Max: You bring up an interesting point about gladiolus. When I was visiting Gladiolus breeders in Holland a couple of years ago, I ask about any that might be winter hardy. The reply was that they select against winter hardiness since the worst thing in their minds was that corms could overwinter contaminating a new variety that was subsequently grown in the same field. I asked if they had ever considered breeding for hardy gladiolus and their answer was both no, and why would people want glads to be winter hardy? Can you imagine thinking about narcissus in the same bizarre terms as they do gladiolus. I'd be thrilled if someone would develop a good garden worthy group of sturdy and winter hardy glads...the species and some of the early hybrid genetics are certainly there for such a project. Tony Avent Plant Delights Nursery @ Juniper Level Botanic Garden 9241 Sauls Road Raleigh, North Carolina 27603 USA Minimum Winter Temps 0-5 F Maximum Summer Temps 95-105F USDA Hardiness Zone 7b email tony@plantdelights.com website http://www.plantdelights.com/ phone 919 772-4794 fax 919 772-4752 "I consider every plant hardy until I have killed it myself...at least three times" - Avent Max Withers wrote: > Speaking of Gladiolus, I've noticed that the "ground color" of G. > carneus varies from an almost pure white though pale pink to naked lady > pink (by which I mean Amaryllis belladonna pink, of course). Does anyone > know if the species is just variable, or are there different clones out > there? > > To my taste, there is no geophyte except possibly Iris that commercial > plant breeding has ruined more than Gladiolus. I don't mean this in a > snobbish way -- sometimes bigger really is better, but in this case not. > > Best, > Max > >