Autumn blooming crocus full#

Genus name come from the abundance of the plant in Colchis, the Black Sea region of Georgia, Caucasus. Among the differences, the flowers of autumn crocus have six stamens and the flowers of spring crocus have three stamens. The common name of autumn crocus is somewhat misleading because autumn crocus (Colchicaceae family but formerly included in Liliaceae family) is not closely related to spring crocus (Iridaceae family).

Medicinal colchicum and colchicine come from the corms and seeds. Fall flowers have no foliage, hence the sometimes used additional common name of naked ladies for this plant. Naked flower stems (1-6 stems per sheath) rise from the ground to 6-10” tall in late summer to early fall, each stem bearing a star-shaped, lavender-pink to lilac-pink flower. Foliage gradually yellows and dies by early summer when the plants go dormant. Plants send up only foliage (5-8 lanceolate dark green leaves to 10' long) in spring. I will be featuring photos of our selection on Instagram and Facebook through September and October.Colchicum autumnale, commonly called autumn crocus or meadow saffron, is a cormous perennial that typically blooms in early fall. If you live locally we recommend you sign up for Our Monthly Newsletter to be notified of all the best dirt happening at Campbell River Garden Centre. We are deeply sorry to our customers that are not able to visit us in person and we want you to know how much we have appreciated your business! Therefore if we can't trust our product to arrive in top condition we don't want to ship. We dearly hope they are not all bulb shopping online:)Ģ) Although we enjoyed shipping bulbs to our gardening friends Canada-wide for the past 15+ years we found shipping live goods extremely difficult in the last few years. This has been a very difficult decision that we made for two reasons:-ġ) We feel we can offer the very best local experience for our local gardeners. *Note ~ Our garlic and flower bulbs will be available in-store only. Whichever fall-blooming bulbs you choose I know that you will enjoy them and consider them the tiny treasures that signal the coming of autumn. Autumn crocus Waterlily Autumn crocus Waterlily offers lovely double-flowered pink-lilac blooms atop strap-shaped, gray-green foliage. The cultivar was presumably named after the color of its flowers. Both single and double Colchicum are very easy to grow and multiply quickly.Ĭolchicum Waterlily - Double Autumn Crocus Its autumn-blooming crocus-like purple-blue flowers with golden anthers are selected to be quite large. Colchicum are a large bulb measuring 2-3 inches across and should be planted about 3-4 inches deep. Their leaves do not appear until spring, arising then without flowers, but the foliage is an important developmental phase of the bulbs.Ĭolchicum 'The Giant' has a lovely lavender-pink single flower and Colchicum 'Waterlily' has a spectacular double violet-pink bloom that does indeed look a lot like a water lily flower. Colchicum flowers bloom without leaves leading to the common name Naked Crocus, and they are quite beautiful in their simplicity. It's important to note the Colchicum flowers are ornamental only and the flowers and stamens are poisonous. To harvest your saffron simply pick the stigmas, mid-morning, as soon as the flowers open, dry them and then store them in a jar.Ĭolchicum The Giant - Single Autumn CrocusĬolchicum flowers are quite a bit bigger than the Saffron Crocus rising to about eight inches in height. Saffron Crocus, botanically Crocus sativus, is the culinary form whose stigma are harvested for the much sought-after spice, saffron.

Autumn blooming crocus full#

Saffron crocus is not the easiest bulb to grow in our wet climate so choose your site carefully in full sun with good drainage and add a little bonemeal (think Mediterranean-like).

The bulbs are about ¾ of an inch across and should be planted 2-3 inches deep in September. These fall bloomers are light purple with yellow stamens and three red stigmas per flower. Saffron Crocus - Crocus Sativus, like their spring-blooming cousins, grow to about four inches tall. As much as the spring crocus herald the coming of Spring and the end of winter, the autumn-blooming bulbs announce fall is coming. These bulbs are planted in late summer to early fall with their blooming period to follow immediately afterwards. As the days shorten and the shadows lengthen, the Saffron Crocus and Colchicum flowers make their début. Fall blooming bulbs are the tiny treasures of the autumn garden.