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Autumn crocus will bloom the same year, but keep in mind that autumn crocus is toxic, so if children play in your yard or you have pets, it might not be a safe choice.

The dried threads of autumn crocus, only three per flower, make saffron, the intense, precious seasoning originally native to Eurasia.

There’s the autumn crocus, a highly poisonous plant whose seeds and roots were used by ancient Egyptians to treat gout.

Heath, of Brent and Becky’s Bulbs, offers a dozen types of autumn crocus, but he particularly likes Crocus laevigatus Fontenayi, which has purple striped petals that open to reveal a pale center.

A faint aura of unconscious beauty still hovers over these flower collections, in which lichens, sprigs of veronica, lilies-of-the-valley and autumn crocuses have survived, pressed and a little faded, from the 18th century.