Jane and Jim:
The virus is most evident as broken color stripes in flowers. Not distinguishable in foliage.
It is shown in several cultivars in the web.
> Date: Sun, 26 Jun 2011 11:16:30 -0700
> To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org
> From: janemcgary@earthlink.net
> Subject: Re: [pbs] Crocosmia
>
> I recently bought a number of Crocosmia selections from Far Reaches
> Farm, the nursery Diane Whitehead mentioned. They all look healthy
> but I'll keep a close eye on them for signs of virus, following
> Alberto's advice. In my former garden the only cultivar that survived
> was 'Lucifer', but now that I'm in a warmer place I'll try more. I
> have them in my just--installed cutting garden, up above the winter
> "soggy" line. I must get some 'Lucifer' from the old garden this
> fall. It is the site of wars there among the hummingbirds.
>
> I just saw the first hummingbird in this new garden this morning,
> feeding on the flowers of Eccremocarpus scaber,. a Chilean climber.
> I'm not sure if it has a tuberous storage root, but it's not nearly
> as tender as British books will tell you: plants set out in October
> survived, green, through a colder than average winter and have now
> climbed up to the gutters of the bulb house -- well over 2 meters --
> and are decorating it with their tubular scarlet flowers. It is very
> easy to grow from seed; in fact, I think the plants here were
> self-sown into pots in the solarium. Many people in this area put out
> hummingbird feeders, but I think it's much better to grow flowers for
> them to feed on, so they'll get better nutrition and be less exposed
> to disease. Among bulbs, they especially love Dichelostemma ida-maia,
> which is an open garden plant for us.
>
> Jane McGary
> Portland, Oregon, USA
>
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