Hardy Glads
Jane McGary (Sun, 20 Jun 2004 12:58:36 PDT)

Jim Waddick asked about Eurasian Gladiolus species:> 1. Are there cvs of
G. byzan/ital/comm in any color other other than hot pink? Whites or darker
red?

I have seen whites but don't have any (they should, by the general rule,
occur in large wild colonies), and I grew one G. palustris (the
northernmost species) from seed sent to me as "blue" which is actually
white with a little lavender flush. I'll post a photo of it on the wiki
sometime. There are darker colors, such as one I have grown as G.
atropurpureus, which is a nearly blackish maroon. My garden plants of G.
kotschyanus, a rather large species, are more purple than pink. I seem to
recall that G. antakiensis is darker also.

Here, they all produce seed pretty enthusiastically, and most of them make
a large number of tiny offsets (they're adapted to growing in cultivated
fields).

I feel uncertain tossing around the species names in this group, since I
don't have a good key to identifying them, and I've grown all mine from
seed, mostly from the Archibalds but some from Michael Salmon. My favorite,
from the latter source, came as "G. dubius" and that seems to be a pretty
dubious name -- but I really like it because the flowers are so large and
such a good clear pink. Although small-flowered compared to the African
species, these are excellent plants for growing among small perennials and
dwarf shrubs, which they punctuate with their slender wands of flowers in
May and June. Most of them seem to enjoy a little summer moisture.

Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA