The first spring in my Mississippi home, built in the late 1800's, several plants really humbled this horticulturist. Although I probably destroyed some thinking they were weeds, many survivors have endeared themselves to me. One timeless classic I immediately fell in love with had bright orange-red flowers. It kept me guessing for a while, but turned out to be crocosmia, or monbretia.
Every gardener needs crocosmia.
Native to Africa, it is an old-time Southern favorite and fairly easy to find in nurseries. It blooms for a really long time on stems 15 to 20 inches long . Typically, the flower stems branch and curve slightly, and the ends of spikes bear a couple rows of buds. You can tell they are related to the gladiola. I have some crocosmia intermingled with tall monkey grass, or liriope.