I was inspired to learn and write about safflower after watching Hayao Miyazaki’s Only Yesterday. In this beautiful, well-told story, a young girl decides to spend her summer helping distant relatives harvest safflowers. The lovely blooms (beni) were dried, mashed, and dried again to create rouge and lipstick. People have been growing safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) for over 4,500 years. It is one of our oldest crops, first cultivated in Mesopotamia, primarily for its oily seeds. Safflower description Safflower is a thistle-like plant that grows one to five feet tall from a basal leaf rosette. A central stem emerges, and several lateral branches support abundant, colorful blooms. Those blooms may be orange, red, yellow, and occasionally cream or white. The dried petals are commonly used as an inexpensive substitute for saffron. Each plant may produce anywhere from 3 to 50 blooms, depending on the variety and how it is managed. Each flower is approximately one inch in diameter and produces 15–50 seeds. Some varieties grow as many as 100 seeds. Those seeds are achenes. [Achenes are what you see at the end of each “helicopter” on a dandelion seed head.] Leaves are narrow and serrated and run down the stem. Upper leaves have a spine at the tip, so you may want to wear gloves when working with safflower. How safflower grows Safflower is native to arid regions that receive seasonal rain. These herbaceous annuals thrive in temperatures ranging from 82–95°F. They are very drought-tolerant plants, making them an excellent choice for adding color to your landscape without increasing the need for irrigation. They use a deep taproot that may be six feet long or longer to find water for themselves for most of the year. Those tap roots improve soil health and can help reduce soil compaction. There are summer and winter varieties of safflower. Summer varieties require 120 growing days, while winter varieties need 200 days. How to grow safflower Safflower seeds are planted one inch deep. In the wild, safflower seeds germinate during late winter. Seedlings can tolerate temperatures as low as 19°F but planted when temperatures reach 40°F. Keep weeds away from your young safflower plants, as they are not competitive. Safflower grows best in well-drained soil with a pH of 5–8 and needs a fair amount of nitrogen and phosphorus to produce flowers. Check your soil test results before adding anything because too much fertilizer can be worse than not enough.
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