Hi all, Lisa commented privately to me that she would try some of her gladiolus outdoors in the ground over winter. I tried that last winter -- one which turned out to be very wet! None of the South African species survived the wet winter in the ground: Gladiolus oppositiflorus salmoneus and G. sp. indet. from Drakensberg. Oh, yes, I kept some of the corms in the house over winter too! G. x-gandavensis survived outdoors in the ground, but only one survivor of the several is big enough to bloom. None of the various Gladiolus "nanus" cultivars that had been surviving there made it though the winter. One purple G. x-hortulanus did survive, at least a few corms did. None are going to bloom this year, however. This is the "hardy" large purple garden hybrid glad that John Harris was distributing a few years ago. Are there any other hardy Gladiolus anyone can suggest? Regards, Jim Shields in central Indiana ************************************************* Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd. P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/ Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Tel. +1-317-896-3925