Genus Crocosmia (Falling stars, Montbretia)

Crocosmia 'Lucifer' Photo/Illustration: Michelle Gervais

kro-KOZ-mee-ah

Common Name: Falling stars, Montbretia Synonyms: Antholyza, Curtonus, Montbretia

Crocosmia's iris family lineage can be seen in its lance-shaped, pointed leaves and colorful flowers. The blooms are funnel-shaped and top wiry stems in midsummer to late summer. They make great cut flowers, and the plants are useful in a shrub garden, border, or cut flower garden. Be sure to grow them in good-sized clumps for best effect.
Noteworthy characteristics: Iris-like leaves and brightly colored flowers on wiry stems. Excellent cut flowers. Tough plants that are easy to grow.
Care: Provide full sun or partial shade and humusy, moist but well-drained soil. Divide congested clumps in spring.
Propagation: Divide in spring before new growth commences, or sow seed in a cold frame as soon as it is ripe.
Problems: Spider mites.

Species, varieties and cultivars for genus Crocosmia

Crocosmia 'Lucifer'

(3 user reviews)

Hardiness Zones:

Abundant eye-catching, brillliantly red, tubular flowers appear in midsummer atop bold, slightly arching, sparsely branched 3-foot-tall stems. Crocosmia's mid-green leaves are pleated and swordlike.

Crocosmia 'Star of the East'
('Star of the East' crocosmia ) Be the first to rate this plant

Hardiness Zones:

To put it in perspective, ‘Star of the East’ crocosmia is as far removed from the well-known ‘Lucifer’ crocosmia as Lady Gaga is from an Appalachian clogger. ‘Star of East’ is a strong grower without being aggressive, starting the season off with attractive green leaves that are held vertically. The foliage remains upright and in good condition well into fall, which isn’t always the case with other cultivars. The flower stems are exceptionally sturdy, too, and they need to be because they bear some of the largest flowers of any crocosmia—nearly 4 inches in diameter.
In late summer, deep orange flower buds emerge like tubes of lipstick from protective bracts. The flowers open widely with a glowing, soft orange face highlighted by a pale center. A surprisingly long bloom period is a bonus, the blossoms perfectly mixing with the other hot colors of late summer and then seamlessly blending into the warm oranges and yellows of autumn.

Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora
(Montbretia) Be the first to rate this plant

Hardiness Zones:

Montbretia looks like a small gladiolus until it blooms in late summer, when abundant sprays of orange, gold, or yellow star-shaped flowers are held by gracefully thin, arching, zigzag stems rising from a cluster of pale green, sword-shaped leaves.