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Gardening

Montbretia

(22 Posts)
Luckygirl Tue 15-Aug-17 11:51:14

I have loads of this - and I have had to try and support it as it droops all over the lawn. It has finished flowering and I have hacked some of it back ruthlessly as we cannot get round the garden otherwise! The large clump by the lawn I have left so far; but I will have to do something with it as mowing the lawn is very difficult. Would you hack it back? I have googled this and there is conflicting advice so I thought it might be useful to get opinions here on the basis of experience.

aggie Tue 15-Aug-17 11:56:19

we hauled it out ,used a garden fork and took out as many of the wee bulbs as we could .It spreads like wildfire . I quite like it when it is needed to fill a difficult area

Auntieflo Tue 15-Aug-17 12:04:04

We have quite a large clump of this, but only one flower stem and masses of droopy leaves. I think it's got to go, although I love it when it behaves

Luckygirl Tue 15-Aug-17 12:52:00

We have had flowers galore - it has been beautiful - but simply refuses to stand up and flops all over the lawn.

I really want to cut this clump back so we can mow the lawn but do not know whether it will deal it a death blow!

tanith Tue 15-Aug-17 12:57:06

I have a few plants that droop over the lawn I get some short canes lift up the offending plants leaves and push the canes in the ground at an angle using several crisscross fashion. It keeps the leaves off the ground.

merlotgran Tue 15-Aug-17 13:14:33

I doubt you'll kill it, luckygirl as it's as tough as old boots. I use those hooped plant supports - the tall ones are best - to prevent it flopping all over the lawn.

I would cut back as much as needed and leave the rest to die back naturally.

Smithy Tue 15-Aug-17 13:23:01

I don't think it's possible to kill this plant off! I have LOTS in my back garden and as Aggie says useful for filling up gaps. I once pulled out all but a very few bulbs but it filled up the garden again in no time. I heave chunks of it out by the roots constantly and it just seems to fill the space up again.

BlueBelle Tue 15-Aug-17 14:08:39

I have loads but not all of it flowers I have some clumps that only have one or two flowers and then others that have lots of stems, any ideas why one big clump has not a single stem in sight ?

aggie Tue 15-Aug-17 14:12:03

if it is too thick and impenetrable it won't flower , dig lumps out and it will take off , impossible to kill it

whitewave Tue 15-Aug-17 14:16:24

I manage to kill it on a regular basissad I have bought a plant every year for the past 4 or 5 (given up this year) and it never flourishes. We are on chalk so I guess that is the reason

shysal Tue 15-Aug-17 14:38:10

I have a supply of this type of support with which to lift up flopping plants. There are lots on Ebay but they are not cheap. I remember seeing something similar and cheaper in Wilko. I saw Monty making some once on GW.

Liz46 Tue 15-Aug-17 15:23:34

I have pulled up two large bin bags of these this week. I am sure they will come back next year though!

Greyduster Tue 15-Aug-17 15:55:44

Mine has flowered poorly this year. DH is very disappointed. He keeps pointing out lovely flowering specimens in other people's gardens and grumping about ours! I like them, but don't like the way they are so invasive.

BlueBelle Tue 15-Aug-17 18:10:06

Thanks for that info Aggie mine were all in a thick clump so I ve dug some up now do I need to transplant immediately or treat like bulbs and put in later I was going to give some away and wondered if they lasted out the ground I m presuming it's like bulbs and they are fine out the ground until ready to re plant do you know ?

merlotgran Tue 15-Aug-17 18:51:23

They're the ones I use, shysal

DH made me some after seeing Monty's demo but the cost of the steel meant that they weren't really much cheaper than some I found on e-Bay.

kittylester Tue 15-Aug-17 19:03:54

Hoick our any montbretia that have finished flowering - it does them good.

We use those supports - we call them zimmer frames for plants. They are a bugger to store - bit like wire coathangers!!

rosesarered Tue 15-Aug-17 21:00:48

They are called crocosmia now ( for some reason) but I still call them montbretia.They are best planted on a bank or small slope but if you grow them on level ground they will always flop over and go towards the sun.So, better planted on a slight incline and in semi shade.Break up the clumps now and then to let in light and air, and feed in Spring for more flowers.

aggie Wed 16-Aug-17 11:14:40

I bin the ones I dig out , wouldn't inflict them on anyone !.... they would be ok in a pot for a while if you do want to keep them for giving away

Craicon Wed 16-Aug-17 11:27:56

If it's finished flowering, just hack it right back.
I've got lots of it mostly growing in clumps on the sloping areas and along the ditch between the trees. I'm hoping to get some more from my neighbour to add to ours as she's got a beautiful red variety whereas ours is the ordinary bright orange variety. Ours is still flowering madly and I don't expect it to die back until later next month.
It grows wild along the roadside here in west cork along with the fuschia hedges.

Wheniwasyourage Wed 16-Aug-17 14:51:33

We have 2 different kinds; one is smaller with lighter orange flowers and is quite controllable, and the other is a monster which requires a pickaxe to get rid of the corms!

Luckygirl Wed 16-Aug-17 15:05:38

I was not planning to tackle the corms - indeed did not know they had them! - but just wanted to reduce the size of the forest!

We have 3 smaller ones at the front of the house that are a pale orange - now those are great!

I also like the back garden monsters, but would now like to get them under control!

Wheniwasyourage Wed 16-Aug-17 15:11:32

Well, they may not be corms, but for some reason I think of them as corms rather than bulbs. they're more like little rocks though grin