Crocuses at home - how to grow saffron on a windowsill

Crocus or saffron - this bulbous plant, which belongs to the family of Iris. Flowering crocuses in living nature grow in Central Asia and Europe and represent a very beautiful sight.

Usually crocuses at home bloom at a time when the other flowers have faded or have not yet begun to blossom - these are autumn and spring kinds of saffron. Together with other primroses, they start the season in the spring or accompany the autumn, delighting with bright colors.

Crocuses prefer open ground, but, like other bulbous species, they undergo forcing and can please a person in any period of the year, standing on the windowsill.

These are low plants up to 25 cm in size, which grow together with flowers and leaves directly from the corms. The stem is covered with transparent scales from below. Flowers unisexual with colorful aureole-shaped perianth. Inside the buds are stigmas with stamens that have bright orange, red or yellow colors. Pollination is carried out by insects. From the ovary formed under the earth fruit is formed in the form of capsules with seeds, which are pushed out to the surface and ripen there.

The crocus flower resembles a tulip in shape. Flowers have a different color: from cold violet and blue, to warm yellow tones, there are also kinds of white.

Crocuses are very common in Spain. Growing these flowers there is put on stream. But the cheapest varieties come from Iran or India.

Growing crocuses at home is very exciting. The purpose of forcing is to obtain a flowering plant in the winter or to a certain date. For this purpose, the Dutch large-flowering spring-flowering varieties are very suitable. For forcing take bulbs of the same size and variety, it provides a simultaneous flowering and the same size of plants planted in a pot.

In the garden, crocuses for forcing are excavated from the land in August. The bulbs are then kept at room temperature for two weeks and stored in a cool place. It is not always possible to make crocus flowers blossom at home to a certain number. This largely depends on the size of the bulb (the more, the faster it blooms), the variety and external criteria, but it is possible to determine the approximate flowering time.

To get a blossoming saffron, you need to keep the bulbs at rest at a temperature of 6 ... 9 degrees, without planting them in the ground. Approximately 3 months before the planned flowering time, Crocuses are planted at home in low capacity with moist air permeable soil. In this case, the bulbs should not touch each other and the edges of the pot. Then the planted bulbs are sent to a cold cellar or refrigerator. There, within 2 months, the plant roots and shoots. When the shoots reach 5 cm, the flowers are taken to a room with a temperature of 11 ... 15 degrees and put on a window sill where there is more light. If the room is warmer, crocuses will grow faster and bloom. If there is a lack of lighting, shoots will grow out, and flowering will become weak. Watering plants should be moderate, after the upper part of the earth has dried.

Under optimum conditions, crocuses bloom at home 2 weeks after placement in the room, and approximately the same duration of flowering. After the flowering, the plants continue to water until all the leaves have fallen off. After that, they take out the bulbs, put them into storage, and everything can be repeated. Only with repeated forcing, flowers are smaller and weaker.

By the way, crocus bulbs can be eaten: they are baked, boiled or cooked in another way. Of particular value are the stigmas of the plant, from which they produce expensive medicines and condiments.