Life

GARDENING: Plant of the week – Crocosmia for summer colour

Crocosmia brings colour to your summer garden
Crocosmia brings colour to your summer garden Crocosmia brings colour to your summer garden

ALSO known as montbretia, these frost hardy corms grown for their brightly coloured flowers, which last late into summer, also provide architectural value with their sword-shaped, upright leaves. Among the most dazzling is C. 'Lucifer', which grows to around 1-1.2m (3-4ft) tall and bears sizzling tomato-red blooms, ideal for mixed and herbaceous borders, alongside heleniums and rudbeckias. The flowers are excellent for cutting and will tolerate sun or dappled shade, preferring moist but well-drained fertile soil. Other good types include C. 'Bressingham Blaze', a shorter variety with fiery orange-red flowers with a yellow throat, which looks great in a hot colour theme. Give the plants a good mulch in winter and divide or separate overgrown clumps in spring. Be warned, though, some of them do spread like wild fire so you'll need to be vigilant to keep them in check.

WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK

:: Hoe regularly to stop weeds becoming established and seeding.

:: Transplant seedlings of wallflower, digitalis and myosotis 9in apart in shallow drills.

:: Remove seed heads from bedding dahlias to encourage them to continue producing flowers.

:: New canes which will carry next year's crop of blackberries and loganberries should be tied in as they grow.

:: Sow winter varieties of spinach in succession to provide crops from autumn to spring.

:: After fruiting, prune some of the oldest blackcurrant stems.

:: Check containers every day to see if they need watering.

:: Cut gladioli for decoration as soon as the first flowers on the spike are open.

:: Continue to layer border carnations.

:: Plant new summer varieties of strawberries and don't let them dry out.

:: Pot up seedlings sown in the greenhouse last month and move them into individual pots when rooted.