On 30 Oct 05 at 20:40, Jim McKenney wrote: > Saffron is grown commercially in nearby Pennsylvania, in I > think Lancaster County. I have not priced this "home grown" > saffron, but I've heard that it compares in price to the > imported sorts. I've read that the Pennsylvania Dutch actually grow C. nudiflorus, not C. sativus. I may be misstating the correct species it is, but my mind has a connection [Pennsylvania Dutch]:::[stoloniferous crocus]. And further: that the traditional site is by the back stoop where the farmer can piss on the patch of bulbs, thereby encouraging them; and that established clumps go for fancy prices at farm auctions. Sorry, like so many other glittering items in my packrat's nest of a mind, I haven't a clue where I read this. Perhaps Brian Mathews or Bowles books? Or maybe Patrick Synge's Collins Guide to Bulbs? I hope the farmers are restrained in their ecologically sound recycling of human waste: I once killed a beautiful specimen of Hosta 'Royal Standard' by thus fertilizing it too enthusiastically and that spot seems to have been permanently toxified. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate on beautiful Vancouver Island