Crocosmia 'Rowallane Yellow'......and other Crocs!

[mark smyth]

I didnt say anything about you taking over the collection

[johnw]

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

[Mark]

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

[Mark]

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

[johnw]

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

[Mark]

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

[ChrisB]

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.

[johnw]

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

[ChrisB]

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?

[Brian Ellis]

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.

[ChrisB]

Ah, Brian, that may be the help its getting.  My birch tree does shade the area some nowadays, hadn't thought of that!

[Mark]

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.

[johnw]

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

[ChrisB]

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.

[David Nicholson]

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?