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Crocosmia

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  • @Red maple I don't think the colour of the flower has anything to do with it or the variety. They hate dry conditions and need a retentive soil to do well. Crocosmia Short Red, C Limpopo from the Delta series are lovely. Some find Lucifer a thug but lovely with an early flowering blue Agapanthus.
    If you have alot of Crocosmia you could try lifting some this Autumn, Since my last post I have remembered if you do it too late in spring they take time to establish.
    You could also just leave them but if they are very congested maybe that is why they haven't had enough water. 
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Thank you for the compliments Red Maple.
    I don’t think it was the water that was the problem this year but the extremely hot sun,  no amount of water would have helped the leaves in that heat.
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • Where I am in the cool, damp, windy Pennines crocosmias thrive. I have several different varieties and they have all flowered well this year, though the foliage is less lush than usual.
     Emberglow and Carmine Brillliant are in full bloom now, with yellow George Davidson and another dainty pale yellow one (Citronella?) just coming into full flower. Lucifer flowered as normal but didn't last as long as usual.
    Yes, Lucifer can be a bit of a thug, I've split my clumps many times and found new homes for them but now running out of spaces for more. It needs supporting to prevent it flopping over other plants and taking up a huge amount of room. Emberglow is only slightly shorter but has more robust stems and copes with a windy situation with no bother.
    The old orange 'Montbretia' is an out and out thug here to the point where I and trying to  exclude it from the garden altogether. I have sent several bags full of corms to the council green waste already and there are still more to go. I always have to relent a little though because it is so pretty, but it is never going to be allowed free rein again!
  • didywdidyw Posts: 3,573
    Those yellow crocosmias look wonderful!  I have a couple of red ones which flowered for not very long.  One of them, planted last year, stayed exactly the same as when I planted it - no additional growth at all.
    Gardening in East Suffolk on dry sandy soil.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    Mine are the same @redmaple, leaves gone brown very early and flowers very short-lived. They're usually OK but we've had even less summer rain than normal this year. We're towards the eastern edge of South Yorkshire and we always get noticeably less rain than my parents in Sheffield get.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • LunarSeaLunarSea Posts: 1,923
    JennyJ said:
    Mine are the same @redmaple, leaves gone brown very early and flowers very short-lived. They're usually OK but we've had even less summer rain than normal this year. We're towards the eastern edge of South Yorkshire and we always get noticeably less rain than my parents in Sheffield get.

    I was talking with some people from Doncaster yesterday. I find it so ironic that Sheffield and much of it's hilly surroundings ultimately drain into the Don which then passes through Doncaster and much of the parched land to the east.
    Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border

    I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful

  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,630
    Mine haven't even flowered yet! They're not looking too shabby, I hope they bloom.
  • Sorry to hijack this thread, but was hoping someone could tell me if this is crocosmia 'Lucifer'. I was given these in early spring and was told it is the 'Lucifer' variety. I looked online and 'Lucifer' is generally described as having red flowers. These are dark to light orange on a gloomy day like today & in full sunlight, appear orange and yellow.
    Thank you.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    That’s not lucifer,  they have more veins on the leaves much longer and stiffer  and the flowers are bright red. 
    You’ve got the one they used to call Montbretia.
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • @NoSlugsPlease Just wondered how tall it is looks better than the common montbretia to me. Possibly C Emily Mckenzie there are so many.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
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