Lilac (?) and Mystery flower

jogarden · #1 July 20th, 2005, 10:39 PM

Hi,
Two plants for help with id.
The one tree looks like it belongs to the lilac family. These are ubiquitous in Victoria. The other is an unknown flower.
Thank you!
Jo

**Ron B** · #2 July 20th, 2005, 11:27 PM

Butterfly bush and a crocosmia, the latter looking like one of the non-red seedlings of the popular bigeneric hybrid 'Lucifer' (technically not a crocosmia but usually called one in practice) I have seen grown under its name down here.

***Daniel Mosquin*** · #3 July 21st, 2005, 12:29 AM

Ron - what's the reference re: the Crocosmia?

**Ron B** · #4 July 21st, 2005, 11:10 AM

Crocosmia x Curtonus.

***Daniel Mosquin*** · #5 July 21st, 2005, 11:25 AM

Interesting - thanks for that. It looks like the intergeneric hybrid hasn't been named yet, so everyone still uses Crocosmia. Here's a reference for the plant: Missouri Botanical Garden - Crocosmia 'Lucifer'

**Ron B** · #6 July 21st, 2005, 03:30 PM

That's why it doesn't look like the many others that are sold that are pure montbretia. There are at least a few other selections of such parentage, see New Ornamental Society (NOS) online Crocosmia Page for a listing and brief descriptions.

dryflygirl · #7 April 27th, 2006, 10:12 PM

I have a butterfly bush growing in my garden.
Where can I get the mystery flower Crocosmia x Curtonus?
And how do I care for one?

My garden receives full sun.

Thanks

**David in L A** · #8 April 27th, 2006, 11:09 PM

Peter Goldblatt lumped Curtonus into Crocosmia back in 1971.
(Cytological & morphological studies in southern African Iridaceae, Journal of South African Botany vol. 37, pp. 317-460)

**bcgift52** · #9 April 27th, 2006, 11:30 PM

dryflygirl: you can get Crocosmia in any local garden centre or nursery, or if you can wait till Fall - there's usually plenty to trade.

Dee · #10 April 28th, 2006, 11:09 AM

Be very careful which cultivar you choose. It can be a total thug, in many places in the South West of the UK they seed around and we have huge swathes of them on the roadsides.

I spent three years digging out vast dense mats of the corms when I moved into this house, and even now I'm still removing unwanted seedlings from the garden ever year. The one I like best, 'Rowalane Yellow' is slow to bulk up. Typical!

**Ron B** · #11 April 28th, 2006, 11:40 AM

>Peter Goldblatt lumped Curtonus into Crocosmia back in 1971.<

RHS Horticultural Database, which they like to follow here at UBC retrieves listings under Crocosmia (paniculata etc.) only when searched for Curtonus.

***Daniel Mosquin*** · #12 April 28th, 2006, 12:28 PM

Additionally, the RBG Kew Genera database follows Goldblatt. We would preferentially use this information over RHS if they differed.