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Safflower, Carthamus tinctorius
The primary time I found the blazingly cheery safflower was after I visited my florist good friend Gayle at her Mill Valley atelier, Bloomingayles. Each recent and dried safflowers have been artfully added to wreaths and flower preparations, the clusters popping with sunny brightness. Was this the identical plant used to make safflower oil? The flower was method cuter than I anticipated. I instantly needed to develop my very own so I might harvest the orange flowers for recent and dried bouquets.
Please maintain studying to study extra about this cheerful and helpful annual—and its many makes use of.
Images by Kier Holmes.
Safflower prevailed in historical Egypt as a significant crop, later migrating to historical Greece, then to China, and even to Spain. It was used for hundreds of years to dye materials, to brew tea, or to taste dishes. I really like the truth that safflower makes a wonderful—and far more inexpensive—saffron substitute in cooking, and due to its uncanny resemblance to dear saffron, was nicknamed “poor man’s saffron.” The one snag, although, is that you simply gained’t get that yummy saffron taste whenever you swap the 2, however at the least you get that heat hue. Professional tip: If you happen to add safflower to your meals or drinks, all the time make certain your blossoms are natural and freed from nasty pesticides.
Safflower is sort of good at being a brightly coloured, very lengthy lasting reduce flower for wreaths and bouquets. If you’d like recent flowers, reduce the blooming stems when the flowers are barely open and present shade. For dried flowers, reduce when the flowers are utterly open after which cling the stems the wrong way up in a cool spot to air dry.
The seeds, in fact, are a major asset: They are often commercially pressed into oil, or eaten uncooked or roasted. It’s also possible to harvest seeds within the fall when the plant begins to brown and wither, after which you possibly can replant them subsequent 12 months to proceed your bounty. Professional tip: dDirectly sow the seeds after the final frost and the soil has warmed to at the least 40 levels F. This plant just isn’t keen on the chilly. Sow 1 inch deep and a couple of ft aside. Preserve nicely watered whereas awaiting germination, then ease off on the water. As soon as absolutely grown, safflower is pretty immune to drought.
I took a dried safflower and dissected it to collect seeds. This was positively not as simple as discovering and eradicating sunflowers. With safflowers, it is advisable to fastidiously separate the tiny seeds from the chaff. After I did this, I put the seeds in a clear jar and can wait till spring to plant them.
Cheat Sheet
- Flower petals are edible and can be utilized as a coloring spice, dried for tea, infused in oil, or used as a dye with a incredible orange hue. The seeds may be pressed into oil.
- Tufted, thistle-like flowers in yellow or orange seem from midsummer to fall.
- Add to a reduce flower backyard or an herb backyard.
- Good plant companions are sunflowers, lavender, and zinnias.
- Attracts pollinators and particularly birds like cardinals, jays, chickadees and titmouses.
- As a consequence of its stiff, barely prickly leaves, nibbling deer depart the plant alone, and since its seeds are bitter, deer gained’t nosh on these both.
Preserve It Alive
- Hailing from the Mediterranean, safflower likes a scorching and dry location.
- Not an excellent plant alternative for prime humidity areas or locations with ample rain.
- Plant in well-draining, fertile soil. Additionally, the soil must be deep as a result of this plant produces an impressively lengthy (10 foot) faucet root.
- Sprouts in 7 to 14 days and ultimately grows to about 3 ft excessive.
- As soon as established, this plant just isn’t very thirsty.
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