[pamela]

I would be interested in hearing about your successful bulbs or corms in typical mediterranean gardens.
Mine are probably Narcissus tazetta, Leopoldia comosa, Kniphofia rooperi ‘Villa Noailles’, Tulbaghia violacea ‘Alba’. Bulbine frutescens ‘Hallmark’
These are the most prolific but there are others which flower quite/very well.

[JTh]

I planted a few freesia corms a couple of years ago, and they seem to enjoy the lack of care they are getting here. The only problems I have is that they are often in bloom early in spring before I come to Greece. This year we were here for Easter, and they were very colourful. Don't ask me which species, I got the corms at the local marked. Anemone coronaria also does well here, and this spring I saw they they had spread themselves to the field around the house, they were in bloom at the same time as the freesias. Another spring flowering bulbous plant doing well here is a Gladiolus, which has found its way from the wild and into our garden, they grow abundantly in the wild here. I am not quite sure which species it is, Oron says it is probably G. communis, but it might also be G. imbricatus, I would be very happy if anybody had anything to add here, see photos.
At the moment there are lots of cannas everywhere, also in pots, they are very colourful, but I suppose they need some water. I planted a couple this summer, I am interested to see if they will survive the period when we are not here

[Alisdair]

Great pictures, Jorun! I wish we could get the local wild gladioluses going in our wild garden, but it is I think too hot and dry for them. (I did bulk up corms here in the UK from local seed, and planted 400, but though the plants survive they don't flower.)
I think yours are G. communis, as the pictures so clearly show the flowers facing out in two directions; the flowers of G. imbricatus tend to face out in just one direction. Also it looks as if your spikes have branches, instead of the single stems which tends to be how imbricatus goes.

[JTh]

Thanks for your help, Alisdair, you are right, they often have branches. They were easily transplanted here and became much bigger than they are in the wild. They grow on the eastern side of the house behind a pomegranate and get some protection from the afternoon sun, quite showy in the spring.

[oron peri]

Great pictures, Jorun! I wish we could get the local wild gladioluses going in our wild garden, but it is I think too hot and dry for them. (I did bulk up corms here in the UK from local seed, and planted 400, but though the plants survive they don't flower.)

Alisdair,
G. italicus and G. atroviolaceus are more suitible for your garden, both can grow succesfuly with much less water.

[Alisdair]

Thanks for the tip, Oron - and for the smashing picture of G. atroviolaceus, which is certainly different! I'll try and get some seed.
I do find that some of the South African gladioluses from the Western Cape do well in our hot dry garden.

[HansA]

Wonderful coloured plant, Oron!

Some other Gladiolus which can be grown in the garden:
G. watermeyeri from southafrica, G. illyricus normal and a white form, another interesting G. spec - possibly a form of G italicus? - a species which generally tends to be weedy and produce a lot of offsets - in difference the very pale plant has not produced any offset in several years and flowers much later.

[Alisdair]

What lovely pictures, Hans, especially the white form of G. illyricus - thanks!
Pamela, one or two other gladioluses for mediterranean gardens are mentioned in the Gladiolus topic, here.

[HansA]

Thanks Alisdair! Really Beautiful Gladioli.

In the past I thought G. illyricus grows on poorer soil (mountains, garrigue...) and G. communis on richer ones as the plants in this habitats fit the distinction:

1. Plant 25-50cm; leaves 10-40cm x 4-10mm; spike 3- to 10- flowered, rarely branched;
perianth segments 25-40 x 6-16mm                ------------------ illyricus.
2. Plant 50-100cm; leaves 30-70cm x 5-22mm; spike 10- to 20- flowered, frequently
branched; perianth segments 30-45 x 10-25mm-------------------- communis.

Perhaps they can be best distinguished by chromosome counting. I had collected seeds of plants in the mountains which fit description 1, but the resulting plants are much bigger and nearer description 2 (on good garden soil). Both species are listed for Mallorca, but I would not be surprised if there is finally only one species developing different growth depending the conditions.  

[JTh]

It could be that we have both G. communis and G. illyricus, according to the book they should both be here. The ones I  sent photos of were from olive groves nearby, where the soil is probably better. Others are much smaller and not branched, growing in poorer, rockier areas. I don't think chromosome counting is an option for me here (I did a lot of it in my very early career), nor molecular biology, which would probably be more useful.