Friday, January 29, 2010

a purple question

I spontaneously bought a small pot of crocuses last Sunday at the grocery store. I was on my way back from my early a.m. walk and I needed to pick up some cream for my morning coffee. That's when the small crocus pot caught my eye. At that point, it was a small mass of green grass-like spikelets.

I hemmed and hawed over buying it, worrying that the leaves and corms would die by the time I walked the half k home in the -25c icebox. The dream of having the surprise of purple on my dining room table in the midst of winter, however, was simply impossible to resist. I bought it. To protect it from the cold, I wrapped the flower loosely in a few sheets of paper towelling and popped it in my cloth bag.

It didn't' seem to suffer as it rewarded me with a peek of purple blooms a few days later, and now it is in full bloom. My old hand-me-down make-do digital camera does not even begin to show the beauty of the crocus, but I think the slight blur gives a soft water colour look to the little purple majesty.

I know this crocus is not the saffron cultivar, but I wonder, can I use the yellow stamens and styles for saffron?

3 comments:

Merche Pallarés said...

No idea if you can use the "yellow stamens and styles for saffron" but those purple crocus are certainly beautiful. I also love purple, pink, white and blue hyacinths which exude a marvellous smell! Hugs, M.

tasteofbeirut said...

I remember when we were kids and would go hiking in the mountains in Lebanon and would bring back huge bunches of wild crocuses, the same color as these!

northshorewoman said...

Hyacinths are quite lovely, too.

I wonder if, like crocuses, hyacinths are indigenous to the Mediterranean area?