On 18 Jun 04 at 13:21, James Yourch wrote: > I also grow Crocosmia 'Lucifer' in my central North Carolina garden. > The flowers are nice and the hummingbirds love them, but here the > foliage is a bit floppy, is subject to spider mite attacks during > hot, dry weather, and it can spread a little too fast. Lucifer displays much the same faults here. It does tend to flop; I suppose you could say it needs staking but due to sheer indolence, if not downright laziness, I've never been one to do that. I just enjoy the diagonal element it adds to the garden display. As for spider mites, regular misting with plain water will help. Indeed, regular misting is almost essential when growing crocosmias. > A better form in my garden which is not floppy, spreads slowly, > and has been more resistant to spider mites is the yellow flowered > 'Jenny Bloom'. I know this is a red flowered TOW, but we seem to > have gone off into Crocosmia, so I hope nobody minds me mentioning > this superior yellow form. The difficulty lies in knowing just which yellow crocosmia is which. I've seen "Jenny Bloom", "George Davidson", and other names applied to visually indistinguishable plants. It is my suspicion that crocosmia cultivar names are horribly muddled. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate on beautiful Vancouver Island