Crocosmia/Montbretia

I definitely want some of this in my garden, but I'm torn on where to put it.

My two options are:

* In the NNW-Facing front garden, where I want the majority of my flowers.
I'm planning to dig an extra bed on the WEST fence, and the whole garden gets a lot of sunshine in the summer months even with its Northerly aspect. However, I've heard Crocosmia prefers south aspects.. but then I've also heard most strains are really hardy so I wonder if it'd care.

* South facing, along a new fence I'll put in to separate the veg garden from the recreational back garden.
This would also be a good place, but preferably I want to put some Cotoneaster Horizontalis along that fence.

What do you think? Should I swap the Crocosmia and the Cotoneaster in my plans? Or do you think the former would deal with a north-ish aspect?

Some pictures to show how much sun the NNW area gets in the growing season; both are taken in the early/mid afternoon time, by the position of the sun. The wooden fence is where I'd like to put the new bed.

April-ish || May/June-ish

 

@Super Lucyjin hope this link helps till the rest of the GC er family wake up http://www.thecrocosmiagardens.net/5330371

 

Be careful where you plant it as they can become invasive.

 

When overcrowded also results in less flowers.

 

Aye thanks, I've read it can be a bit of a monster! A lot of the reason I want to give it its own bed rather than mixing it in with things. Mum had some in the family back garden, but it was growing in a tiny gap of a bed and sandwiched between a fence on one side and paving slabs on the other three, so it couldn't really get anywhere!

I've been seeing that in some of my readings too, thanks! Apparently you need to dig the corms either before or after the frosts and divide them? All this new maintenance stuff to learn, haha.

 

Fortunately for us Croc fans some of the newer smaller flowering varieties are know to be less invasive
http://www.gransnet.com/life-and-style/gardening/crocosmias

Which ones to choose for your garden
Early summer

• Aurea with orange red flowers
• 'Mars' with reddish-toned flowers
• 'George Davison' with lovely warm orange tones
• 'Solfatare' with bronze-tinged leaves and apricot yellow flowers

Late summer

• Manosorum is one of the finest shaded varieties, with large upturned fiery flowers in shades of orange and scarlet
• 'Star of the East' is a delicate orange-flowered plant
• 'Lucifer' is a great tall plant with spires of glowing red, plus big seed heads to give longer interest
• 'Lady Hamilton' has a strong yellow colour

Companion planting
These lovely plants need differing shapes of accompanying perennials to offset their stature. Some wonderful design groupings would include Bergenias and Rudbeckias, which will provide great contrast of leaf texture, flower form and long flowering season. Bulbs could include spring flowers such as Narcissi and bulbous ‘Iris’. Natural planting companions also include grasses. Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster' and Anamanthele lessoniana, accompanied by small tussocks of evergreen Hebe topiarus look fantastic with these plants.

Propagation