They flower first. Die down. Then the leaves come up weeks later and last over winter before going dormant for summer.

our summers are dry to the extent that bulbous plants love it, that is untill a hurricane comes through (Theres a tropical depression only hours away)
Vetivert: thank you for the info! I'm going to buy them when they come in to the stores.

smivies - what makes you ask about dry summers? Have I missed something? Colchicums grow fine here and they certainly get plenty of rain all year round.

Sorry, they are wild in the United Kingdom? Here we have wildly growing C. autumnale. August, we are usually dry and warm month.
In my garden grow C. bizantinum , C. speciosum, C. sieboldii, which are found wild in the Mediterranean.
And because there is very dry and hot summer!

Colchicum autumnale is a plant of wet meadows in Central Europe.

Sorry I missed your question, Oleg. No, they are not native in the UK but are quite widely grown in gardens.