These little posies aren’t your average houseplants. They contain one of the most expensive and hard-to-harvest spices in the world: saffron.

So . . . why are they growing indoors?

It normally works best to grow crops outdoors, of course. The soil is there. The rain is there.

Except when they aren’t.

Right now, Kashmir does not have enough irrigation or saffron-growing land available. Besides this, Kashmir faces fighting. India and Pakistan both claim Kashmir as territory.

Saffron comes from the Crocus sativus flower. This flower thrives in only a few places on Earth. Saffron plants bloom for only about two weeks out of a year. The flowers each contain three crimson threads called stigmas. These treasured threads are the saffron.

Most people in Kashmir make their money from farming. And now they’re getting creative. They plant saffron vertically. They stack up trays of soil and plants indoors. Agriculture scientist Nazir Ahmed Ganai says indoor cultivation is working in Kashmir. People harvest more than they did before.

For the last three years, saffron farmer Abdul Majeed Wani has opted for indoor cultivation. “We faced some difficulties initially because of lack of experience. But with time we learned,” he says.

That creativity can pay off big. A little more than two pounds of saffron can cost up to $4,000. Why? Because it takes as many as 150,000 flowers to make that much!

People use saffron all around the world. It goes into food, medicine, and makeup. Almost all of it grows in Iran. But saffron lovers prize Kashmir’s crop too. Some say it has deeper color and richer flavor.

Why? Even in a world of scarcity, God deals abundantly with His people.