At 09:18 9/04/03 -0700, you wrote: >Hi Paul: > >Your photographs look very much like the illustration in "Gladiolus in >Southern Africa". If it's a summer growing species, I think G. mortonius is >it. > Diana, Yep, it shoots in spring and then flowers over summer. It has actually amazed me as to just how long it has flowered for. I noticed today that there is another spike coming up now, despite the fact that the first flower on the first scape opened late in February (which was then followed by more spikes merging, and the last of these flowers has died off in the last week..... now another spike). Thanks so much for checking the references for me. The place I bought this (a local nursery) had a lot of things mislabelled over the years but they grew a lot from seed. I have got some little gems from them (such as Fritillaria purdyi, which I have not seen for sale in Aus other than then) as well as some very mundane things that were labelled as something interesting. I think a succession of different people responsible for the growing area lead to a lot of the problems. It is good to know that this one was correct, but even if it hadn't I would still have loved the plant as it is really different to anything else that I have. Thanks again for your efforts. Cheers. Paul Tyerman Canberra, Australia. USDA equivalent - Zone 8/9 mailto:ptyerman@ozemail.com.au Growing.... Galanthus, Erythroniums, Fritillarias, Cyclamen, Crocus, Cyrtanthus, Liliums, Hellebores, Aroids, Irises plus just about anything else that doesn't move!!!!!