CROCOSMIA - A BRIEF HISTORY

The genus Crocosmia or, as  it is  sometimes and  historically referred to, Montbretia or Tritonia, is a small genus of South African iridaceous plants and contains eight species. The species include  mathewsiana,  pearsei,  aurea,  paniculata,  pottsii, masoniorum,  fucata and the recently transferred Crocosmia ambongensis from Madagascar, from the genus Geissorhiza.

It is a genus of significant horticultural merit.  The major single  horticultural development of the genus occurred in France in 1879.  Victor Lemoine of Nancy crossed C. aurea (Tritonia aurea) with C. pottsii (Montbretia pottsii) and produced the commonly known interspecific hybrid Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora (Montbretia crocosmiaeflora), the common Montbretia, the global weed, which has given the genus such a bad reputation.

Crocosmia/Lemoine Hybrid  C. x crocosmiiflora

However, it was Lemoine who led the way in Crocosmia breeding, producing many far superior garden hybrids, great advances being made after 1886 with the introduction of C. aurea 'Imperialis' into Lemoine's crocosmiiflora strain.C. aurea 'Imperialis' was named by  Victor Lemoine  but was bred  by  another  eminent European plantsman, Max Leitchlin of Baden-Baden, Germany. 'Imperialis' was a result of crossing  C. aurea  with itself, and  most probably and by  pure luck or accident a polyploid seedling was produced. Further breeding with it resulted in the production of larger but less hardy flowers; it is though the original parent of all the large flowered Montbretia.

From 1879 - 1908 Lemoine produced 55 varieties that he sold and exported from his nursery in France. Included with these are two completely double varieties, 'Globe d'or' and the double C. x crocosmiiflora. Lemoine's work was also noticed by other European breeders such as Wilhelm Pfitzer, Leonard Lille, Jacques Welker and Francois-Valerie Gerbeaux; who also produced them, in lesser number. Perhaps the most important being Jacques Welker, of Le Celle St.Cloud, Bougival, Paris.

	Crocosmia/Lemoine Hybrid   Crocosmia x diademe
Crocosmia/Lemoine Hybrid  C. x Solfatare

Hybridisation began in Britain as early as 1895 with the interest of George Davison, head gardener for Col. Petre at Westwick Hall, Norfolk. His first hybrid called 'George Davison' RHS Award of Merit 1902 was of Lemoine parentage but Davison was not happy with the Lemoine hybrids for breeding purposes as he wanted to produce hybrids that were more suitable for growing in British gardens, and had the quality of hardiness.
Davison chose a newly imported Pfitzer hybrid from Germany called 'Germania' as the pollen donor; this was a hybrid of Leitchlin's Crocosmia aurea 'Imperialis' and Lemoine's 'Etoile de Feu'. The cross was probably the second most important cross regarding the development of the genus as a new strain of potentially polyploid forms was created, but these were hardier because of the 'George Davison' parentage.

Davison produced eleven hybrids from 1895-1912, including the popular hybrids of 'George Davison', 'Lady Hamilton' and 'Star of the East.' Davison did not sell plants from a nursery at Westwick he only bred them; a company called Wallace and Co., who were nursery and landscape specialists and actually commissioned Davison's breeding and propagated and distributed his material.

Crocosmia/Westwick - Davison Hybrid  C.  x Prometheus

Sadly, like a great many other hybrids the majority have been lost to cultivation. George Davison had to give up Montbretias for apples in 1908, fortunately stocks of Montbretias were donated to Sydney Morris for further development. It was this donation that gave rise to the largest, brightest and most popular strain of Montbretias ever created, the Earlham Giant Strain.

No-one knows what attracted Sydney Morris to Montbretias, whether it was his head gardener George Henley or the popularity of George Davison's hybrids; one think is sure though the story of the Earlham Strain really puts the icing on the cake with regards the story of the development of the genus. The early breeding work was done in the grounds of Wretham Hall, Norfolk; Wretham Hall having burnt down in 1900. Documentation is very limited regarding this early work but we know that the first hybrid was developed in 1909 and was named after its breeder 'George Henley', and was awarded a RHS Award of Merit later that year. 
In 1912 or 1913 Sydney Morris must have either bought or leased Earlham Hall, Norwich, from the Guerneyfamily as we know that Wallace and Co. were commissioned to design and landscape the grounds of Earlham Hall. J.E.Fitt was chosen by Wallace and Co. to supervise this work.
According to the Fitt family, Morris was so pleased with the work of this young horticulturalist that he was asked to stay on and assist George Henleyas his head gardener was reaching retirement.

J.E.Fitt finally took over from George Henley in 1916/17 and became Morris's head gardener at Earlham Hall, where he worked until Morris's death in 1924. On Morris's death J.E.Fitt was bequest all of the Montbretia stocks. Earlham Hall was then sold to Norwich Municipal Council and is now part of the University of East Anglia. Before its sale J.E.Fitt was asked to become the head gardener for the Honary Mrs. Edwin Montagu of Breccles Hall, Attleborough, Norfolk. Beatrice Venetia Montagu and J.E.Fitt carried on breeding and showing Montbretia. All new hybrids were still called Earlham hybrids in memory of Sydney Morris and many new forms were shown and givenRHS Awards of Merit like the ones that were originally raised at Earlham Hall. Similarly, the naming of their hybrids didn't change much as Earlham Hybrids as a general rule are either named because of a floral attribute or after VIPs or important plantsmen of the time e.g. Citronella, Lady Churchill or E. A. Bowles. These two latter names have to be given a mention for Lady Churchill (Clementine Churchill) was the cousin of Beatrice Venetia Montagu and E. A. Bowles had painted some of the Earlham Hybrids, namely 'Citronella', 'Queen Alexandra' and 'His Majesty'.

Sir Winston Churchill and Lady Churchill were frequent visitors to Breccles Hall; indeed like the well-known wall that Churchill built at Chartwell, he also built a wall at Breccles. But as well as this J.E.Fitt's assistant Albert Hill who was in charge of Montbretias was asked to become head gardener at Chartwell in 1928; and he indeed went on to breed a number of Montbretia there. Earlham Hybrids, unlike Davison's hybrids were sold from both Earlham Hall and Breccles Hall, and because of their size and beauty they became  extremely fashionable and commanded very high prices. For example, the hybrid called 'His Majesty' RHS Award of Merit 1919, was sold by Sydney Morris in 1920 for £2 per corm.

From 1909 to 1939 over one hundred Earlham Giant Montbretias were produced and quite surprisingly hybrids were raised from seed to flower in only nine months.  Their selection was indeed very rigorous as only the best hybrids were commercially released and it would seem that interest and devotion to the plants was indeed more important to their breeders than any potential commercial gain.  J.E.Fitt's ambition being to produce a pure pink and a pure white form, sadly he did not succeed, he died in 1964 leaving others to carry on his work in his memory.

 One can only hope that a truly magnificent pink, and a white form, will be bred from Earlham parentage in the future and be named in his honour. Our research is undertaken purely for pleasure and we regard ourselves as catalysts for conservation. 
The NCCPG National Collection of Crocosmia here is held on a garden just 17m x 15m in size, and conserves over 200 forms. Conservation is not just about looking after what you have, as finding and preserving many of those hybrids that are lost to cultivation is as important, if not more. 

Crocosmia/Earlham - Fitt Hybrid C. x 'Queen of Spain'

Three-quarters of all pre-war hybrids are lost too cultivation; whether it's because of fashion trends, hardiness, pest or disease, change of garden ownership, loss of plant labels or 'The Dig for Victory' campaign in the UK during WWII; one has to be optimistic that with both dedication and commitment some of them at least will one day be found.

Crocosmia/Westwick - Davison Hybrid  C. 'Star of the East'

I am grateful to so many people that have helped us in the past, both in Britain,especially Norfolk, and the rest of the world. It is hoped that with their continuing support and the support of others, that just some of those hybrids that are lost will eventually be found.

For more pictures of Crocosmia visit - http://www.theafricangarden.com/page38.html

To read more about our conservation work visit - www.crocosmiaheritage.com

Article written by David Fenwick
NCCPG National Plant Heritage Collections of Crocosmia with Chasmanthe and Tulbaghia. Collector and conservor of many South African bulb genera.


Websites:
www.theafricangarden.com
www.crocosmiaheritage.com

Address:
David Fenwick
NCCPG National Collection of Crocosmia with Chasmanthe and Tulbaghia
The African Garden
96 Wasdale Gardens
Estover Plymouth
Devon England
PL6 8TW