A spectacle of colour and texture

The golden glow of orange montbretia marks the advent of autumn and also the return to school with summer’s end.

Montbretia may be the most common and widespread of the Crocosmias, growing wild as it does, but keep an eye out for some of the more cultivated forms. ‘Lucifer’ sends up fiery red flower spikes to a commanding height of nearly 2 metres — a truly spectacular plant for colour and texture in late summer and autumn. And while ‘Lucifer’ has become quite a popular variety in Irish gardens, let me introduce some of its lesser known but beautiful cousins.

‘Sulfortare’ produces beautiful chocolate brown foliage and in late summer, yellow flowers about 30cm high which contrast exquisitely with the brown leaves. ‘Zanzibar’, ‘Malabar’ and ‘Calobar’ are three beautiful but rare orange flowering varieties. ‘Emily McKenzie’ has lovely large orange flowers with a strong red centre and ‘George Davison’ is a yellow flowering variety named after the Crocosmia addict who developed 13 or more varieties in the late 19th and early 20th century.