For someone who professes to love plants, I spend an awful lot of time digging them up. Last week my latest victim was crocosmia, probably that Old Devil called Lucifer. Any guilt is alleviated by the fact that it is nigh on impossible to rid yourself of these admittedly attractive plants. This is due to that dastardly demon, evolution. This South African member of the iris family produces a fresh new corm each year which balances on top of the previous years’ contributions. To avoid popping out of the soil, some very clever contractile roots pull the whole chain down into the ground. These replaced corms will gradually will fade away but not until they have hung on for a while, as an insurance policy. For occasions such as this. When I have spent a morning digging up their compacted, matted bulk. It is at this point that one of these old timers (or perhaps more) will gently drop off the bottom only to emerge again next year in full crimson glory saying “ha, foiled you!”. Such is my life.
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Off The Edge Gardening 
So interesting. I had never heard of this. Clever these plants, eh?
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They are, who would have thought of it!?
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Thank you, I have often wondered how crocosmia corms work! We have a particularly hard patch of ground to cultivate but these things have survived and they do provide a welcome splash of colour. But warning has been heeded…….
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A place for everything!
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But I have to admit they look very interesting – to watch only 🙂
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They are, it is true, as long as you aren’t the gardener. The sad fact is that we have two enormous clumps in our own garden, I can’t quite muster the energy to dig them up ….. 😦 Any volunteers? 🙂
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Don’t count on me 🙂 I have been digging Convallaria the past two days to make garden beds (and probably I’ll be digging leftovers for the rest of my life…).
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Another one to battle!
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Coincidentally, just yesterday I mercilessly whacked a group of ‘Lucifer’ right down to the ground. Under normal circumstances I’d have yanked them long ago but again, the next owner might love them, who knows?
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Perhaps ……. 🙂
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Maybe it would be a good idea to form a sort of volunteer army, going from garden to garden, fully armed with spades, hoes and dandelion diggers, on a quest to save the various countries from the imminent takeover by Croscosmia?
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Great plan, hopefully we would have a nice uniform, perhaps a beret like a corm? 🙂
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I happen to be rather fond of crocosmia, I could not grow them in my London garden,(clay soil and deep shade) Now in Hampshire with a bigger garden and lots of well drained sun baked soil to fill I am so pleased with my Lucifer, Emily Mckenzie, and the ‘common or garden’ one, as you say ‘a place for everything’ !
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Emily McKenzie is lovely, have you seen Colleton Fishacre? It has bronze foliage and golden yellow flowers, very nice.
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