August in an Indiana Garden

Jim McKenney jimmckenney@starpower.net
Sun, 21 Aug 2005 16:00:37 PDT
Jim Shields, you mentioned yellow-flowered Gladiolus x gandavensis. I'm
pretty sure there is no such thing. G. x gandavensis was one of the first,
if not the very first, hybrid glad groups, and the flowers were red, pink
and white; the x gandavensis glads date from the late 1830s I think. But as
far as I know, there were no yellows.

In fact, my impression is that there were no yellow-flowered garden glads
until the hybrids of Gladiouls dalenii appeared (when first introduced, and
until recently, these were known as primulinus hybrids) - and that seem to
have been in the late nineteenth century. 

Does anyone know what the modern gladiolus societies call the old primulinus
hybrids? Have they switched to calling them dalenii hybrids? 

The Hosta you mentioned is Hosta plantaginea. 

Sunflowers can be geophytes: how about Helianthus tuberosus? 

Jim McKenney
Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where Hosta plantaginea is
just about my favorite Hosta because of its huge, scented flowers.  


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