[Alisdair]

Nice picture, Joanna: thanks!
It may be the most widely grown of the South African species, but it isn't that common. It's certainly well worth growing as it seems to enjoy a wide variety of mediterranean-climate conditions (including our own hot dry Greek garden where it thrives with no watering ever). It has a lovely fragrance, particularly at night.

[Daisy]

The local wild gladioli has seeded in my garden. It has flowered for the last 3 years, but each year it grows taller and taller. It is now about 4 feet tall. It just shows how some wild flowers respond to garden conditions.
Daisy

 

 

[Fermi]

A South African gladdie - Gladiolus abbreviatus (syn Homoglossum abbreviatum)
cheers
fermi

[Alisdair]

What an interesting creature, Fermi! Have never seen a pic of that before....

[Fermi]

More to come, Alisdair
here's Gladiolus gracilis, grown from seed from Gordon Summerfield, sown in 2010,
cheers
fermi

[Fleur Pavlidis]

Fermi, could you give us some information about growing Gladiolus abbreviatus? I've found that seeds are for sale. Is that how you grew your plants? were they difficult?

[Fermi]

Hi Fleur,
I didn't grow it from seed - I got it as a small corm many years ago and have kept it potted. It responds to the Mediterranean climate - rain in autumn/winter and kept dry in summer.
I've grown other South African gladdies from seed such as the G.gracilis and treat them the same way - sow in autumn, keep them in a pot for a couple of years growth before trying to divide them up or plant them out.
cheers
fermi

[Trevor Australis]

Fermi, I grew quite a big batch of gladdie seeds from Rachel Saunders last year, mostly 'blue' species and a few of the orchid flowered kinds. They are still small tho' most growing well enough. Do you keep any permanently in pots? Any special soil mixes etc. I guess many would go straight to the bottom and escape through the drainage holes. I'm just a bot worried about them getting away. Around here watsonias have naturalised very badly on roadsides and in pasture fields - all the same dull orange squinny flowered sp. Glads of several sp can be found in old cemeteries. Do you go out collecting them like David Glenn does? I've rescued cardinalis and The Bride.

[Fermi]

Hi Trevor,
haven't rescued any Brides or cardinals myself!
I've used a standard potting mix with added coarse sand/grit and mostly sow into 3" (7.5cm) tubes and pot on into 4" (10cm) tubes/pots, unless I decide to plant them out. When potting on or re-potting I note whether or not they produce a lot of "spawn", the tiny cormlets which cluster around the main corm, which I try to keep potted. If they reproduce readily from seed or cormlets then they could possibly become a problem and should not be left loose in our environment. Watsonia bulbifera is the most feral species around here as well.
Here's one of the "orchid" types grown from seed from Gordon Summerfield in 2008: Gladiolus virescens - a couple of years ago I planted out the largest corms thinking that they would flower that year or the next - the summer rain put paid to them that year! I'd kept the "spawn" in a tube and that's what produced the single flowering spike,
cheers
fermi

[Fermi]

I bought this little gladdie a month ago from Greg Boldiston (Longinomus Plants, Romsey) and it has just started to flower. Nowhere near the "Dame Edna" type! Apparently it's an endangered plant in South Africa,
cheers
fermi

[Fermi]

This little gladdie appeared in one of my sand-bulb-beds last year and has re-appeared. I don't remember planting a gladdie here and think it might be a Gladiolus tristis hybrid but would welcome ant suggestions,
cheers
fermi

[Alisdair]

Really nice delicate veining - well worth keeping!

[Fermi]

This is what I think is Gladiolus wilsonii which I grew from NARGS Seedex (listed as G. permeabilis). It has soft grey flowers and grows best sitting in a saucer of water while in active growth,
cheers
fermi

[Caroline]

When I came back recently from 3 weeks away (more on that later), I discovered that the Gladiolus natalensis I planted last year with some trepidation in an unforgiving clay mound had done me proud.  I got them from a woman who was concerned they were taking over her garden, but at my place something so tough, in such a luminescent shade of orange, is highly desirable.

[Fleur Pavlidis]

I love orange flowers so this goes on my wish list.