Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum

Bulbs => Bulbs Wanted => Topic started by: annew on October 20, 2007, 10:30:10 PM

Title: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'......and other Crocs!
Post by: annew on October 20, 2007, 10:30:10 PM
Does anyone have spare corms of crocosmia  'Rowallane Yellow'for sale or swap?


(edited by Maggi to reflect recent posts of other Crocosmia)
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: mark smyth on October 31, 2007, 07:41:35 PM
David Fenwick does
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: annew on October 31, 2007, 08:27:26 PM
Who?
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Maggi Young on October 31, 2007, 08:42:15 PM
Anne, see the South African Bulbs for sale thread.... David Fenwick runs "the African Garden"
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: mark smyth on October 31, 2007, 11:14:54 PM
get it quick because he told me last night someone has taken over his National collection of Crocosmia
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: annew on November 01, 2007, 07:58:57 AM
It's not on his list. ???
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: mark smyth on November 01, 2007, 08:42:13 AM
Anne email him. You'll have a long chat and probably get your corms
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Mark on August 02, 2008, 06:06:19 PM
Mark Smyth

Just wanted to sort one thing out that you wrote on this post..........

I didn't take over Daves National Collection of Crocosmia. I got the National Collection of Crocosmia on my own merit, not by taking over someone elses collection.

It took me 7 years of collecting to get the corms needed to apply for the National Collection, 7 years of writing, begging and purchasing!!

Anyway, just want to also say Hi to everyone on this Forum........ I am probably the newest member and am hoping to have some nice discussions.

Thanks
Mark
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Maggi Young on August 02, 2008, 06:48:00 PM
Hello, Mr Crocosmia/ Mark..... or may I call you "Lucifer" after the plant which is probably the best known crocosmia variety??!!  ;) Welcome to the Forum... we'll be happily expecting to learn lots more about your Crocs in future, eh?  8)
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Mark on August 02, 2008, 06:58:21 PM
Hi Maggi

Thank you for the welcome.........

Yes you are probably right about 'Lucifer', or the other one as some people call it the Orange one that spreads like a weed.

Yes, if you want to know about crocs, I am your man!! LOL

(http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r101/mark852784/Cascade.jpg)
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: johnw on August 02, 2008, 09:13:27 PM
Mr Crocosmia

We have the following Crocs and plan to plant them out in a milder part of Nova Scotia. Lucifer does well in a few gardens here but I cannot get it through the winter myself.  I wonder if you could comment on the winter hardiness of the ones in pots here destined for trial by fire this autumn.

Crocosmia aureus large flowered form ex Cistus Nursery in Oregon (I know the type grows like mad in Newfoundland so it should be perfectly fine here)
Crocosmia 'Ember Glow'
Crocosmia 'Lucifer'
Crocosmia masonorum
Crocosmia paniculata
Crocosmia 'Sulfatare'
Crocosmia - unknown yellow

thanks

johnw
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Paddy Tobin on August 02, 2008, 09:36:55 PM
John,

Your worries about the hardiness of crocosmias will, I am sure, amaze many of those who post on this forum. Here, Ireland, crocosmias are practically weeds and have naturalised in many parts of the country.

Mr. Crocosmia,
Welcome to the forum; congratulation on your status as National Collection Holder, a recognition of a great deal of hard work, persistence and the ability go hold and successfully grow this group of plants. Looking forward to seeing photographs of the less common crocosmias in due course. They are in season at present, so we should see lots and lots of photographs!

Paddy
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Mark on August 02, 2008, 10:18:45 PM
Hi John

Most Crocosmia are ok to around -5C if you mulch them...........

There are one or two that are really hardy such as Lucifer and Zeal Giant etc....... mainly because they have Paniculata in them.

So from the list you placed, i think the only two that may survive there are Lucifer and Paniculata.
Definately not Solfatare though.

Hope that helps.

Mark
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Mark on August 02, 2008, 10:21:45 PM
Hi Paddy

Thank you very much for the welcome and congrats on the Nat Collection status...........

Yep, its crocosmia season and there are lots out in flower at the moment. Yes i will post some photos of less common ones if you wish to see some.... no probs.

Thanks again

Mark
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Maggi Young on August 02, 2008, 11:05:34 PM
We'd love to see pix, Mark ( I really think I will have to give you Lucifer as a nickname!!)
 I can't say I envy your task as a national collection holder... there must be easier ways to stress yourself out.... playing in the traffic, for instance ?? ;) :o  Well done and happy collecting!!
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: mark smyth on August 02, 2008, 11:30:41 PM
I didnt say anything about you taking over the collection
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: johnw on August 03, 2008, 12:12:29 AM
Hi John

Most Crocosmia are ok to around -5C if you mulch them...........

Mark

Good grief that's not very hardy. The Lucifers in Halifax have been through -18c unmulched but with superb drainage just blocks away from home. the previous winter the frost was down 20 inches or more.  That winter I did lose many of the the paniculatas planted out for years but the backups should be fine in the milder garden.

I'll report back next spring on what emerges but will keep Solfatare as a tub plant.


thanks

john
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Mark on August 03, 2008, 07:09:16 AM
John

For those to survive -18C they must have been in a very very well sheltered position or the drainage must be totally phenominal to be able to keep the corms dryish through the winter.

Anyway good luck with them and i hope they do survive for you.............

Mark
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Mark on August 03, 2008, 07:14:01 AM
Mark

'someone has taken over his National collection of Crocosmia' is what you wrote.

As I am the only national collection holder I assumed you meant me........ and I didn't take over his collection at all! He broke it all up and sold it all to people that wanted to buy his plants.

Mark
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: johnw on August 04, 2008, 01:20:32 AM
John

For those to survive -18C they must have been in a very very well sheltered position or the drainage must be totally phenominal to be able to keep the corms dryish through the winter.

Anyway good luck with them and i hope they do survive for you.............

Mark

Well as good as it can be with bedrock down 2 or more feet.  I wouldn't call the sites screes but all those seems to be near a slope. They have survived even lower temps on occassions without snow.  I think frozen ground is better for some plants here than an open winter with constantly wet soil.

johnw
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Mark on August 04, 2008, 02:21:16 AM
John

Its when they are wet and then freeze that is the killer with crocosmia........ Just turns them to mush!!! All mine are grown in pots and I take them inside for the winter........ some in the greenhouse , some in sheds... anywhere as long as they are kept dry.

Mark
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: ChrisB on August 04, 2008, 10:15:28 AM
My crocosmia do well in my very free draining, sandy, slightly acid soil (near the coast so we don't get as much frost).  But I also over winter dahlias in the ground as well due to the nature of my drainage. So I think Mark is right about that.
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: johnw on August 04, 2008, 01:53:22 PM
My crocosmia do well in my very free draining, sandy, slightly acid soil (near the coast so we don't get as much frost).  But I also over winter dahlias in the ground as well due to the nature of my drainage. So I think Mark is right about that.

Chris  - A friend in a milder area tried to over-winter Dahlias in the ground last year by covering with plastic and them mulching heavily. You're right just too wet and cold under there. Not one survived but the unprotected Lucifers were fine. Maybe a thin layer of frozen soil over the Crocs protect them from excess wet here???

Another had her Lucifers disappear for a year and assumed they froze out. The next spring they all appeared again.

johnw
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: ChrisB on August 04, 2008, 07:46:50 PM
Hi John,

Don't know about crocs, but I had to cut my dieramas down to nothing last year, they'd just got too big, and I thought I'd killed 'em, but they are now shooting up again this year.  Not quite the same thing i know, but it is amazing the punishment these S African corms can take.  I really thought I'd done a job on them as they were growing closer and closer to the pond, now I really am going to have to get my feet wet and dig them right out.

I had trouble establishing Croc. 'Solfatare', the one with the brownish foliage, but this year it has decided to bloom for me.  Flowers should open this week with a bit of luck and some sunshine...  Perhaps the mulch of gravel I put down in the spring helped keep the soil moist enough for it to grow?
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Brian Ellis on August 04, 2008, 07:50:47 PM
Hello all, must put my twopennorth in.  C. Solfatare was difficult here as well until I put it in semi-shade where it has done much better.
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: ChrisB on August 04, 2008, 08:58:26 PM
Ah, Brian, that may be the help its getting.  My birch tree does shade the area some nowadays, hadn't thought of that!
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Mark on August 05, 2008, 02:04:22 AM
Brian

Thats a good point................... not all crocs like full sun!
There are quite a few that like some small amount of shade because they scortch in the sun and the foliage just turns brown and crispy!! Although it doesn't kill the corm, it doesn't do it any good.
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: johnw on August 05, 2008, 03:24:19 AM
Hello all, must put my twopennorth in.  C. Solfatare was difficult here as well until I put it in semi-shade where it has done much better.


Yes better looking here now that the tub is shadier but still a shy-bloomer compared to the others.

I must photograph the C. aureus from Cistus Nursery (what a plant list! www.cistus.com) when it flowers as it is quite a good big-flowered form.  Maybe it's something else.

johnw
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: ChrisB on August 05, 2008, 10:03:28 AM
Just went outside to do something and noticed my 'Solfatare' is absolutely full of bloom, more than I have ever seen on it before.  There has certainly been something different this year, I scarcely had two or three spikes in the past, must be dozens this year.
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: David Nicholson on August 05, 2008, 11:32:32 AM
As this thread has widened a bit since Anne's request for corms of C. Rowallane Yellow (did you get some Anne?) can I jump on the band waggon. Here is a picture of a one clump of few I have dotted round the garden from some corms originally given to me about four years ago by Roger Stuckey of Stuckey's Alpines here in Exmouth. The growth suits my windy garden being about 60cm high. Is the picture good enough for anyone to hazard a guess on a name for them?

Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Mark on August 05, 2008, 11:40:15 AM
Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora......... Common Montbretia!!

Once you have that in your garden you will never get rid of it............. LOL
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Maggi Young on August 05, 2008, 12:43:25 PM

I must photograph the C. aureus from Cistus Nursery (what a plant list! www.cistus.com) when it flowers as it is quite a good big-flowered form.  Maybe it's something else.

johnw


OFFICIAL FRIVOLOUS NOTICE:  John, et al,   I must warn you that posts containing links to sites which will entice the reader to spend long periods of time gawking and drooling are liable to be subject to chocolate fines of varying size, payable to Maggi Moderator
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: David Nicholson on August 05, 2008, 07:11:00 PM
Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora......... Common Montbretia!!

Once you have that in your garden you will never get rid of it............. LOL

Thanks Mark, and there was I thinking it was something sophisticated! Nevertheless it's quite pretty.
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Maggi Young on August 05, 2008, 07:39:05 PM
 Mark, it's easier to eliminate Montbretia than it is to get rid of Tropaeolum speciosum!

David, don't let anyone turn you into a plant snob! ;D Beauty is in the eye of the weeder, after all!
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: art600 on August 05, 2008, 08:39:03 PM
Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora......... Common Montbretia!!

Once you have that in your garden you will never get rid of it............. LOL

I am still trying
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Mark on August 06, 2008, 07:13:45 AM
David
You are welcome............... It is still a very pretty plant though!!!! Just have to keep it under control.


Maggi
I don't know about that one............. I will have to look it up.


Art
Yep, it can take a very long time.............. LOL
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: fermi de Sousa on August 06, 2008, 08:57:03 AM
Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora......... Common Montbretia!!

Once you have that in your garden you will never get rid of it............. LOL

I am still trying
I was able to successfully rid myself of Montbretia by moving to another area!
It's a major pest in the Dandenongs (where Otto, Tim and a few other forumists live) and can clothe the hillsides in orange, along with Alstroemeria aurea!
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Maggi Young on August 06, 2008, 11:25:18 AM
Mark, if you'd like to try the Trop. speciosum for yourself, I can let you have it!! It's one of those things that tends to take ages and many tries to establish..... then you wonder why you ever got it! It IS very beautiful.... but............
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Mark on August 06, 2008, 03:46:46 PM
Maggi

I have had a look at that plant and noooooooooooo, but thank you for the offer!!!!! Yes it is a very pretty thing, and maybe if I had a LARGE garden!!
Also.............. we don't have acidic soil here........
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Maggi Young on August 06, 2008, 03:50:00 PM
Mark, you are a wise man! It is a very popular plant, though... and there are places where it DOES behave, but it bothers me because it overgrows things like smaller rhodos which do not like it and lose their leaves at an great speed because of that.
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Mark on August 06, 2008, 04:01:20 PM
Maggi
Yes I can imagine that it would overgrow other plants.............. If I had an acre or two or would have one, but alas I only have a small garden.

Crocosmia 'Auricorn'...........

(http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r101/mark852784/Auricorn-1.jpg)
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: David Nicholson on August 06, 2008, 06:40:53 PM
That's a pretty one Mark. Hardy?
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Mark on August 06, 2008, 08:18:44 PM
Hi David

Yes, it is pretty hardy.............. most crocosmia are with some protection!!

This is a very very rare one called 'Autumn Gold'

(http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r101/mark852784/AutumnGold.jpg)
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Mark on August 06, 2008, 08:21:21 PM
Another rare one called 'Best Form'

(http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r101/mark852784/BestForm.jpg)



and 'Cally Greyleaf', which is also very unusual..........

(http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r101/mark852784/CallyGreyleaf.jpg)
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'
Post by: Brian Ellis on August 06, 2008, 09:23:00 PM
Very nice Mark, how big is the flower on 'Best form'?
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'.... and other Crocs!
Post by: Mark on August 06, 2008, 09:44:22 PM
Brian

About one and a half inches across.................... its a real beauty!! I have never seen it in flower until now as its a new one last year!!

Another new one I got this year...........

(http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r101/mark852784/CrocosmiaFireworks.jpg)
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'.... and other Crocs!
Post by: Mark on August 06, 2008, 09:52:44 PM
A rare one form the states.......... not available in this country yet!!

(http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r101/mark852784/LittlwRedheadYUMMY-1.jpg)
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'.... and other Crocs!
Post by: Maggi Young on August 06, 2008, 09:57:44 PM
Now, that last one really takes the eye! Great colour.
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'......and other Crocs!
Post by: Mark on August 08, 2008, 05:07:24 PM
Maggi

Yes its just beautiful............... much better in real life though!! LOL

Here is a photo I took today......... have been waiting and waiting for this plant to flower!!
It is a Geum Species plant Ex. India.

(http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r101/mark852784/GeumSpeciesExIndia.jpg)
Title: Re: Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'......and other Crocs!
Post by: ian mcenery on August 08, 2008, 05:26:33 PM
just noticed this thread. This plant is what I have as C Rowallane Yellow.

Anne if you are still looking for a trade email me
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