Trying new plants, just because you can

I think for a lot of people, their gardening trajectory starts with houseplants, then moves to edibles when you finally get a yard or a balcony, then outdoor ornamental plants, and finally overwintering tender plants in your living room and trying to convince your spouse to turn the garage into a greenhouse. 

That pothos from the grocery store is a slippery slope is what I'm saying.

I’ve had that Philodendron ‘Goldinia’ for 20 years?

 
One of the things I love most about gardening is how you can move between interests and it all ultimately makes sense because it’s the same end goal: you want to grow things and maybe learn something new in the process. Maybe the things are indoors, maybe they are edible. Maybe they save you money or maybe they scratch the itch to do hard things. Maybe you can’t help yourself. They’re all viable reasons to send money to a stranger so you can get something that might not survive in return.

As our garden has evolved I've prioritized ornamental plants over edible ones, though I still grow a lot of herbs in pots, because I like to cook. I picked up Crocus sativus last year from Illahe Rare Plants, after listening to Mark Akimoff talk at the HPSO Fall Plantfest. He’s a great speaker.

Crocus sativus in my sage pot.

I didn't do anything with the stigmas last year, mostly because you have to act fast when you see them out, and I move slowly when I’m sad about the state of the world. I wanted to harvest them this year, and luckily this handy guide appeared in my inbox from Mark's mailing list:

Drying is tricky and I’m sure some scientific method of exacting standards is laid out somewhere in google land. I do what I can with what I have and here is my method: open the oven so that the door is set ajar by several inches, the temp is raised to the lowest setting possible which on my oven is 170' deg F. the stigmas spread on the parchment lined cookie sheet to not touch each other as much as possible are occasionally shifted through shaking the sheet and the whole process usually takes less than 20 minutes until they are dry to the touch and almost crispy.

It's been sort of a silly affair, sometimes harvesting two or three blooms at a time, but it takes very little time to pop them in a warmish oven and dry them. It's been sort of a fun distraction, and it makes me feel responsible, especially when grocery prices are all over the place. What if we called today a success because we harvested nine stigmas of saffron? Mediocre men are frankly doing less.

 Now I have a tiny supply of saffron! I think the technical amount would be a "goodly pinch."
 

That’s like, $20 worth of saffron, right?

As far as growing notes, I have them in a wine barrel planter with my sage and they get watered maybe once a month during the summer. As soon as the rain starts again they break dormancy and everything moves very quickly. Mark advises planting them 6-8" deep in well draining soil. He doesn't give his any summer water. Harvesting can start as early as September or end as late as December. I harvested this goodly pinch over a two-week period.

Illahe grows an impressive array of tough little alpine plants that survive harsh conditions, should you find yourself in need of horticultural inspiration.

If you have any recommended recipes using saffron, drop them in the comments!