Saffron Autumn Crocus
Crocus sativus
The tender and friendly appearance of these blooms, peering up from underground corms just as the growing season comes to an end, belies an exquisite secret: within their petals lies the world's most expensive spice. An even more exciting secret: you can grow it easily at home!
Dormant over the summer, Saffron Crocus will send up grassy foliage and striking, lightly-veined, soft purple blossoms in early fall—the opposite of the more familiar spring-flowering crocuses. Among its golden stamens, the plants yield 3 bright red stigmas per flower. These are the saffron threads. To enjoy, gently harvest (tweezers can be helpful), dry, and store in a small container.
This variety is low-growing (just 4” tall) and will usually bloom within 5-10 weeks of planting (although occasional corms may not bloom until the second year).
Naturalizes readily. Prefers full to partial sun.
Does not ship internationally.
Growing instructions
Product Details
| Height at Maturity | 4" |
|---|---|
| Hardiness Zone Range | 3 4 5 6 7 8 |
| Sun Conditions | Partial Sun (4-6 hours Sun), Full Sun (8+ Hours Sun) |
| Planting Depth | 3" |
| Bulb Spacing | 3" apart |
| Bulb Per Square foot | 9 |
Special shipping
I grow these bulbs in my Greenstalk planters. They bloom reliably in November. I love the pop of color so late in the season! In zone 6A or certainly colder, I would recommend digging these up after in late winter after they have finished blooming. I found in the Greenstalks they don't survive the winter. In my case, I'm okay with growing new bulbs every year.
Bought ten corms, excited at the idea of growing saffron. Planted the corms in September expecting ten plants this year, with more next year. Looks to me like the corms didn't get the memo! Look at how happy and healthy these are, and how many there are.
These corms did amazingly well! I planted them LATE, in grow bags outside. I noticed something had been digging in the bags and thought maybe the bunnies had dug them all up... so I moved them into the garage.
But nope! They still bloomed and we actually got to harvest several saffron stigmas.
I'm curious to see how they come back. The greenery was doing well, I put them back outside to get the sunlight once they started blooming. Now the greenery has died back a bit, but we will see if they come back this fall! Overall super EASY and fun thing to grow in Sept/Oct and get blooms in November. The flowers themselves are so pretty.
The Saffron Crocuses are the most amazing little garden miracles- I got them in the soil a bit late but most of them still bloomed beautifully and I already got my money's worth in the saffron threads I was able to collect before the winter set in. I planted some in pots and others in the soil, both produced and I'm so excited to see them continue to multiply in the garden this year. Not only are the threads delicious, the flowers themselves are such a lovely soft striped purple with those bright scarlet stamens- such a surprise for those of us only familiar with the culinary product!
These did great for me in zone 7a. They are one of the last little pops of color & last items I get to harvest in late fall.
The corms are large and healthy looking but missing one😝.
I potted them up and put them in my parrot cage to keep them safe from the critters and make it easier to store for the winter 🥶.
Can’t wait to cook with fresh saffron 😎
Excellent quality saffron bulbs! Already blooming ~a month after planting. I bought saffron bulbs from another seller and received and planted them two weeks earlier, but they have just barely started to emerge.
Planted as soon as they arrived in summer, I was pleased to see these autumn crocuses up and blooming in their first fall. Now it’s very early spring, and I am thrilled to see the leaves already up, gathering energy for another fall bloom.
The saffron crocuses came in very nicely. I've never grown anything that blooms very late in the year. I look forward to seeing how they wintered, and will buy more for planting next fall!
Planted the bulbs Sept last year. Some the plants had flowers in the first year.
Product shipped at the right time, was well packaged, and all of the bulbs started to grow. Unfortunately, something ate all the growth right before they flowered so I'll have to protect them better next year!
All ten bulbs have come out for the ground and look healthy.