Dear all, I attempted to write something on the Gladiolus wiki page about how to tell some of those European species apart condensed from the key John Grimshaw provided and some of my other reference books. Please speak up if it needs correcting. http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/… I also added pictures of some seed grown plants I hope are correctly identified. Speak up if you disagree on them as well. I have decided the Gladiolus we saw at Kew must have been G. imbricatus as they certainly seemed dense compared to lax in some of the other pictures on that wiki page. I'm happy to make changes and make it all vague if need be. I feel a bit more sure of some pictures I have also added to the Southern African Gladiolus page http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/… Right before we left in May Gladiolus grandiflorus was blooming for the first time from seed. I found it really delightful, but it only had a few flowers so wasn't in bloom a long time. When I returned in June I had new Gladiolus blooming: Gladiolus carneus, Gladiolus angustus, and Gladiolus undulatus. The Gladiolus carneus was grown from IBSA seed started fall 2000 and blooming for the first time last spring. My pictures on the wiki show those first flowers last year. They were pink and very pretty. This year however there were lots more flowers and it bloomed a very long time. My friend Jana Ulmer (we split the seed and both started it) just sent me her picture and it was the same for her. I've added her picture to the wiki for comparison. Mine now has fat seed pods, but I can't guarantee that it didn't hybridize with some of the others in bloom at the same time so I'm not sure I should send it to the BX. The seed was wild collected from Du Toits Kloof, which is a mountain pass in the western Cape so I'd think the plants might be somewhat hardy. I added a picture of Gladiolus undulatus which also has been in bloom a very long time. It looks a lot like G. carneus if you give it a quick look, but has undulating tepals and a much longer tube. Do I remember correctly that this species may have escaped in Australia? I also added a new picture of Gladiolus angustus. Finally Jana shared with me a Gladiolus I admired in her garden. I'm assuming it is a hybrid of some sort although it behaves like a winter grower in my garden where it rains in winter and is dry in summer when it goes dormant. It is not tall and does not fall over like a lot of hybrids, but I think is a really stately plant. If anyone knows anything about it, please let me know. I've entered it as the last picture on the: http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/… page. Mary Sue Mary Sue Ittner California's North Coast Wet mild winters with occasional frost Dry mild summers