Crocus sativus - Saffron Crocus

Grow your own Saffron! The most expensive herb in the world comes from fall-blooming Crocus - save money and grow your own!

The sweet lavender-purple flowers are always a welcome sight in autumn. Harvest the orange-red stigmas and use them fresh or dried to amp up your culinary creations to the top tier, with their unique and complex floral, honey, earthy flavors that bring a lovely golden color to dishes. The pretty blooms open during the day and close up at night.

Lovely massed, also a great choice for a front border to make harvesting easy; they also do well in containers. They flower when many other plants have finished for the year. 

Crocus sativus are happiest in rich, organic, well-draining soil. Plant them with vole-bloc to protect them from voles and other small rodents.

🦋Attract Butterflies - Saffron Crocus attract butterflies to the garden.

🌞Sunlight - best flowering in full sun (6-8 hours of direct sunlight).

3-4"T. Plant 12 per square foot. Plant bulbs 2" deep.

Zones 6-10, cold hardy down to -10F.

💚Plant Nerd: Saffron has been cultivated for at least 3500 years across multiple cultures across the world, and is the result of ancient plant-breeding practices. Interestingly, it does not exist in the wild. Saffron has also been prized for use in herbal medicine, as a natural botanical dye, and in cosmetics. Cleopatra of Egypt famously added Saffron to her bathwater, believing it enhanced her beauty. 

The orange-red stigmas are rich in carotinoids.

🥘To use in the kitchen, first add the orange-red stigmas to a warm liquid, to better distribute the incredible flavors (you can also grind them up beforehand). Different cooking times will release different aspects of the flavor. Short recipes will taste a bit more floral, whereas recipes with long cooking times will taste more earthy. A little bit of Saffron goes a long way!

We will text or email you that your bulbs are ready. Please plan to pick up within 10 days of notification. Unclaimed preorders or buy now pick up nows cannot be guaranteed and are non-refundable. Can't make your pick up window? Let us know and we will do our best to help.