The crocus is typically associated with the first sign of spring, but this autumn-blooming variety gets you ready for winter by making your garden look like a jewelry box all fall.

Introduced to Europe from the Middle East around 1800, this showy fall-blooming Crocus is the source of saffron, the quintessential seasoning for paella and other dishes from the Mediterranean and Asia. Each lilac-purple flower produces three red stigmas, which have been used for flavoring and coloring food since Roman times. Fall-blooming Crocus is compact and just a few inches tall, but what a show it produces! The flowers have a chalice shape and open wide, revealing darker blue veins, lively orange styles, and bright yellow anthers.

This crocus grows well in zones 3 to 8 and can tolerate the first freeze of the year. In fact, it may just be settling in for a nap when spring crocus begin to emerge.

The fall-blooming crocus can be planted in a garden or in a container. Bury it randomly throughout the lawn for an unexpected burst of color reminiscent of its native growth in the forests and along the hillsides of Turkey and parts of the Middle East.

The fall garden is always in need of some brilliant color, and we gardeners are always in need of another low-maintenance plant to carry us through the busy days of falling leaves and garden clean-up! Treat your landscape to Fall-blooming Crocus, and keep the color coming into the cooler weather!