This is the 3rd yr I've tried to grow them. I did get a bloom last year from some that shipped in the same yr. I wonder if the voles eat them. Anyway this is the third and final try- I even bought some that were supposed to be hardy here--- sigh...

Some tropicals looking bulbs are good here - some are not.
which are you successful with?
Karen

I bought three bags of them and they also have not come up. I had others and they have come. I don't know the answer on new ones.

I thought these were supposed to be easy! I have heard conflicting advice on whether they were hardy in my zone. I thought IÂd give it a try, if they didnÂt make it over the winter IÂd learn something. I put them in a south facing garden that acts more like Zone 6. But for them not to sprout at all?!?

For tender bulbs I grow dahlias and glads too, no problem with those.

They're not great on being disturbed each year - unlike glads and dahlias. They take a while to settle in, so some patience is needed. They make a colony, rather than single bulbs with spawn - with long strings of spent corms below the current one - and pointy runners as well, to expand the colony.

Here they usually start flowering after mid-summer and are doing well going into autumn. They take a while to come into full leaf.

Tritonia - similar to Crocosmia - started into leaf back in April (late autumn) and won't be flowering until November, for example.

But do they normally take over a month to sprout? At least the bulbs are still firm. Maybe these are not the conditions they like.

I had a bag of 20 and planted them in 2 "colonies" of 10, where I wanted them to stay. I noticed that in the pictures I saw online, they looked best in clusters. I gave them space to expand in over time.

As long as the bulbs are firm, don't dispair. They are hardy in your zone. I have noticed myself that up at my folks' place, some have come up but others haven't though their bulbs are still very firm/hard. (Normally they have quite a nice bunch already in growth.) Might be due to the goofy weather we've been having -- a lot of cool days with only an occasional really warm one. I suspect, unless the weather gets back to 'normal' shortly, this will be a rather wacked out summer plantwise.

I planted six crocosmia last year in late spring. It took a very long time for them to come up and only two did. This spring, I have about ten! I have a feeling that more of the original six must have come up this year. Don't give up on them, linnea. I have a feeling that they take awhile to settle in.

Just to further give you an indication of how goofy these things can be..........

Had to dig up a bunch of them out of their happy home at my folks' place. They had steadily advanced to the front of the bed they were in. Upon digging them up I discovered,as veti mentioned,that crocosmia tends to form chains of bulbs. So I broke them apart as the older bulbs looked like they had possible growth nodes on the sides of the old bulbs. Planted some them in two pots on my balconey. Left the pots out all winter (I have no place to store them) and I did nothing to insulate the pots. Well this spring as I was digging a hole in the larger of the two pots, I came across a couple of the bulbs. They had gone to mush. Wasn't really surprised as I know the soil must have frozen soil -- an unsheltered 3rd floor balconey during a MI winter ... how could the soil not freeze? So I chalked it up to being another casulty of experimentation. Well a week or two ago, I notice a few Crocosmia coming up in the other pot. I have no idea why the difference -- the two pots sit right next to each other. But it would seem that at least a few of the bulbs were made of tougher stuff.

Still nothing showing up. I will just leave them alone and see what happens next year. I keep seeing those blank spaces, though and having to stop myself from planting something else there! Any open spot in my garden is not normally open for long.

Do you know what variety you planted? It is generally accepted that 'Lucifer', a tall red one, is the easiest to obtain and also the hardiest in my zone. They can be slow to come up, especially if you haven't had much hot weather yet. I have several kinds and so far only the Lucifer has come up. I like them so much and they bloom for me when there is kind of a lull in my flower beds. If my 'Ember Glow', 'George Davidson' and 'Columbus' have died over the winter, I will just try them again.

Bought some ages ago at hardware store, perfect. Then bought them online, canadian bulb supplier and none grew. Same spot. Watered etc. Wont buy there again