Part of the journey of gardening is realizing precisely where your food comes from. My 11-year-old mind was blown when I learned that vanilla came from beans, which grew on plants. Paprika turns out to be dried peppers. But my favorite realization was that saffron, a revered spice (and rightly so), is just the stigma of crocuses, and you can purchase those crocuses and grow them yourself, and the time to get those suckers in the ground is now.
Crocus is a low-lying flower, grown from bulbs, that usually crops up in early spring. But you’re looking for Crocus Sativus, which will grow and bloom in fall, not spring.
How (and when) to plant Crocus Sativus
Saffron bulbs are planted in late summer or early fall, two to three inches deep, pointy side up, leaving three inches between bulbs. The good thing about saffron bulbs is that they don’t require a lot of hand holding. Plant them into loose, composted soil in full sun, and water them one time after planting. Crocus do not enjoy having “wet feet,” so well-drained soil is essential.
Six to eight weeks after planting, your crocuses should bloom. They’re a beautiful silvery lilac, and will open up with a bright orange stigma. It’s best to harvest them first thing in the morning; you can just pluck the stigmas with your fingers or a pair of tweezers. Allow the stigmas to dry by laying them out on a paper towel and placing them someplace dry and airy, or you can dry them in an oven on the lowest setting for an hour. You should store your saffron in an air-tight container.
Your bulbs are perennial, so they should come back year after year. Since these are fall-blooming bulbs, you want to be sure to plant them someplace you can access them easily, and where you’ll actually see them blooming. There’s a short window of bloom time and you don't want to waste any of the saffron you've grown.
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