I look forward to this yearly visit and now — a rare treat — the hummingbird perches on a crocosmia stem, preening her feathers in shimmery golds and emeralds.
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Crocosmia aurea, common names falling stars, Valentine flower, or montbretia, is a perennial flowering plant belonging to the family Iridaceae.
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Crocosmia corm with the tunic partly stripped to show its origin at the nodes on the corm cortex Crocosmia corm anatomy, showing tunic, cortex of storage tissue, central medulla, and emergence of a new corm from a bud near the top. Crocosmia corm with stolons emerging through the tunic. The stolons originate at the axillary buds of the corm scales, and generally produce new corms at their tips A corm consists of one or more internodes with at least one growing point, generally with protective leaves modified into skins or tunics. The tunic of a corm forms from dead petiole sheaths—remnants of leaves produced in previous years.
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Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora, montbretia, is a garden hybrid of C. aurea and C. pottsii, first bred in 1880 in France by Victor Lemoine.Parnell, J. and Curtis, T. 2012. Webb's An Irish Flora. Cork University Press.
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Romulea elliptica M.P.de Vos was identified in 1972 and by 1980 had become a vulnerable species. In 2012 it was declared endangered. She retired in 1977 and thereafter published nine more scientific papers (bringing the total to 37). These included revisions of Tritonia, Crocosmia, Chasmantha and Ixia.
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Crocosmia aurea reaches on average in height. It grows from basal underground corms with long stolons. The basal, alternate leaves are cauline, linear, with a distinct midvein and entire margins, about wide. At the end of the flower stalk they have colourful branched inflorescences of bright orange to red flowers, reaching on average in diameter.
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She tracked the front-running Aerolithe before launching a strong challenge on the outside but in another close finish she was beaten into fourth place behind Normcore, Primo Scene and Crocosmia. Lucky Lilac wins the Queen Elizabeth II Cup Lucky Lilac returned from her summer break to contest the Grade 2 Fuchu Himba Stakes over 1800 metres at Tokyo on 14 October and finished third behind Scarlet Color and Frontier Queen. Christophe Soumillon took over from Ishibashi for the filly's next race, the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup on 10 November at Kyoto in which she started the 4.4/1 third choice in the betting behind the three-year-olds Loves Only You and Chrono Genesis. Her other fifteen opponents included Crocosmia, Scarlet Color and Frontier Queen.
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Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora grows to 90 cm high with long sword-shaped leaves, shorter than the flowering stem and arising from the plant base, ribbed and up to 20mm wide. The base is a corm, a swollen underground stem lasting one year. The flowers are up to 5 cm long and coloured deep orange.Clapham, A.R., Tutin, T.G. and Warburg, E.F.. 1968.
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These stolons from the corm of a Crocosmia are stems that emerged from axillary buds at the nodes of the tunic leaves. Stolons may or may not have long internodes. The leaves along the stolon are usually very small, but in a few cases such as Stachys sylvatica are normal in size. Stolons arise from the base of the plant.
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Tubers may form at the end of underground runners and persist. Corms are short lived vertical shoots with terminal inflorescences and shrivel once flowering has occurred. However, intermediate forms may occur such as in Crocosmia (Asparagales). Some monocots may also produce shoots that grow directly down into the soil, these are geophilous shoots (Tillich, Figure 11) that help overcome the limited trunk stability of large woody monocots.
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She settled on the inside in mid division as Crocosmia set the pace from Loves Only You, before making rapid progress in the straight, overtaking Crocosmia 100 metres from the finish and winning by one and a quarter lengths. After the race Soumillon said "I was very confident when I saw how good she was in training but today she was even better. She was really concentrating and I saw she was reacting very fast... The pace was not very fast so I thought it would be a little bit hard to make up ground, but finally I took the option to stay in the inside and she really quickened well and at the 200-meter marker when I saw the gap was still open". On her final appearance of the year Lucky Lilac was sent to Sha Tin Racecourse for the Hong Kong Vase over 2400 metres in December.
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Crocosmia paniculata is a bulbous flowering plant that is native to eastern South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland, growing in wet areas by streams, marshes, and drainages. Plants reach 4 to 5 ft (1.2–1.5 m) tall, with lanceolate leaves and deep orange to orange-brown flowers. It is a popular ornamental plant. The plant has escaped cultivation and become established in the wild in parts of the United Kingdom.
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In 1991, Christianna was brought in as vocalist as Bari-Bari felt that male vocals were too similar to Williams and Christian Death. William Faith was added on bass at the same time. An association with Gymnastic Records was started with the compilation "American Gothic", which featured Mephisto Walz's "Tangia". “Crocosmia” was then recorded for European release, consisting of new tracks and some older tracks redone with Christianna on vocals.
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In 1988, Bari-Bari started working on tracks with Steven Grey in Hollywood at a studio where the former worked. They regrouped with David Hermon (bass), Mondo (vox) and Nariki Shimooka (guitar). Playing the first EP and some of Bari-Bari's Christian Death material they added new songs that would later be released on the “Crocosmia”, “Terra-Regina” and “Thalia” labels. During this period, what would later become "Mephisto Walz Rarities 1989" were recorded live in studio.
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An antique spurge plant, Euphorbia antiquorum, sending out rhizomes Lotus rhizome sliced and peeled Turmeric rhizome, whole and ground into a spice Stolons growing from nodes from a corm of Crocosmia In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (, from "mass of roots", from "cause to strike root") is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow horizontally. The rhizome also retains the ability to allow new shoots to grow upwards.
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It contains many genera, including Afrocrocus, Babiana, Chasmanthe, Crocosmia, Crocus, Cyanixia, Devia, Dierama, Duthieastrum, Freesia, Geissorhiza, Gladiolus, Hesperantha, Ixia, Lapeirousia, Melasphaerula, Micranthus, Pillansia, Romulea, Sparaxis, Savannosiphon, Syringodea, Thereianthus, Tritonia, Tritoniopsis, Xenoscapa and Watsonia. They are mainly from Africa, but includes members from Europe and Asia. The rootstock is usually a corm, they have blooms which sometimes have scent are collected in inflorescence and contain six tepals. The nectar is produced mostly in the base of the bloom from the glands of the ovary, which is where the flower forms a tube-like end.
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Many species in the iris family have a great economic importance in ornamental horticulture and the cut flower industry, especially Gladiolus, Freesia, Sparaxis, Iris, Tigridia (tiger lily), Ixia (corn lily), Romulea, Neomarica, Moraea (butterfly lily), Nemastylis, Belamcanda, Sisyrinchium (blue-eyed grass), Crocosmia and Trimezia. Many other genera, both perennials and bulbs, are grown in gardens in tropical and temperate regions (e.g. Watsonia, Crocus, Dietes, Tritonia, Hesperantha and Neomarica). Moraea and Homeria are two genera of poisonous plants which are a problem in sheep and cattle producing regions, notably in South Africa.
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The filly eventually made her comeback in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup when she was matched against older fillies and mares for the first time. Starting the 1.5/1 favourite she raced in second place for most of the way but was unable to quicken in the straight and came home third behind Lucky Lilac and the front-running Crocosmia. In January 2020, at the JRA Awards for 2019, Loves Only You finished runner-up to Gran Alegria in the poll to determine the JRA Award for Best Three-Year-Old Filly, taking 99 of the 274 votes.
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Crocosmia corm, showing solid construction with outer tunic and shoots emerging from the top A corm is a short, vertical, swollen underground plant stem consisting of one or more internodes with at least one growing point, with protective leaves modified into skins or tunics. The thin tunic leaves are dry papery, dead sheaths, formed from the leaves produced the year before. They act as a covering that protects the corm from insects and water loss. Internally a corm is mostly made of starch-containing parenchyma cells above a more-or-less circular basal node that grows roots.
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As in the previous year, Mikki Queen began her autumn campaign by running third in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup; on this occasion she produced a "powerful late run" but was beaten a neck and a head by Mozu Katchan and Crocosmia in a three-way photo finish. The mare ended her track career on 24 December when she came home unplaced behind Kitasan Black in the Arima Kinen. In the JRA Awards for 2017 Mikki Queen finished third behind Vivlos and Admire Lead in the voting for the JRA Award for Best Older Filly or Mare. She was rated the third best older filly or mare in Japan behind Vivlos and Queens Ring in the official Japanese ratings.
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Until around 2010, the metal floor tiles of the pit head baths were still in situ, but have since been removed by scrap thieves. The stables are easily identifiable, with drainage channels running down the centre, and post-holes where the stalls would have been. The steps leading up to the door of the colliery's office block are still in situ, and Peruvian Lilies can still be found where the flower beds at the front of the building were. Considerable numbers of Crocosmia and Lupins can also be found growing in the area where the screens and headgear of the coal-drawing shafts once stood, most likely as a result of somebody tipping garden waste.
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She started the 2.2/1 favourite against thirteen other fillies and mares but despite finishing strongly she was failed by a neck to overhaul Crocosmia. Four weeks later the filly was stepped up in distance and started 1.8/1 favourite for the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup over 2200 metres at Kyoto in which she was partnered by Christophe Lemaire. She was in contention throughout the race but was unable to make any significant progress in the closing stages and came home fifth behind the three-year-old Mozu Katchan. In January 2018 she topped the poll to take the JRA Award for Best Older Filly or Mare for 2017 with 194 of the 290 votes.
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On her return from a five-month break Lys Gracieux finished second by a neck to Deirdre in the Fuchu Himba Stakes over 1800 metres at Tokyo on 13 October. Four weeks after her defeat in Tokyo the filly was partnered by João Moreira when she made her second attempt to win the Queen Elizabeth II Cup and started the 2.7/1 third choice in the betting behind Mozu Katchan and Normcore (Shion Stakes) while the other fourteen entrants included Cantabile (Rose Stakes), Miss Panthere and Admire Lead (2017 Victoria Mile). Lys Gracieux race in mid-division before switching to the outside in the final turn and produced a sustained run in the straight to run down the front-running Crocosmia and win by a neck.
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After a late summer break Deirdre returned to the track for the Grade 2 Fuchu Himba Stakes at Tokyo on 15 October and started the 1.3/1 favourite ahead of ten opponents including Lys Gracieux, Soul Stirring, Jour Polaire (Victoria Mile), Crocosmia (winner of the race in 2017) and Frontier Queen. With Lemaire in the saddle she raced towards the rear of the field before making steady progress in the straight and ran down Lys Gracieux in the final strides to win by a neck. Deirdre ended her season with a trip to Hong Kong to contest the Hong Kong Cup over 2000 metres at Sha Tin Racecourse. Starting the 1.8/1 favourite she kept on well in the straight but went down by a length to the front-running Glorious Forever.
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Replica Scottish sundial as a centrepiece Described as an "educational garden to inspire and educate visitors on what and how to grow a very wide range of more unusual plants which are available in the trade", Greenbank Garden's distinctive feature is its use of hedging and tall plants to divide the gardens into about twelve distinctly characteristic areas. The gardens contain over 3,700 plants depending on the season. These include spring bulbs, apple and cherry blossom, astilbe, aubretia, deutzia, dicentra, saxifrages, hydrangeas, primulas, dahlias, roses, philadelphus, azalea, rhododendron, lythrum, crocosmia, phlox, cosmos, echinops, sedum, lavatera, monarda, helenium and sweet william, as well as rodgersia pinnata superba, echevaria gibbiflora metallica and agrostemma. The National Trust operates a tea-room next to the garden, where there is a substantial encyclopædia of plants, allowing visitors to identify specimens they do not recognise.
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