Crocosmia

by Georgeanne Vyverberg

It’s like me

can’t make up my mind

leave or stay

30 plus years of roots pull me down

keep me here

my head says time to go

then,

up I come in spring

new spot

same place.

Years ago I thought I would make a little money by growing flowers and selling them at the roadside of my little farm.  It worked out pretty well, but after a couple of years I decided it was more work than I wanted to do so I gave it up.  However one plant decided not to give up.  It grows from a corm and is distantly related to the Iris. Its official Latin name is Crocosmia, but it has many intriguing “common” names: Lucifer, Copper tips, Falling stars, Aunt Eliza, Star of the east, Little redhead, Meteor, Ember glow and Voyager to name a few!  Most of these names are fairly descriptive of its flowers, which are arched spikes borne on tall Iris like leaves, but in my experience Voyager is the more accurate name.

Every year it appears. Some years in the garlic patch, others in with the potatoes.  It’s anybody’s guess, but it’s always there..somewhere.  One of the traits of this plant is that it has contractile roots, which mean that they drag the plant deeper into the soil.  It’s stubborn and despite getting tilled up every fall, and dragged around the garden it survives by digging in over winter and popping back up somewhere the following spring.