Crocosmia ‘Firestarter’

Firestarter is a crocosmia that lives up to its name in midsummer, when arching wands lined with flame-orange, yellow-throated trumpets rise from fans of pleated, sword-like foliage. Hummingbirds treat it like a filling station, and the cut stems last well in a vase.

It grows from spreading corms into a clump 1 to 2 feet around. Give it full sun to part sun and reasonably drained soil, with some moisture during bloom season. In Birmingham the corms overwinter in the ground under a mulch blanket. Divide congested clumps every few years to renew flowering.