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Crocosmia

Red mapleRed maple Posts: 1,138
in Plants
Have any of you had the same issue as me? I live in the South Yorkshire area, and this year, my crocosmia plants have really suffered from the heat we have experienced this year (39 degrees C plus at its height & still very dry). The plants have really brown leaves, and the flowers have been much smaller and lasted much less than they normally would. I’m hoping that they will recover if we have a more “normal” summer temperature wise next year. However, I’m wondering if I thin them out and replant the ones I’ve thinned out, it might help matters? (But when is the time to do this)? I inherited these plants when we moved here 21years ago, so they’re probably in need of thinning out anyway, but I still wonder if this very hot summer has played a part on their poor show, as I’ve noticed that these plants in gardens around me are also quite brown, with the flowers looking very brown  on their stems too instead of their usual orange or red. (Mine are orange). 
What have other GW forum gardeners found this year (those of you who grow crocosmias)? Have you experienced  the same issues?
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  • Red mapleRed maple Posts: 1,138
    I have watered them, by the way.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    The leaves of mine were burnt to a crisp before I saw any sign of flowers. I assume the bulbs ( corms?) or at least the seeds are still alive underground. I found the ones I wanted to get rid of in the past pretty hard to destroy so I'm not too concerned about them. We'll see what emerges next year.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    edited September 2022
    @Red maple My Crocosmias are the same, over the past few years I have grown less of them as they always need artificial watering. Most gardeners will have this problem this year unless they have deep more retentive soil then they flower better and leaves stay green. I would lift them ever three years or so, you will find a string of corms the newer ones can be gently pulled appart and replanted. I have split them in both Autumn and spring in the past. In Autumn they have a chance to establish better. If you should have days of hard frost they can rot.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • Red mapleRed maple Posts: 1,138
    Thank you both for your replies. To be honest, I’ve never really given them any special treatment in all the years we’ve lived here, no special artificial watering, for example, other than general watering of the borders in which they reside if I’ve felt the plants there needed them - many a time they’ve been left to their own devices, and still done rather well ( probably that’s down to ignorance on how to treat them on my part!)
    I’ve just noticed that this year, the blooms have been spartan and much smaller than they normally are, and the leaves have browned which I imagine has been due to the heat we’ve endured this year.
    I’ve never thinned them out in all the years we’ve lived here, either, and probably it will be a good idea to do that, but I still suspect that this years very hot, dry summer has not helped them. I imagine that they are still in shock from this years heat, so perhaps leaving them until the spring to thin them out might be better than doing it later this autumn - we do get quite severe frosts. (Well, at least, we have had - who knows for this year? 😲).
  • Songbird-2Songbird-2 Posts: 2,349
    Our crocosmia have reacted exactly the same as yours @Red maple. The flowers had barely opened when they started going off. Leaves are turning brown very early too this year. We've put it down to the extreme heat( as we have watered ours too) and have done nothing different to other years. They do spread their little bulbs around, you may notice some baby leaves shooting up near the mother plants. These are very easy to tease out of the ground if the plants are getting too overcrowded. I'm not worrying about ours, hoping they will behave as normal next year. 
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    My orange ones are frazzled,  the whole patch looks like the cats been sleeping in the middle of them.  I’ve never actually thinned them out but I do go down the edges of the clump with a shovel to make the patch of them smaller. 
    I’ve got a lovely group of yellow ones that have withstood this weather, stayed upright and have been in flower for ages.   I have never thinned these out. 

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • Red mapleRed maple Posts: 1,138
    Yes, @Songbird, like you, I’m hoping that next year will be a more normal summer for us  :)
    Like you, I’ve never worried about them before, but this is the first year that I’ve seen them suffer in this way, and I really hope it’s not going to be a recurrent problem. Other plants have suffered to, such as my fern, which of course likes dampish as well as shady conditions, and,  as we all know, dampish conditions have been somewhat limited this year. I’m hoping that it, too, will bounce back next year. (According to Monty Don, it should - as long as we don’t have a repeat of this years dry spring and summer)!
  • Red mapleRed maple Posts: 1,138
    @Lyn, your yellow croscosmia look wonderful. I wonder if it’s just the orange ones that have suffered? Have any gardeners with red crocosmia had the same problem as those of us with the orange ones, I wonder? Anyway, so lovely to see your yellow ones thriving, Lyn.  :)
  • Songbird-2Songbird-2 Posts: 2,349
    @Red maple, we have Crocosmia  Lucifer, lovely bright red flowers. They've all gone over now, far too early so fingers crossed for next year.🤞
  • Red mapleRed maple Posts: 1,138
    Yes, 🤞🏼for next year@Songbird-2. I really like the red Lucifer crocosmia. I might look into getting one myself  if I can find a suitable spot for it :)
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