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January 2021 Gardeners are patient people. We can’t really hurry nature, so we learn to orchestrate the selection and placement of plants to best suit their needs for light, soil conditions, and climate tolerance. At the same time, we arrange plants to achieve our desired overall look and feel of the garden––texture, color, height, movement (grasses sway in the breeze). We attempt to have that coveted succession of bloom, with several beauties showing off at any point in the growing season. Nature demands we march to her circadian rhythm. We know who’s boss. I’m fairly adept physically and mentally to

Ahh! Crocosmias. A stand of crocosmias in full bloom can stop cars. Bicyclists make U-turns, and pedestrians cross streets to get a closer look. Admirers drop their jaws and want to know, “What are those?” Sometimes called montbretias, crocosmias (krō-KOZ-me-uh) recently finished their dazzling display as the graceful stars of my mid-summer garden. Their elegant architecture thrills me, and I eagerly anticipate the style they bring to the plant beds each year. My garden hosts the appropriately named variety ‘Lucifer,’ brashly displaying the brightest, boldest scarlet red you can imagine.  Hints of yellow and orange brush the throats of the