"I can't believe they live underground all through the very cold Winter, and then pop up again regularly every Spring," mused Lizzie. "I wonder how they survive?"
Bubbles consulted his book again. "Their leaves and petals are covered by a waxy shield" he read. "And, do you know that the red stamens in the middle of the flowers are harvested and used for colouring and seasoning in one of our favourite dishes, paella! It's called saffron."
"Well, I never knew that!" exclaimed Lizzie. "That is a surprise."
"Anything else interesting in your flower book?" Charlie asked Bubbles.
"It apparently takes 4,000 flowers to make just one ounce of saffron. We couldn't fit that many in our garden! And this is interesting too - the name crocus comes from the Latin adjective crocatus, meaning saffron yellow, and the Greek word for saffron is krokus and the Arabic word saffron means yellow. Everything connects together."