One More Fall Flowering Crocus

At the risk of becoming “the crocus lady,” I thought I’d talk about one more fall flowering crocus that is blooming in my garden.

This fall flowering crocus is white and blooms just a bit later than the other fall flowering crocuses. It’s enough different that I did extensive searching on the web—I spent 5 minutes instead of 1 minute—and now I think it is Crocus kotschyanus ‘Albus’ which is sometimes called Kotschy’s crocus.

(Recall the purple ones I have are Crocus speciosus.)

I don’t remember where I ordered Kotschy’s crocuses from. I assume I ordered it rather than bought it at a store because let’s be real… big box stores, big chain hardware stores, and even independent garden centers aren’t likely to have Kotshcy’s crocus corms for sale in early fall.

This particular clump shows me that it is multiplying. There used to be another clump…

I’m back. I went out to check where I thought I remembered where there was another bunch of white fall flowering crocuses and found nothing. It was right where there are some Christmas roses (Helleborus niger) that have been getting bigger and bigger, and they might have crowded it out. Or I might have smothered it by lazily blowing the leaves off the patio straight into that area. I saw signs of something that tried to come up through all that mess…

Anyway, while I was out there anyway, I took a picture of Kotschy’s crocuses this morning, which is colder and cloudier than yesterday.

(Side note: Not too many days in November could ever hope to be sunnier and warmer than yesterday, which was sunny with a high temperature of around 78F (25.5C). The record high temp in Indianapolis for November 8th is 79F, set in 2020. Hmmmm. One would think I would have remembered that day, but alas, I don’t. The average high temperature on November 8th in Indianapolis is 54.9F, which is why 78F seemed so warm to us.)

Back to crocuses…

A picture of Kotschy’s crocus, if that is what this is, this morning.

Like all crocuses, it closes up at night and stays closed on cloudy days, including rainy days. I assume that is to protect its pollen. And yes, bees will show up when it opens, even this late in the season.

If you decide to add Kotschy’s crocuses to your garden, to go with Crocus speciosus and Crocus sativus, the two other fall-blooming crocuses I’m aware of, look for ‘Albus’, which is the white one. The straight species of C. kotschyanus is a light lilac color.

I did a quick look up of “Croscus kotschyanus for sale” and most of the places I would order bulbs from show it is out of stock for this year. That’s okay. It’s probably too late to plant it this year, anyway. Put it on your list to order next spring. Plant the corms as soon as they arrive (September timeframe), and they should bloom later in the fall, and every fall after that.

Alrighty! I think that’s it for me and fall-flowering crocuses this year! Unless something exciting happens with the crocuses blooming now, which I’m not expecting, but one never knows what’s going to happen in a garden!

Thanks for letting me come into your mailbox and share what I learned about Kotschy’s crocuses!