Montbretia

My battle is with Acanthus which grows like a weed and takes over wherever it is planted. My late Father gave me some Lucifer from his garden which I transplanted into each garden I moved to. Love it.

Good luck with the house Jess. If the house is right, I'm sure you will come up,with a plan for the garden. Terraced style possibly?

Ours have just started to bloom here in Herts. The clump has got very dense so will divide up in September. Even the heavy rain over the last 2 days hasn't bent them over and they are lovely in a vase.

Not to mention bracken and other ferns various. I've found the trick is to enjoy what there is.

Roe deer chomp on our early montbretia shoots but they still seem to thrive. It's another of those non-native garden escape species that has found niches to dominate here. I find I'm getting more relaxed about so-called invasive species. Invasiveness is probably how all species survive initially. Shrug.

Still fighting Japanese knotweed though, and pulling up Himalayan balsam, but I have just as big a battle with holly and brambles and ground elder. Shrug again

I love Lucifer as well, Mine grow in front of a white wall and usually look stunning at this time of the year but I've had to improve my staking as the nearby achilleas are all over the place thanks to some very heavy rain.

I saw some Lucifer in flower as I walked the dog last night; I'd thought it was a bit early [always think summer is over when the monbretia starts to flower ]. Mine still isn't doing anything.

We have some Lucifer too, Coolgran. Ours is in the front garden right next to the house which is granite, so we get a fabulous contrast with the grey walls.

many years ago my father gave me a few corms of Lucifer. It is the very tall striking one with fiery blooms. As I moved house I always took some of this with me (together with hostas) Ten years in this house and we have a spectacular show every July, as do our neighbours - they got freebies. And my friend has it growing in the shade of a massive oak tree where nothing else thrives. I love it to bits. It's beside shasta daisies and they bloom at the same time. And they both make great cut flowers for the house.

Thanks ladies. That's it for me tomorrow morning, as long as it stays dry long enough.

They do spread rapidly. I am sure that the cliff at Bigbury where we uplifted ours the place we bought ours from all those years ago is over-run again.

Nothing else at all? Would be lovely when they are flowering, and so easy to just leave it all to nature maintain

Chemical warfare? Or withdraw offer? Whaddayouthink guys?

You can't kill montbrecia!

Oh dear. Made an offer for a house. Garden is bare slope - with only montbretia surviving. Maybe withdraw offer do you think thatbags

I would think so right now. let them flower first. I did that with mine a couple of years ago. The bulbs or corms or whatever they are just get very crowded.

Tegan I have just written the same line about "bulb or corms" as you did. I won,t delete it.

Keep a lot of soil around them and they should be fine.

Those are the ones we have, phoenix, but from South Devon

You can do what you like to montbretia here and they will thrive – dig out the corms, mash them up, put them on a compost heap, and you get a new bed of montbretia. I'd have to cook the corms to death if I wanted to get rid of them. I think they like wet and boggy and, presumably, acid soil.

They are really hardy things, and it will be a while yet before they flower, so yes, I would move them now if you want to.

PS That is the ordinary small flowered orange ones, varieties like "Lucifer" are only in gardens

They actually seem to grow wild around here, North Devon. I do see a fair amount in the hedgerows.

We have some in our garden that are descendants of some we pinched bought from a seaside resort in Devon about 40 years ago

(would not dream of doing it now)

I planted some a couple of years ago [flowering plants not the bulbs or corms or whatever they are] but they didn't flower last autumn. I really love them.

In some areas it's so prolific and hardy that it would be difficult to fail with it!