August in an Indiana Garden
J.E. Shields (Mon, 22 Aug 2005 06:51:57 PDT)

Hi Jim McK. and all,

Thanks very much for the details on Gladiolus x-gandavensis and G.
primulinus. My interest in these has been for their hardiness. The corms
I bought as G. "x-gandavensis" have survived in the open garden in a bed
where dalenii perished the first winter and where even oppositiflorus
salmoneus only lasted through one winter.

Interestingly, oppositiflorus salmoneus has survived in the open field with
some mulching for several years. I suppose I should try x-gandavensis /
primulinus in the open field bed too. I have noted that the
"x-gandavensis" that I have does not set seeds very readily. My
oppositiflorus salmoneus in the field have set seed abundantly. Last
summer, I did cross pollinate dalenii with oppositiflorus salmoneus pollen,
and those seeds have just germinated in a tray in my lath house. I'll line
them out in the field next summer, if all goes well.

I also plan to try a few G. saundersii, which has large red flowers, out in
the field next summer. I'm not at all sure how hardy it will be here, and
it took me three tries to get seeds of saundersii that may be true to
name. Its range overlaps that of oppositiflorus salmoneus, and the first
two batches of "saundersii" I tried turned out to be oppositiflorus
salmoneus when they flowered. That was not a bad thing, you understand --
it is pretty hardy, and I find it very attractive. To me, oppositiflorus
salmoneus looks like what I recall as "funeral home glads" from my
childhood 60 years ago.

Still, I look forward to seeing the big red flowers of saundersii someday.

Regards,
Jim Shields
in central Indiana (USA)

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Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd.
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Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
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