Crocosmia Lucifer

vicwatson

Anybody tell me do you buy these from seed or are they a bulb?

looksee

Yes and yes. They take a bit longer from seeds - though they self seed, so they are not difficult - or you can grow them from bulbs.

Whether or not you should is a different issue. I have nearly got rid of all mine. No - I jest, Crocosmia is similar to, but bigger than, Montbretia, and not so invasive.

vicwatson

looksee wrote: »

Yes and yes. They take a bit longer from seeds - though they self seed, so they are not difficult - or you can grow them from bulbs.

Whether or not you should is a different issue. I have nearly got rid of all mine. No - I jest, Crocosmia is similar to, but bigger than, Montbretia, and not so invasive.

I think bulbs it is so.

Thanks

Northumbria

Bulbs typically, but I think they're actually corms if I remember right (a similar thing to a bulb).
I'm planting some next year but want it to naturalise in grass. I could buy plants now and stick them in the ground, but sticking plants in a lawn is never as good as having them grow through it naturally.

Crocosmia's are from grasslands in South Africa so can grow through grass fine.

pwurple

vicwatson wrote: »

Anybody tell me do you buy these from seed or are they a bulb?

I normally propogate these by division... by splitting a clump. Lucifer is a great variety of crocosmia, not invasive as montbretia.

If buying, I would buy them potted, with green shoots, rather than seeds or tubers.

pwurple

Northumbria wrote: »

Bulbs typically, but I think they're actually corms if I remember right (a similar thing to a bulb).
I'm planting some next year but want it to naturalise in grass. I could buy plants now and stick them in the ground, but sticking plants in a lawn is never as good as having them grow through it naturally.

Crocosmia's are from grasslands in South Africa so can grow through grass fine.

Northumbria, is this like a wild grassland? Because you mention lawn above, and Crocosmia lucifer is over 1 meter tall. It may look a bit bonkers in a mowed lawn.

Oldtree

I have a couple of them in my wild meadow and they compete fine. Lucifer is a lovely plant, really non invasive and well behaved, where as the rest both tall and short are trying for world domination.

looksee

Yes, they are corms, and I agree that buying them as a shooting potful would be a good idea, but really they are not difficult. As to them spreading, I have a clump of the yellow montbretia and it is very well behaved, the clump has spread but not outrageously, and it does not send out satellite colonies.

If you are putting them in grassland I would suggest they should be near the edge/end of the area as they really are very big. I suspect the wild ones would not be as big as the cultivated ones, though I don't know.

vicwatson

Thanks y'all.

Went to garden centre, was told that January be the time for them. Will buy them as corms or already potted (though I say corms would be cheaper) and then eventually hope to divide them each year.

Northumbria

pwurple wrote: »

Northumbria, is this like a wild grassland? Because you mention lawn above, and Crocosmia lucifer is over 1 meter tall. It may look a bit bonkers in a mowed lawn.

Warmer regions of the world have much taller grasses than we do here. I was considering planting Montbretia in my own lawn in one spot and letting it establish a thick clump. It would push up through the lawn and eventually shade out whatever grass was underneath it meaning I wouldn't have to dig a bed for it (which is handy, since the soil is hard to work in that part of the garden).

But yes, Lucifer would look a bit daft in the middle of the lawn. Montbretia has small varieties that grow to a similar height as native grasses (when they're left uncut anyway).

This is kind of what I meant about grasses - if you spaced it well, stopped it clumping and let the rest of the grass grow tall then it could blend in with the tall grasses:





Lucifer and the other tall ones aren't suitable for that though, none of our grasses are tall enough to blend it in with.

And this is my idea about naturalising it in my lawn - notice how it goes from trimmed grass to a patch of montbretia without any bare earth in sight:



I like Lucifer too. I think I'm going to put Montbretia in a patch by a window to grow through the grass and keep the grass cut as usual up to the patch.
Then Lucifer can go by a wall and the flowers lean over it whilst the plant is largely hidden by it.


I wasn't just answering the question, I was more like visualising how it would look in my own garden.

Northumbria

vicwatson wrote: »

Thanks y'all.

Went to garden centre, was told that January be the time for them. Will buy them as corms or already potted (though I say corms would be cheaper) and then eventually hope to divide them each year.

Corms and bulbs are better value for money. You can have a garden full of flowers with a few packs of bulbs rather than spending the money on one or two plants.
The possibilities for spring bulbs are almost endless, but summer bulbs are more limited sadly. My garden is probably going to look as bright as a Dutch tulip field come spring, just a shame I haven't got too many summer flowering plants yet.



Also, have you thought about red hot poker? It's another grassy plant from South Africa that sends up impressive flowers. It grows from corms too or you can buy plants, but the flowers don't last as long as crocosmias.

pwurple

Just, as an aside, The previous owners of my garden loved monbretia. It is in every corner of the place. We put in some raised beds above where one patch was planted. Dug them out at the time, but some roots survived somewhere. Despite being under 1 meter depth of topsoil, they have worked their way up again. Proving fairly difficult to get out.

Point being, be sure where you want them. Tricky to get rid of afterwards.

(Doesn't apply to lucifer, these are easier to pull out)

ramblingcelt

Happy to send you a potful if you still need them. Have been dividing my own and have a few spare.

Let me know if you want them.