Judy: The two gladiolus that flower for us in April are G. byzantinus and G. italicus. They are similar and it's hard to tell for sure by the photo, but this seems to look more like G. italicus. Tony Avent Plant Delights Nursery @ Juniper Level Botanic Garden 9241 Sauls Road Raleigh, North Carolina 27603 USA Minimum Winter Temps 0-5 F Maximum Summer Temps 95-105F USDA Hardiness Zone 7b email tony@plantdelights.com website http://www.plantdelights.com/ phone 919 772-4794 fax 919 772-4752 "I consider every plant hardy until I have killed it myself...at least three times" - Avent -----Original Message----- From: pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Judy Glattstein Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2013 9:31 PM To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org Subject: [pbs] An Early Gladiolus In between the downpours (1.45 inches of rain today, great mushroom weather) I visited a friend and we looked at this and that in his garden. One "this" was a clump of narrow leaved, fuchsia pink gladiolus in bloom. It seems rather early for them to be in flower, don't you agree? He e-mailed me a couple of pictures, taken with his cell phone shortly after I left. David Pilling very kindly put them up on the Mystery Bulbs page. I apologize that they're somewhat fuzzy, I'll try and get back in the next couple of days and get some better ones. My friend doesn't remember when they were planted but it was clearly before last winter. And they've made a nice little clump. He would like to have a name for them - anyone have a suggestion? Thanks in advance for your sagacious advice. Judy