Colchicum speciosum Atrorubens - Autumn crocus

Colchicum speciosum 'Atrorubens' offers large, colourful and bright flowers in early autumn, with a deep purple-violet hue, animated by a beautiful white throat. This superb descendant of the Balkan colchicum produces one to three flowers per bulb, resembling giant crocuses, emerging directly from the ground. The decorative foliage develops in spring and disappears in summer. This variety with mountain origins is particularly hardy. It thrives in sunny rockeries, undergrowth, as well as in lawns or pots. Its flowers also hold up very well in a vase.

Colchicum speciosum is a perennial plant with a storage organ called a corm, belonging to the Liliaceae family. It is native to subalpine meadows and scree slopes found in the mountains of the Caucasus, northern Turkey, and Iran, up to an altitude of 3000m (9842ft). The 'Atrorubens' form is distinguished by the colour of its flowers, which is more purplish than that of the type species. This very robust and easy-to-grow plant was rewarded by the Royal Horticultural Society in England, a recognition confirmed in 2017.

Although its flowers resemble those of crocuses, the colchicum has 6 stamens instead of the 3 that crocuses have, which are part of the Iridaceae family. A corm is a swollen stem covered with scales, unlike a bulb, which is formed from thickened scales as in lilies or garlic. At maturity, the plant reaches a height of 20cm (8in) when in flower. The foliage of the autumn colchicum Atrorubens emerges in spring, in the form of 3 or 4 large, smooth, glossy, light green leaves, wrapped around a short stem. They measure up to 25cm (10in) in length and 5cm (2in) in width. They disappear in early July, marking the entrance into a dormant state for the corm. Flowering takes place in October, with each corm producing 1 to 3 large flowers that appear on dark purple stems. Each flower is about 6cm (2in) tall and 8cm (3in) wide. They consist of 6 satin-textured tepals, with a pink-purple colour and a white base, gradually opening in a star shape around the yellow anthered stamens.

Colchicum speciosum 'Atrorubens', like all colchicums, is a somewhat nostalgic plant that heralds the arrival of autumn but also often celebrates the advent of a very beautiful late season, one of the most beautiful moments of the year in the garden. It is used in rockeries, in light undergrowth, as well as in lawns alongside cyclamen, black mondo grass, crocuses, and grape hyacinths, in temporary pots, as well as in autumn bouquets with long spikes of amaranth, for example. It thrives better in mountainous climates, with rainy summers and marked winters, and in cooler northern regions where it naturalises easily. All parts of the colchicum are toxic. The plant is not greatly affected by the most common pests in our gardens.