Emily McKenzie Crocosmia

Fiery-colored lily-like blooms, the Emily McKenzie Crocosmia (Crocosmia x 'Emily McKenzie') is a prolific flowering corm featuring upright clumps of dark-green foliage for a summer-long exotic display!

The narrow leaves reach a good-sized 3 feet in height and form thick bunches that bloom just as other flowers are calling it quits in the heat! Attracting a host of pollinators, these orange flowers with large petals, feature a bold red stripe that forms a ring surrounding a yellow throat. Each with a long yellow stamen sticking out from the center like a landing post for hummingbirds.

Fantastic focal points among other sun-loving garden plants or containers, Crocosmia’s dark green, narrow foliage really stands out even when not in bloom. A fantastic backdrop to other perennials and small shrubs, these can easily be interspersed among other plants without taking up too much space.

Featuring many buds that open from bottom to top, much like a spray of Daylily or Freesia, you’ll enjoy weeks of blooms for your perennial borders and cutting gardens! Widely grown as cut flowers, these are long-lasting both in the vase and in the landscape!

Also known as Montbretia, these unique flowering plants are natives of South Africa. Forming clumps of long, grassy leaves that also add vertical elements anywhere they’re planted. Tolerant and resistant, these are hardy plants that tolerate anything most landscapes can throw at them!

How to Use Emily McKenzie Crocosmia In The Landscape

As a vertical thriller among Perennial and Summer Bulb plants, as well as containers and planters, the fiery color combination lights up the sunny landscape! As tall accents and focal points, the sword-like, dark foliage creates a unique texture that stands out among other similar plants like Canna, Red Hot Poker Plants and Loosestrife.

Plant with Allium or Agapanthus where the orange and blues can contrast with each other, or among tall summer ornamental grasses and evergreens for a fantastic mixture of textures! Plant in rows and drifts for incredible swaths of color all summer!

Plant on porches and balconies, any sunny location with good drainage is lovely for these unusual plants! They’re sure to stand out as specimens and focal points anywhere they grow!

Create summer hedges and privacy with these quick-growing plants, providing screening around patios and seating areas for a tranquil haven. Grow in rows along sunny garages and borders where the brilliant color provides a tropical feel to any space!

Easily drawing butterflies and hummingbirds, these exotic blooms are perfectly at home throughout your Pollinator gardens, where the summer-long blooms provide a bounty for your pollinators!

The fantastic flowers are naturals for spicing up your bouquets and floral arrangements. So be sure to include this plant among your Cottage and Cutting garden beds and borders. Long after the blooms fade, the fantastic upright foliage provides a wonderful backdrop for your late summer and fall-blooming flowers, plus vertical accents on their own!

Showy and perfect among Perennial beds, these are also ideal plants for those hard-to-mow slopes and steep banks! Thriving on lower moisture once established, you’ll enjoy bold color and lush foliage instead of a steep incline that’s potentially dangerous to maintain!

With no issues with heat or humidity, these low-maintenance corms tolerate a wide range of conditions and are very drought tolerant and deer resistant, even the rabbits seem to leave them alone!

#ProPlantTips For Care

Full sun plants in the cooler climates of USDA growing zones 6 through 9, Crocosmia benefit from some afternoon shade in the hotter hardiness zones. Those in colder climates can treat these bulbs as they do Dahlia, digging them up and storing them for the winter, or treating these as annual accents!

A low moisture requirement plant once established this plant tolerates drought very well. Be sure to provide consistent moisture while establishing and then moderate moisture to keep your plants looking their best through the heat.

Tolerating a wide range of soil types, these can endure clay, loam and sandy sites so long as they are in well-drained soil with added fertility. Tolerant of salt, coastal environments will find no issues with these fantastic blooms!

Deadhead your plants once the flowers are done for the year, but allow the foliage to remain and make food for the corm until fall. Featuring yellow fall color, the sword-like foliage should be pruned back in late Autumn after frost has killed these to the ground. Be sure to clean up any dead leaves to prevent fungus or mildews from wintering over.

Emily McKenzie Crocosmia is a fantastically brilliant flower that will fill your garden with vibrant, exotic beauty and your vases with eye-catching blooms! Order your own hummingbird landing pads today at NatureHills.com!