Those of you expressing outrage that some commercial growers keep their fields clean by deliberately growing plants not likely to survive the winter should perhaps review the history of the tulips known as thieves. Those of you who grumble about receiving mixed stocks are perhaps receiving goods from growers who don't have such scruples with respect to keeping their growing fields clean. The hardy gladiolus question has long intrigued me, too. But the focus on hardiness as such seems misplaced to me. What I would like are gladiolus which capture a broad spectrum of the morphological variety seen in the species not well represented in cultivation in plants which will be reliable summer growers in the northern hemisphere. From my perspective, the most important goal is to get them permanently switched over to the northern hemisphere summer - innate hardiness can come later and in the meantime there are simple ways of protecting winter dormant plants. As several people have already pointed out, the large hybrid glads are hardier than they are often given credit for. Many clones will survive zone 7 winters with the merest protection. That they eventually disappear might, as Boyce suggests, be due to rodent predation. But I suspect that there is another cause: the rapidly replicating corms are pushed up to the surface where they are exposed to harsher winter conditions. Awhile back we had a discussion of Gladiolus, and among the species discussed was G. tristis. I think it was Mary Sue who spoke of early flowering and late flowering forms. I was excited to hear her mention a late flowering form: I though this might be the solution to growing this species here in the garden. Unbeknownst to me, I had a plant of Gladiolus tristis in my cold frame at the time. I don't know if this corresponds to Mary Sue's early or late forms. But this plant is not the answer to my quest for a garden worthy Gladiolus tristis: it is a confirmed winter grower. Last year it revealed its identity when it bloomed in mid-April. It's beautiful and I'm happy to have it, but it's obviously not a garden plant. On the other hand, if it had turned out to be a form which began to grow in April rather than the one I have which starts to bloom in April, then I would have been able to establish it as a garden plant here. So I say the focus should be on growing season, not cold hardiness. Obviously we need both eventually, especially for those north of zone 7. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where ugly, brutal winter has returned with howling winds, bone chilling wind chill factors and frigid temperatures. My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/