Crocosmia in an established garden

covgirl

Hello all, I was hoping someone could help me. We have vast amounts of crocosmia absolutely everywhere. I quite like its weed supressant qualities but other than that it's a pain in the backside. The flowers are very pretty, I know, and I'll probably keep some, I just don't want it to choke everything else in the process! Thinning and removing it isn't such a problem in the more open parts of the garden, but we also have it growing through (and all but suffocating) well established shrubs, including a large but rather pretty fuchsia and what I think may be a quince. I'd like to remove some or all of the crocosmia bulbs from beneath these, but I'm at a loss to figure out how to get to them without disturbing the roots of the shrubs. Has anyone got any ideas on how do do it, or when would be the best time to do it if I'm to minimise damage to the plants I do want to keep?

nodwah

Dunno other than getting in there with a trowel - it's a night mare to get rid of - it's all over my garden too and every teeeny wee bulbil that you leave will grow back -:mad:

dogstarheaven

i found it v annoying, but as a novice years ago, i thought it was a v pretty plant. i moved to a different house now and i definately wouldn't want to see it back again...!
the best way is to keep cutting the leaf stems down to ground level which you;'ll have to repeat a few times in the growing season. i know they should be flowering pretty soon so do this asap. the best way is to wait till its dormant say oct time and dig it all out, even with your shrubs and perennials which you'll have to be careful with.. you won't get every single bulblet out as they can be v small to find.

it's a nuisance plant and will deplete all your moisture and nutrients from the other plants that you wish to develop more of. so act as you can, or else the whole garden will be one crocosmia city!

if you want to be a completely ruthless, use roundup, that'll kill it but be careful not to get it on your other precious plants.

stumpycat

I Freecycled loads of it - I think I had 7 or 8 plastic bags full of it and grape hyacinth.
The best way I found to get rid of it from round other plants was to dig the whole thing up and gently take out the bulbs from between the roots - you risk disturbing the roots, but you can get rid of the crocosmia and all the couch grass that tends to hide away in clumps of it...