Last edited on 29 Nov 2025. View history
Saffron
Saffron
How to sow saffron: Direct seed corms/bulbs in spring or autumn
Sun requirement for saffron: Plant in Full Sun
Saffron, or Saffron Crocus, is a perennial flowering plant grown for the red stigmas of its flowers, which are the spice Saffron. Saffron flowers are unique in that they bloom in autumn. Each flower has only 3 stigmas. It takes 50-60 saffron flowers to produce 1 tablespoon of saffron spice, making saffron the most expensive spice in the world. Stigmas are harvested as soon as the flower opens and then laid out to dry. Flowers are pale lilac to deep mauve and have a sweet, honey-like scent. Saffron is not self-fertile and is propagated through it's roots, which are called corms or bulbs. The first year a corm is planted, it will produce a single flower. By the third year, the corm will produce eight or more blooms. Corms can tolerate frosts as low as -10° C and short periods of snow cover. In colder regions, corms can be dug up after the first two or three frosts, stored in a crate with peat moss over the winter, and replanted in spring. Saffron is used in a wide variety of cuisines. It has a sweet taste with grassy or hay-like notes and gives dishes a brilliant yellow-orange color. "Fake" or "American" Saffron refers to Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), whose flower heads can be added to dishes to mimic Saffron's color. Do not confuse Saffron with Autumn or Meadow Crocus (Colchicum autumnale), which is an unrelated, poisonous plant with 6 stigmas instead of 3.
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Saffron facts
Lifespan
First harvest expected
57 weeks after plantingHeight × spread
25cm × 10cmRow Spacing
15cmGrown for
flower harvested 1 timeWhat are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For saffron, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 4°C and a shortest growing cycle of 180 days at its best temperature, about 1620 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your saffron will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
How members grow saffron
Sunniness
Planted from
Harvested for
Photos
PhotosSaffron crops
Saffron plantings
Video
Where saffron grow
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Who's planted saffron
- wrdnrd Rivendell — Balcony · UDistrict, Seattle,...
- corvi terrace garden · salt spring island
Saffron harvests
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corvi harvested 40 .
about 4 years ago
corvi harvested 40 .
Find saffron seeds
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Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Crocus sativus L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Liliopsida Liliidae Liliales Iridaceae |
|---|---|
| Optimal temperature | 7 - 19 °C |
| Absolute temperature | 4 - 23 °C |
| Optimal rainfall | 800 - 900 mm/year |
| Absolute rainfall | 400 - 1100 mm/year |
| Optimal soil pH | 6.0 - 7.0 |
| Absolute soil pH | 5.5 - 7.8 |
| Crop cycle | 180 - 210 days |
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | perennial |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | shallow (20-50 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium |
| Optimal soil fertility | moderate |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours) |
| Optimal light | very bright to clear skies |
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