Gloriosa

Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com
Sun, 05 Sep 2010 13:37:24 PDT
Gloriosa are very easy here, both as pot plants (big pots!) and as garden
plants left outside in very sheltered places throughout the year. In other
words, if sited well they are hardy perennials. Plant the corms deeply near
a wall on the sunny side of the house if you plan to leave them outside. 

Justin, I would not be surprised if for you they would thrive in the open
garden. 

 

Although traditionally treated as lily family plants, remember that they are
colchicum relatives and as such are extremely toxic. 

 

They thrive in heat, extreme heat. And the flowers have the good quality of
lasting and lasting in the extreme heat.

 

Justin, the big commercial form of Gloriosa (perhaps the one known as
rothschildiana) set seed freely here – maybe you need more hummingbirds!
The seed capsules are several inches long and about an inch wide; the seeds
are bright red, about the size of a sweet pea seed and hard. 

 

The structure they grow from is a good example of the ambiguity we often
encounter when we try to categorize these underground parts into bulbs,
corms and so on. They look just like the stoloniform corms of some
colchicums: should we call them corms or rhizomes? 

 

Plant one of these and the next year you can dig two: the old original one
shrivels as the plant grows and is replaced by typically two new ones which
project from an acute angle from the base of the old stem. 

 

Big plants will be seven or eight feet high/long and will produce new
flowers for a long period.  

 

Jim McKenney

jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com

Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone
7

My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/

BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/

 

Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS 

Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ 

 

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