I couldn’t imagine a list of favourite flowers from the past season not including Colchicum autumnale – sometimes called autumn crocus, but not to be confused with Crocus sativus. The later is also called autumn crocus since it also blooms in the fall, albeit later than the Colchicum. It has a much smaller bulb, the size of a regular, spring blooming crocus and not the size of a tennis ball, like Colchicum, and is the source of the golden yellow saffron spice.
I’m joining Cathy this week as she hosts seven days of colour to remind us of the beautiful flowers we grew this past year – all with the goal of making a cold and perhaps grey and snowy December a bit more bearable. I know I’ve had at least one post this year with these mauve beauties, but not this particular photo, and, honestly, they’re worth more than a single post or even two or three. The huge leaves appear really early in the spring and stick around for a month or two, and I spend the rest of the summer waiting with baited breath for the flowers to appear in mid September. This drift was planted maybe 15 years ago; they grow beneath a Cornus alternifolia, pagoda dogwood, amongst Gallium odoratum, sweet woodruff.
County Gardening 
It is such a beautiful color. That’s a nice big patch! Hope the Rabbits haven’t mistaken them for their meal.
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Thankfully, rabbits are not interested in these! A bit of slugs damage if it’s a wet month but otherwise no critters touch them.
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Sounds like the perfect place for them. I had some a while back, but I think rodents got them, alas.
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Argh! That would have been disappointing. With their height, they add a bit of welcome drama to the late summer garden.
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Now of course, a few sips of coffee later, I realize it’s the Colchicum that rodents ate, not the Silphium I was thinking about !! [insert imogee of head shaking…]
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What a beautiful color. I agree that multiple photos of these are justified! I especially like the second photo; the lavender combines so nicely with the surrounding reds and yellows. I’m always taken by the sight of naturally growing ‘mixed bouquets.’
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Thanks Linda – yes, getting the perfect mix can be elusive so when it happens spontaneously – such a treat!
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They look quite magical in that photo Chris, with the autumn foliage in the background. I agree – definitely worthy of more than one post!
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Thanks Cathy!
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Those bulbs used to be commonly available in the fall here but I haven’t seen them in years. They’re lovely!
https://krispgarden.blogspot.com/
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They’re increasingly hard to find here as well…my supplier for years stopped selling them and if I want more I really need to search them out. At my local garden club fall plant sale in September there was a pot with a lone flower sticking out of it…unfortunately the label was wrong – providing information for the saffron crocus instead of Colchicum. I fixed it for them 🙂
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You know, I do not think that I have grown saffron yet. I got some bulbs that were labeled as saffron crocus, and they even looked like saffron crocus when they bloomed, but they bloomed in spring. I got no saffron from them. Before I could identify them, they were lost to major erosion.
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Another example of why full correct botanical names are so important!
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simply beautiful. I’ve had a little squiz around your blog…..so beautiful!
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Thanks so much Cath!
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