RHS Crocosmia trials

The RHS Crocosmia trials were finalised last September and the results of three years inspection by Judges, Nurserymen and breeders have been published and are now up on an RHS site, I've provided a link below.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/trials-awards/plant-trials/growerguides.

I'm pleased to say five of my plants received an AGM.

Seeds are now all cleaned, bagged and ready to go for the 2022 season, the majority are tristis crosses, which brings me to my Winter flowering species. They should start and show bud over the coming weeks, tristis usually being the first.

Seasons finale

The final few Gladioli are now flowering, knocked back by the heat and the lack of rain, this tiny 40cm plant made it, it was found in amongst others and is very graceful.

The majority of Gladioli seed pods have been gathered, they ripen quickly and you need to be on your toes, as it doesn't take long for them to fully open and then there gone. Crocosmias take a lot longer and if I'm worried about rain and damp and they're getting close to ripening, i will cut the whole stem and put them in the greenhouse. Which will be the case this year.

Winter growing Gladioli are slowly emerging, but one surprise has been some tristis crosses. They initially grew for five months and then disappeared, but lo and behold they are up and growing brilliantly. So now I need to go back and check all the others, even those that had a full Summer growing season. Tristis characteristics coming through nicely on these.

Cracker

The season is slowly winding down, with the first seeds recovered, dried and bagged. Last years seedlings are putting on a late show, exciting, as they are all new to me, around 50 % will flower in their second year. It's easy to get excited but I really do need to reign myself in from using them for breeding. I fail usually, but I'm crossing for colour, not form until next year when they attain their full height. The small Prims tend to throw small Prims these days, so I have abit more confidence in the results in a couple of years time.

Cracker below is on the tall size, but the colours are beautiful.