Crocosmia

Jane McGary janemcgary@earthlink.net
Mon, 01 Aug 2011 11:45:10 PDT
I haven't seen the Crocosmia selections from the Lily Garden that Jim 
Waddick mentioned in his post, but this spring I bought half a dozen 
kinds from Far Reaches Farm, a nursery also in Washington state. 
(Don't miss their website -- they do mail order.) They were 
well-grown plants almost bursting out of half-gallons, so they're now 
producing plenty of flowering stems. So far in flower are 'Ember 
Glow', which is much like 'Lucifer' but shorter and with darker 
leaves; 'Severn Sunset," which is bright orange with rather tubular 
flowers, good for cutting; and 'Star of the East', medium orange with 
widely opened flowers. Several kinds have the darker leaves that make 
a nice contrast and they'll also be a good addition to flower arrangements.

In my former garden at a higher elevation I couldn't grow many 
Crocosmia hybrids. Only 'Lucifer' was reliably winter-hardy (on my 
new home's road, there's one front garden with an absolute hedge of 
it). Now, however, I hope to try a lot of them, because they attract 
hummingbirds and provide plenty of cutflower material, as well as 
foliage contrast in the little perennial-plus-annual cutting garden 
I'm developing.

Jane McGary
Portland, Oregon, USA





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