Gladiolus cultivation
Mary Sue Ittner (Mon, 17 Mar 2008 08:06:07 PDT)

Dear Dell,

As you can see from some of the responses you have gotten there is a wide
difference in which Gladiolus can be grown successfully outside depending
on where you live. There are tropical species and there are species that
are covered with snow in winter. There are species that have rainfall year
round and some that get most of their rain in winter or summer. There are
species subjected to hot temperatures in summer and species where the
temperatures are mild year round. There are species that occur where the
rainfall is very low (and I suspect some years when rainfall is so low
don't even show up) and species growing where there is abundant rainfall
during their growing season. Throw in the different kinds of soil they grow
in and it becomes even more complex. So to grow these successfully it may
first have to do with choosing the right species for your conditions. A
species that has naturalized for me, Gladiolus carmineus, is described as
growing very close to the ocean as I do. I've shared it with my friend Bob
Werra who lives two hours away and inland and he does not have the same
success.

Joyce's comment that winter growers don't do well where she lives in
Gresham, Oregon may not have to do with the rainfall, but with the
temperatures where she lives or with species selection. There are southwest
Cape species that get more rainfall than she gets and I can grow many
winter rainfall species successfully and my annual winter rainfall is
greater than the amount she gets. Where I live we have a big problem with
thrips that turn the leaves of many of the native plants silver in summer.
(not an attractive silver). I might be able to grow summer rainfall species
if I wanted to keep them dry in winter and water them in summer, but then
I'd have to contend with the thrips which don't usually bother the winter
growers. I've found a lot of the species I grow are happy in my raised beds
growing in 9 to 10 inch deep pots.

I've not always had success in germinating seed, but Diane Whitehead shared
her technique with me and I did some tests with some seed I had a lot of
and in the future am going to switch to her method. I'll leave it up to her
to share it.

I'm in the process of expanding the Southern Africa Gladiolus pages on the
wiki and adding a lot more pictures (going from 4 pages to 9) of current
species and adding some new species as well. I've worked on it a little
every day for quite a few weeks now and I'm almost ready to add all this to
the wiki. It's interesting that this corresponds with the current thread.

Mary Sue