Crocosmia Meteore - Montbretia

Crocosmia 'Meteore', also known as Montbretia, is a beautiful plant, perennial by its bulb, albeit a little frost-sensitive, but capable of producing dozens of flower clusters like small lilies throughout the summer. Each brightly coloured flower is a mix of red, orange, and yellow and gathered in long, arching spikes emerging from beautiful iris foliage. This plant is easy to grow in the sun, in moist soil. Its flowers shine in flower beds, in pots or as cut flowers.

Crocosmia is a herbaceous perennial plant with corms, originating from South Africa, belonging to the Iridaceae family. It shows many similarities with the gladiolus. The 'Meteore' variety forms a clump of flexible basal leaves, 50 cm (20in) tall in spring, and produces a tall, branching stem, 60 to 80 cm (24 to 32in) high, bearing a horizontal spike with nearly 50 red buds, which open into trumpet-shaped flowers, about 4 cm (2in) in diameter. The flower tube is red, while the petals are yellow, with orange brushstrokes. The dark green leaves are sword-shaped. Their surface is pleated and strongly veined, and they spread out in a dense fan or cluster, from the base of the plant. Their storage organ is a corm, which is an underground pseudo-bulb that looks like a bulb but is a swollen stem surrounded by scales. 

Montbretia are symbols of summer. They are easy to grow, vigorous, and undemanding and can be planted in the sun, in groups of 10 corms, in fertile and moist soil. Their vibrant colours, yellow, orange, or red, create cheerful spots of colour in gardens. They are beautiful combined with annuals or shrubs, and well-suited for natural gardens mixed with perennials or grasses. When they thrive in the ground in a sunny exposure and well-drained soil, they multiply and become more beautiful each year. They are also excellent flowers for cutting.