Mysterious bulb plant

[fruitfly]

I dug this up - can you tell what it is?

[Green Aura]

Can't tell, sorry. It's impossible to judge size from the photo. Have you ever grown dahlias?

Split them up and grow on in pots. They might be a wonderful discovery.

[fruitfly]

The stacking effect of the bulbs is odd to me, i know they aren't dahlias as their bulbs are long. The blades are coming from the bulbs in the picture, they're not bits of grass. The clump of bulbs is about 16cm wide.

[Weedo]

They are not bulbs but corms, hence the stacking effect. Not much foliage in the pic but I am fairly sure they are Monbretia also known as Crocosmia. Fairly common ornamental, iris family, lots of bright orange flowers, but can be invasive - declared weeds in parts of SE Oz.

[Green Aura]

Well done, weedo, I think we have a winner. They're very beautiful and are often the last flowers of the year but grow them in a big tub.

[Odsox]

Yes I agree with Weedo, it's Monbretia.
I'ts rampant here in West Cork filling roadside ditches and anywhere else it can get a foothold.
It does look attractive though both in flower and when the fresh leaves emerge in early spring, although not so much in late summer and autumn as it suffers badly from rust.

[fruitfly]

is there a way to prevent the rust?

[Odsox]

Sorry, I have no idea.
It's a weed here and not many people try to find treatments for weed diseases.
It also affects bracken and probably spreads from one to the other.

[Weedo]

Rusts are fungi so prefer moist, mild conditions - getting good air movement *(NOT Nth sea gales) helps preventing them. Copper or Sulphur based fungicides will work but you need to cover both sides of the leaf - alternatively, according to my friendly iris farm owner, a couple of teaspoons of Bicarb with a drop of dish-washing deterg and a drop of veg oil - these two act as sticker/ spreaders in a litre of water will help (changes the pH of the leaf surface).

Personally I find continuous removal and destruction of all leaves and roots works really well.

[ina]

I have Monbretia in two corners of my garden. Neither do they seem to take over, nor have I ever had rust on them - so don't be put off! :) I love their flowers, especially as I seem to kill off anything else I plant... (Actually, it's mostly slugs doing the killing.)

[fruitfly]

Crocosmia makes sense - I don't think it will come to much this year though.

[Odsox]

I have Monbretia in two corners of my garden. Neither do they seem to take over

You're lucky Ina.
Here they spread very easily by the top corm breaking off in the wind and immediately taking root, or by the millions of seeds that they produce.
It will certainly thrive anywhere with a mild moist climate, it readily grows through the tarmac on my drive.
It's a good job it looks pretty ...