From left to right - Rosa 'Crazy Love' - Rosa 'Margaret Merril'  and bottom Rosa 'Bathsheba' 2 August 2025

 

I'm just mad about Saffron

Saffron's mad about me

I'm-a just mad about Saffron

She's just mad about me

They call me Mellow Yellow

(Quite rightly)

They call me Mellow Yellow

(Quite rightly)

They call me Mellow Yellow

 Donovan

All my life I have been blessed or plagued by my ability to associate disparate things and situations. Today I noticed one rose, usually a white one, called Rosa ‘Margaret Merril’ that had a yellow centre. It was a favourite of Rosemary. Then I saw that Rosa ‘Crazy Love’ was all yellow and Rosa ‘Bathsheba’, not quite open, had some yellow two.

It was then easy to associate all three roses with a Donovan tune that Rosemary and I enjoyed while living in Mexico City in the late 60s and early 70s.

While the lyrics may somehow suggest that Saffron was a girl I associate the word  with Spanish.  Mexican rice is often cooked with that lovely version of the word in Spanish, azafrán. My online dictionary of the Spanish Language (RAE which stands for Real Academia Española) cites as its root what was immediately obvious to me. The word is of Arabic origin.

 Del ár. hisp. azza‘farán, y este del ár. clás. za‘farān.