Re: crocosmia mystery

Sean hit the nail on the head about crocosmias being from summer rainfall, or year-round rainfall parts of South Africa. Also, often from partly shaded places near streams or rivers. Despite this, they survive in gardens that get little or no water, probably getting enough from late rains to hang on to life.

 

Crocosmia x crocosmiifolia blooms mostly in early summer in San Francisco, where an old common name is "firecrackers."

 

Chasmanthe is definitely a different plant. It is summer dormant, and native to the Cape region of South Africa, where rain falls in the winter. If you look at the flowers closely, you can see the difference. The flowers of crocosmia have 6 petals (or tepals) of nearly the same size. Chasmanthe has an upper tepal that is much longer than the other 5. The flowers of Chasmanthe are arranged in a rather formal, flat, arrow -shaped inflorescence, while those of Crocosmia are more informally arranged.

 

In some years, the last of the Chasmanthes have been blooming at the same time as the first of the crocosmias in San Francisco, but there is usually no overlap in bloom.

 

I wrote about both of these plants in my book Wildly Successful Plants: Northern Califonia.

 

Pam Peirce,

San Francisco, CA

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