Scented Bulbs
Mary Sue Ittner (Thu, 06 Jul 2006 16:38:14 PDT)

I grow both of those Arthropodiums and have pictures on the wiki:
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

I've not really notice fragrance in my plants. Perhaps it needs to be
hotter when they are blooming. A. milleflorum has really small flowers, but
they are cute. It looks like I'll have seed of this one Geoff if you are
interested. Dirk Wallace once shared with me some Erythronium seed
collected in California by Wayne Roderick who shared it with Dirk in
Australia. And Gary Reid traded sent me seed of A. milleflorum when I sent
him seed of California species. It's funny how those things work.

I decided to get rid of that Cosmos that smelled like Chocolate and later
saw it was back. So it can survive wet winters. I wanted to get rid of it
because I think I didn't think it was that impressive a plant, but then
with my very low nutrient soil and rampant competition from redwood roots,
I've found that most perennials don't do as well as they do in other
gardens so have replaced them with shrubs that are tougher. I just checked
and it looks like it is still alive. At least there is a leaf, but no sign
of flowers.

It is interesting that Diane's Gladiolus is fragrant. G. tristis has a
wonderful fragrance, but only at night. If you smell it during the day,
there is no smell at all. I have a hybrid short Glad that is probably one
of those hybrids they call Gladiolus nanus. For years it did really well in
my garden. Then I dug them up to share and there was a real decline. I had
to dig out the few survivours when we need to find our septic tank and have
it pumped and I saved a few to grow in a pot and added a few others to the
ground. Last year I divided the ones in the pot and put some more in the
ground. This year with all of our late rainfall they have appeared all over
my garden. Either they reseeded or I truly planted them in places I don't
remember. I was thinking that perhaps they had been virused and disturbing
them was enough of an environmental change to bring on the virus and that
was why there almost disappeared. Now I'm not sure what to think. It's a
stunning color though so have added it to the wiki. Mine has no scent I can
tell. Maybe Diane can add the one she is growing that is scented.
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

Dave Fenwick has some of the G. nanus pictured on his page:
http://www.theafricangarden.com/page55.html
It looks like he has one like I have, but is just calling it a nanus
hybrid. Diane may see what she has pictured on his page. No one ever said
if they thought the white one I added under Gladiolus x colvillei to our
wiki was a named cultivar.
Mary Sue

Mary Sue Ittner
California's North Coast
Wet mild winters with occasional frost
Dry mild summers