Your garden probably has culinary herbs such as parsley, oregano, sage, dill and rosemary. But, have you tried growing saffron?

Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world, but it is easy to grow. As a bonus, saffron provides colorful flowers in the fall when other flowers and herbs have finished blooming.

Saffron is used worldwide to flavor foods and beverages.

In Spain, saffron is used in paella, while Italians add it to Milanese risotto. French bouillabaisse is flavored with saffron.

In India, saffron is added to rice dishes, ice cream, and baked goods. Saudi Arabian coffee is enriched with saffron and cardamom.

When cooking with saffron, the threads are steeped in boiling water or broth to release their intense yellow color before adding to food.

Now is the time to search online for vendors who sell the culinary saffron crocus (crocus sativus). They may be on sale or discounted in price.

Unlike other crocus bulb corms which are planted in the fall and bloom in the spring, the crocus sativus is planted in late summer and blooms in the fall. After purchasing your saffron, the vendor ships the saffron crocus corms at the appropriate planting time; for Western Pennsylvania, that time is coming soon.

When the corms arrive, plant them right away.

To plant saffron, select a site that receives five to six hours of sunlight daily. Saffron requires very well drained soil, as the corms will rot in wet, poorly drained and heavy clay soils.

Place the corms with the flat side facing down, two inches deep. Do not over water, as the saffron crocus are drought tolerant once they are established.

While the plants can grow in USDA Zones 5 to 9, I prefer to grow mine in containers with good drainage and soil enriched with well-aged compost. I then locate my pots in sunny areas protected from varmints (I prefer not to share my saffron with the chipmunks who love to feast on the corms).

In six to 10 weeks, the corms send up pretty pale lavender or blue-violet flowers along with thin grasslike leaves.

In the center of the six pale blue flower petals are three short yellow stamens and three long beautifully red stigmas.

Use tweezers to harvest the red stigma threads after the blossom opens in the morning. The red threads are the saffron threads.

You can use the fresh saffron immediately or dry the saffron for later use. To dry the threads, place them on paper plates or coffee filters for 12 to 24 hours.

Once dry, package the saffron threads in an airtight container stored in a cool place away from light. An ounce of dried saffron spice requires 4,500 hand-picked flowers; hence, the expensive price tag associated with this spice.

Once the saffron plant stops producing flowers, more leaves will appear.

When the leaves start to wither, stop watering. Cut the foliage back and put the containers in a cool dark area.

If you planted your saffron corms outdoors, cover them with a heavy layer of straw mulch to protect them through the winter. The corms will go into dormancy and will not need watered.

Next September, begin to water them again and prepare for their blooms and threads.

There are many interesting recipes you can proudly cook using your home-grown saffron. Over time, the corms will multiply, and you can give saffron plants or threads as gifts to your friends, reminding them that you grew and harvested the most expensive spice in the world.

Monica Huselton is a Penn State master gardener of Butler County.