August in an Indiana Garden

J.E. Shields jshields@indy.net
Mon, 22 Aug 2005 06:51:57 PDT
Hi Jim McK. and all,

Thanks very much for the details on Gladiolus x-gandavensis and G. 
primulinus.  My interest in these has been for their hardiness.  The corms 
I bought as G. "x-gandavensis" have survived in the open garden in a bed 
where dalenii perished the first winter and where even oppositiflorus 
salmoneus only lasted through one winter.

Interestingly, oppositiflorus salmoneus has survived in the open field with 
some mulching for several years.  I suppose I should try x-gandavensis / 
primulinus in the open field bed too.  I have noted that the 
"x-gandavensis" that I have does not set seeds very readily.  My 
oppositiflorus salmoneus in the field have set seed abundantly.  Last 
summer, I did cross pollinate dalenii with oppositiflorus salmoneus pollen, 
and those seeds have just germinated in a tray in my lath house.  I'll line 
them out in the field next summer, if all goes well.

I also plan to try a few G. saundersii, which has large red flowers, out in 
the field next summer.  I'm not at all sure how hardy it will be here, and 
it took me three tries to get seeds of saundersii that may be true to 
name.  Its range overlaps that of oppositiflorus salmoneus, and the first 
two batches of "saundersii" I tried turned out to be oppositiflorus 
salmoneus when they flowered.  That was not a bad thing, you understand -- 
it is pretty hardy, and I find it very attractive.  To me, oppositiflorus 
salmoneus looks like what I recall as "funeral home glads" from my 
childhood 60 years ago.

Still, I look forward to seeing the big red flowers of saundersii someday.

Regards,
Jim Shields
in central Indiana (USA)


*************************************************
Jim Shields             USDA Zone 5             Shields Gardens, Ltd.
P.O. Box 92              WWW:    http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
Tel. ++1-317-867-3344     or      toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA



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