NOVEMBER 2024

[CG100]

Turmeric used to be sold in small sachets called something like "Saffie" in the UK - fake saffron.

They taste vastly different, although I like both. For me, turmeric could never be a spice of sweet food, just savoury. I have probably eaten a million times more turmeric than saffron over the years, mostly in huge quantities of pickles (piccalilli).

I have only ever bought La Mancha in the UK and it has always been absolutely fine.

[Arnold]

Well, risotto can be made in a lot of different ways, but saffron is one of the best, a northern Italy regional variant.
As for growing it in a pot, there is an old man (my father) which threatens with his shovel every spot in the garden without a noticeable plant, so my best chance of protecting those who go dormant is to move pots around.
And Sardinia is actually considered a poor region, but I believe saffron to be produced here for at least a century, being it fundamental in many recipes of traditional festive sweets.

I know the older man with a shovel.  I had a grandfather with a pruning shears that threaten everything.

I had to give him a spot where he happily grew some arugula.

He was from Pordenone in the north of Italy and couldn't understand how polenta was a new treat.

He probably ate it three times a day as a child.

[Carlos]

Well after talking about paella I decided to make one, savoured / coloured with turmeric.



To keep the post focused on plants, here the germinated seeds of Brunsvigia marginata that I kindly got from Château Pérouse (a personal exchange with them).

[Martin Bohnet]

Saffron seems to be extra delicious to slugs, of all my crocus that's the one they shredder the most consistently... The only Crocoideae I have in flower now are Hesperantha coccinea

- and like last year , the last set of flowers of this usually pink cultivar end up being bright red - ah, the magic of color-temperature effects. The next three dahlia pics are actually the same plant - the almost completely white picture was taken days before first frost two weeks ago, the other two are from end of August.

Talking about colors, the first Nerine is classified a bowdenii, Cultivar "Pearl of Cherry" - with a bit of sun and good will you'll see the red, but surely not the catalogue version... On the other hand, the sarniensis from Wylie's EX09 donation (yes I kept the one that already grew a flower stalk, didn't want to risk another transport, sorry) on the other hand lacks the red of the species, but the pink anthers are adorable.

Last but not least: enough talk about colors, the very first Greencap of the season has opened up - don't worry, it wasn't outside when that snow fell.