@wmd

How do they do it?

My Saffron stays green all winter and has completely died back above ground by early June. They come up again at the end of August-early September. It’s hard to imagine they are creating more plant mass in the winter — but they keep making new corms every year??

I’m glad I left the saffron to mind itself because no flowers have opened since those four blooms occurred. I think I am going to rotate the planters again to swap who has been getting more and less sunlight.

It's Oct 22, I have had saffron blooming for 11 days, and have only had four flowers open. However, last evening I told a friend I had 60 corm tips or leaves showing, and this morning there are 74 tips/leaves emerged. Corms are waking up and growing. Two years ago the crop bloomed from mid-November into December. I just need to keep observing.

I made the executive decision to allow the saffron to fend for itself while I travel even if that means I lose spice to weather exposure. I was considering asking the downstairs neighbor who works from home, but the clear sounds of coughing from both members of the couple over this last week made me decide otherwise. Making the simpler/easier decision is not bad at all.

A bumblebee enjoying herself in one of the Saffron flowers!

This is one of the slowest rollouts of saffron flowers in my growing history. I have the planters swapped around so that the one showing the least development so far is now in the sunniest spot.

I stirred the top inch or so of the soil to lessen pooling and run-off when I water, and to prevent pockets from forming along the sides of the fabric liners when the soil contracts as it dries. I have been a little mechanical in my watering and am going to try to be more random/natural.

Flower number three is well up this AM, but not yet to where it’s easy to pick, and really it would be nice to let it open in the sun and get the really swank pictures. Once again, considering reconfiguring the wire cover.

Picking Saffron

Step 1: behead the flower when it emerges
Step 2: remove stigmas and discard the rest
Step 3: dry stigmas so they are thin threads

This process has to be done by hand, and has remained essentially the same for the last 3500+ years.

Today I am watching the second flower creeping out in the sunshine. You want to try and let the narrow neck below the main blossom become visible so you can cleanly pinch-off/pick the flower.

We are at the end of four really chilly and mildly soggy days here in Ithaca, and I am not surprised that I have now set a new record for most days between first and second flower. I would watch the saffron bloom pause in Seattle, sometimes for an entire week, while heavy gloom and rain happened. While we are getting frosty night temps, I still have not seen frost on my balcony railings or the planter dirt or the tree leaves. The Ithaca Regional Airport is north of me, and at an elevation of 1000 ft, whereas my actual residence is more like 350’. I think my lower elevation and the two nearby creeks are insulating.

I used to go outside in Seattle early in the morning, in my pajamas and rain boots with a headlamp, to look for new flowers and to try and pick them before the spice threads got wet. Here I stroll onto the covered balcony, I still use a headlamp, but otherwise it’s dry and I don’t have to bend down. So civilized.

Sun will start to return later today, and the weekend will be 20 degrees warmer.

The saffron crocus flowers are hitting their stride!

The peanut gallery would like to inquire about PEANUTS.