Clearing borders and saving some plants

Thanks @Palustris - sounds like I have a good chance of success. I can store them along the side of our house which is very sheltered, sounds like they would be ok there as long as we don’t get any super cold weather.

 

It looks like a herbaceous one in your pic, and yes - the tree peonies are woodier.
I agree re the hellebores - a large rootball means there's little chance of failure.Just make sure the pot it big enough for it all. If you do that with any plant [ good rootball] they barely notice they've been moved.

I wouldn't worry about any colder weather either. A lot of potted stuff here wouldn't manage if that was the case, and it's also much easier when it's plants from your own plot as they're well accustomed to your conditions and climate.

 

So far my efforts have yielded two peonies, 10 geraniums from a single clump, and 10 primroses which I rescued as they were growing on top of the horrendous weed membrane the previous occupants used.

My next problem is the crocosmia, which seem to comprise a solid mat of little bulbs about a foot wide, 3 feet long and four inches deep. What the heck do I do with that?? Is it even worth rescuing - there weren’t that many flowers this summer.

 

Crocosmias reproduce by making more corms, and the new ones are at the top of the clump. The reason for lack of flowers will be just that problem - too much old stuff. If you can be bothered, you could split the clump, and remove some of the older corms before replanting.
Just be careful with the peonies, as already said. There's an old myth about them not liking being moved, but it's exactly that - a myth. The main problem with moving them is depth of planting, so make sure they aren't buried too deep. That's what affects flowering. I have to keep mine a bit higher as it's easy for them to get very wet at the crowns.

The primroses would be fine just being replanted if you had a suitable site, especiallly if they're the native primula. They're virtually indestructible and will reproduce easily.

 

Ah ok, so best to keep the corms near the top and discard the ones at the bottom. Makes sense! Do I just store them dry or pot them up now?

 

I would pot them up, but that is because I have never managed to keep them dried off. Also I doubt if you have managed to remove all the corms from your border. I've them coming up through the crazy paving of a path.

 

I have been dividing hostas in the last couple of weeks and potting them up in plastic pots. A pruning saw to get through the clump came in very handy, they were quite old and woody, but new clumps might divide using the 2 forks back to back method. I've put most of them in a coldframe to protect them from Winter wet more than anything else, the rest are in a sheltered spot behind the greenhouse but sitting on gravel rather than paving.

 

I do the same as @Palustris re the corms.
Just to be sure - are they cultivated crocosmias as opposed to the very invasive montbretia? That's the one that's really problematic. I still have to pull bits of it out here, and even when I had my extension built, over an existing patch at he gable end of the house, they kept appearing from below it for a good while.
I find a pruning saw useful too, and much easier than the two forks.

 

Just out of interest, Crocosmia is Montbretia (and Montbretia is Crocosmia) The one I have going wild is Emily McKenzie, but I have had all the named ones that I have tried, grow more than I wished, except Norwich Canary which always seemed to be a bit weaker growing.

 

That's interesting @Palustris - re your cultivated types being vigorous.
I'm aware that the common montbretia is still a crocosmia, but it's definitely the only invasive one round here. Lucifer grows well, but I'd never regard it as invasive at all. I struggle to keep E. McKenzie doing well here. None of the named varieties I've grown have been remotely troublesome.
Different conditions.

 

Previous garden was very, very rich soil (ex pig farm), here the soil is so humus depleted as to be almost sterile. E.M is the only one here which has really grown at all.

 

yes, they do seem to be popping up all over the place, every time I dig in the bed. I’m guessing it might be a bad idea to add the old corms to the compost heap, just in case!

 

I don’t know - is there a foolproof way to tell the difference? I don’t think I have any pictures of the flowers, though I’ll have a look back at what pictures I took over the summer.

 

Even with images of the flowers it is not always easy to distinguish between some of the forms. Basically they are Orange, Yellow or red.

 

Yes, that would be a very very bad idea!