Montbrecia - planting and care outdoors, when and how to plant bulbs?

To amateur gardeners, Montbrecia is better known as the Japanese Gladiolus, although this plant has several more names - Crocosmia, Tritonia. Montbrecia got its name in honor of the French botanist Ernest Cockbert de Montbre. As for the second name of the plant - Crocosmia, translated from Latin it means "the smell of crocus" because the dried inflorescences really have the smell of saffron (crocus).

Montbrecia looks great both in a single planting and in a group. Particularly in harmony with green lawn grass.

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Description and features of crocosmia

A flowering plant native to South Africa is crocosmia. There are many varieties, but the most popular is the Lucifer variety, which is distinguished by its bright red color and high peduncle. Among amateur gardeners, there are different names of culture, but most often they use montbrecia, tritonia and Japanese gladiolus. The dried flowers give off a light and pleasant saffron aroma.

A tropical perennial plant of the Iris family reproduces by bulbs. Graceful long leaves have a xiphoid shape, grow up to 60 cm in length. The structure is corrugated with longitudinal stripes. Arrangement in spreading bunches. Thin high peduncle grows up to 1 meter. In the upper part of the shoot, there is an inflorescence of spikes, numbering up to 40 buds, which open gradually from bottom to top.

The variety shows variations in petal color from light yellow to brick red. Each flower, when opened, reaches 5 cm in diameter.

Crocosmia is often confused with freesia because of the similarity of the stems or with lily - in the shape of the flower.

The first buds begin to open by the middle of summer and continue to delight the gardener until frost. The fruit is a rounded box filled with rather large seeds of rich brown color.

Characteristics of colors

The montbrecia flower, also called crocosmia or mambrecia, belongs to the iris family. Its name comes from the Greek language, in which it means "saffron and scent". The plant is native to South Africa. The main distinguishing characteristic of the montbrecia is its bright orange, red and yellow flowers, which are similar in shape to a sword. Many species of montbrecia have been bred from South African wild varieties, which differ in their size and flowering period. All these species are united by the fact that they are very resistant to various external conditions. This flower is evergreen, and its leaves are long and elongated, while they can be straight or wavy. Thanks to its beautiful large leaves, crocosmia decorates gardens even before it blooms.

Particularly noteworthy are the roots of montbrecia, which are in the form of chains and intertwine neighboring plants. As it grows, the roots of a plant can spread over large areas, so it is often difficult to remove, and it can interfere with the growth of other species that are in the flower bed nearby.This means that montbrecia flowers require a significant amount of space in the garden to plant.

Types of crocosmia

In nature, montbrecia is represented by more than 55 varieties, only a small part is cultivated. Let's consider the most common ones.

Massonorum

Differs in high resistance to cold, optimal for growing in northern regions. A low-growing bush with a height of 0.6-0.8 cm with sword-like leaves of a ribbed structure. The stem of the peduncle grows upward and at the beginning of the inflorescence turns horizontally, that is, parallel to the ground.

Golden

A kind of ancestor, it was he who was brought from the South African tropics. Flowering time is September. Flowers, depending on the variety, can be colored orange, yellow and red.

Potts

Grows on marshy soils of the African continent. In the garden, shaded areas with poorly drying soil are chosen. The leaves of the plant are thin and smooth, the flowers are small.

Paniculata

A bush one and a half meters high at the base is decorated with a bunch of corrugated leaves of a light green hue. Compact bright orange inflorescences appear in the second half of June. This is the earliest species of all members of the family.

Ordinary

One of the first garden hybrids created at the end of the 19th century. Plant height reaches a meter. Light greens consist of erect plates, narrow and graceful. The inflorescence includes small funnel-shaped buds. The first brushes appear in the middle of summer.

Varieties

Currently, there are about 50 species of crocosmia. They differ in the color of the petals and the height of the stems. The most common types are:

Crocosmia ordinary or garden. The flowers are yellow, red and orange, the height of the plant is about 1 meter.
Crocosmia Citronella. Its flowers are lemon yellow in color and are similar in shape to freesia.
Emily Mackenzie. This crocosmia has flowers very similar to lilies, orange with brown edging. Bushes up to 60 cm high.
Crocosmia Potts. This variety has small, bright orange flowers and narrower leaves.
Crocomia golden. Its flowers are tubular, golden in color, and the stems are up to 80 cm long.
Crocosmia Massonorum. This variety has very showy red-orange flowers and stems up to 80 cm long.
Crocosmia Lucifer. This is one of the most beautiful varieties. She has deep red flowers and tall stems up to 1.5 m.

Popular varieties and uses in garden design

Crocosmia is popular with hobbyists and landscape designers. Airy inflorescences of bright colors adorn the flower beds of almost every site, so the work of breeders does not stop. To date, more than 4 hundred varieties have been bred.

Let's take a look at the best ones:

Variety	Height, cm	Description	Application
Emily Mackenzie	60	Low-growing bush. The flowers are brick-orange with a bright spot in the center.	Used in group compositions in mixed flower beds. Combines with crops in bloom from late summer.
Lucifer	150	Frost-resistant grade. Large blood-red flowers are deservedly recognized as one of the most beautiful.	Cut, used in bouquets and in exterior design as background plants.
George Davidson	70	Juicy flowers of an amber-yellow shade look favorably against a background of dark greenery.	Ideal for tabletop compositions.
Red King	90	The buds are red-orange with a bright middle.	Grown as a houseplant.
Spitfire	60	Orange inflorescence on a delicate stem.	In gardens and windowsills.
Tangerine queen	120	Orange inflorescence on a delicate stem.	Grown in flower beds.

Given the long flowering and bright color of the buds, the culture is widely used for the design of exterior compositions.As a rule, the bush is planted in the background, where the lower green part serves as the background, and the inflorescences on graceful legs give air and completeness to the design.

Reproduction

In addition to seed, they also use a vegetative method of propagation of crocosmia. The simplest and most common is the division of corms. Every year several children are formed near the bush. In the spring, they are separated from the parent plant and planted in separate pots to grow a little. It is better to plant it on a flowerbed at the end of June, along with a lump of earth. Crocosmia blooms from children in the second year. When grown from flowering seeds, you will have to wait 3 years.

Mr. Dachnik recommends: a combination of crocosmia with other plants

Tall perennial crops are optimal as neighbors. Among them are rudbeckia, popovnik, catnip, veronica, rogersia.

The combined composition of perennial shrubs is collected taking into account the flowering time and in such a way that it delights the eye with splendor and brightness of colors. Modern hybrids of varieties show a variety that allows you to create beds only from crocosmia.

For landscape decoration, the flower is indispensable. It performed well in wall cascades, decorating cracks and dilapidated parts of buildings. The shrub is widely used in the decoration of artificial reservoirs.

Growing methods

Like all plants in this family, Croscomia can be cultivated using two methods: from seeds or from bulbs. The first breeding method is quite long, because the time from planting to the appearance of the first flowers takes about 3 years. The second path is shorter by about a year, because there is no need to wait for the bulb to form.

Cultivation of crocosmia by seeds

This method is not difficult and is available to almost everyone. The main condition is compliance with a certain order:

Prepare suitable dishes: small plastic cups or special containers. They must have drain holes.
They take the necessary soil (buy or create it yourself). Composition: turf, humus, peat and coarse sand. The proportion is 2: 1: 1: 1.
The container is filled: the first layer is expanded clay, the rest is the finished soil.
They stimulate the growth of seeds by placing them in a special solution. Dried and not pressed deep into the soil.
Wet the surface and cover with a film. They put it where it is warm and light.
Air constantly, and moisturize as it dries.
Covering material is removed when shoots appear.
They are seated in a separate dish if there are 3 sheets.
They are hardened before planting in the garden, periodically taking them out into the air.

Growing crocosmia with bulbs

The bulbs are planted in mid-spring after the probability of frost has disappeared directly into the ground. Soil temperature +10 ° С. You must follow this order:

The bulbs are separated from the children and placed in a warm place for a while.
Immersed in a manganese solution before planting. The depth of penetration into the soil is 4-5 cm.
Leave 12 cm between the onions.

You can change this procedure slightly. In early spring, plant the bulbs in pots and place them near the window. They are planted in the garden after the shoots appear. In this case, flowering will begin faster.

Planting seedlings and crocosmia bulbs in open ground

Transplant directly into the garden is carried out in mid-spring. It is advisable to prepare the place in advance, in the fall. Add 2 buckets of humus, 100 g of hydrated lime, 40 g of superphosphate, 20 g of potassium chloride per m2. In the spring, 30 g of nitrogen fertilizers per m2 must be applied. The landing pattern is 10x10 cm and the same depth. The distance can be reduced if very small bulbs are taken. Each hole with a plant is poured, watered and covered to get used to new conditions.

How to care for a montbrecia

Montbrecia is easy to care for. In order for the flowers to develop well, it is necessary to water them regularly, apply top dressing, loosen the soil and remove weeds.

Watering

The plant requires abundant watering, but water stagnation should not be allowed, as this can lead to rotting of the corms. If the weather is not too dry, it is enough to water crocosmia twice a week. In hot weather, we increase the frequency of watering up to 3 times a week.

Top dressing montbrecia

We feed Japanese gladiolus with full mineral fertilizer (3 g / 1 liter of water) twice a month before flowering. During the budding period, we apply potash fertilizers (2 g / 1 l of water). Also in the summer we add the bushes with mullein infusion in a ratio of 1:10. we carry out this procedure twice a month. For good maturation of corms, we cut off peduncles with wilted inflorescences as early as possible.

What to do with root growth

Each year, each montbrecia grows about 4-5 children, so every year it grows in breadth. Strongly overgrown, sometimes wintering (southern regions) flowers weaken in the ground, therefore, they need to be regularly transplanted, on average, once every 3 years. After going through many options for planting crocosmia and caring for it in the country, we, given our difficult climate with bitter frosts and winds, settled on its permanent placement in the center of a green lawn in a flower bed of stones. We dig out the varieties of plants that we love for the winter, cut off half of the underground parts that have grown in half during the season, distribute some to the needy beauty lovers, and place the second in the basement for storage.

Disease and pest control

These flowers are damaged by the same diseases as common gladioli: fusarium (dry rot) and jaundice (grass). Affected plants must be destroyed. The montbrecia can be attacked by such pests as thrips, bear. We are fighting them with the appropriate special chemicals.

Preparing montbrecia bulbs for winter

We begin the preparation of montbrecia corms for winter in the fall by digging them out in dry weather. We do this when the crocosmia leaves begin to dry out. We shake the plant off the ground, cut off the leaves and stems at a height of 5 cm from the tubers. Dry the bulbs for several days before storing them. Tubers of the Japanese gladiolus do not need to separate the roots and shake off the soil from them. We sort bulbs and babies by size and type. We put them in wooden boxes or thick paper bags and lightly sprinkle with dry earth.

Preparation for wintering

If in the area where crocosmia is bred, the winters are cold, then it is advisable to dig the bulb for this period. This is usually done at the end of October so that it is fully ripe. After that, they are dried indoors at + 10 ° С and with good air access. They are stored in the winter in the same way as the bulbs of gladioli, at a temperature of + 3 ... + 7 ° C and a humidity of 70%, ensuring sufficient air exchange, in the basement, laid out in boxes and covered with moss or sand.

If the winters are mild, then you can not dig up the bulbs, but you need to cover them with a layer of mulch, and add shavings or dry foliage on top.

If the areas are warm, then it is enough to collect dry leaves and cover the area with flowers with them. Cover with foil on top. They remove it after frost and last year's leaf plates are cut to the ground.

Main conclusions

Mambrecia is an unpretentious flower that requires minimal maintenance. It is enough to carry out the following activities for the plant to delight with its delicate inflorescences: