[John J]

In May of this year I returned to UK for a couple of weeks, partly to attend the Chelsea Flower Show and partly to see my brothers, sisters and their families. One of the stands at Chelsea, I can't remember which one now, was offering bulbs of Gladiolus callianthus for sale (10 for 2 pounds), so I bought a bag. While I was staying with my sister in Derbyshire I potted up 3 of the bulbs and left them with her. When I got home to Cyprus I potted up the remaining 7. All of mine grew, as did the ones in UK and we compared growth rates in our regular phone conversations. Rather disappointingly mine have shown no sign of flowering and are beginning to look as though they are past it and preparing to shut down for the winter. On the other hand one of my sister's plants has decided to put on a bit of a display as the following photos that she sent me today show. Do you call that fair?

[pamela]

I also bought some in the UK early this year.  They leafed almost immediately and slowly went brown and very sad looking.  I cut the leaves off a month ago hoping they will do better next year...very disappointing.  Its such a lovely bulb.  All I can say is the stock maybe from Africa somewhere and its got its seasons messed up.  That can certainly happen with New Zealand plants planted in the northern hemisphere.  So I wait till it gets its jet lag sorted!

[JTh]

I have had these in my garden a few times in Norway, where they were doing well, at least the first summer. I had to lift the bulbs before the frost in the autumn, the next year they were not quite as successful, so I have to grow  them as annuals here. Nice flowers, though.