Green Wing

Its the same every season, expectations building for months only for the first few Gladioli to flower and disappoint. The first are dispatched to the compost bins pretty quickly, I really do resent their presence.

But its not long before the better ones flower and I know the season will improve with plants with G papilio blood flowering later in the season. They are easily spotted before the flowers appear with their thinner, sharper leaves. But this appeared yesterday, unassuming, very green and blending in beautifully, a great antidote to the exhibition style Gladiolas. Exactly the style I'm aiming for, almost wild like in its habit.

G undulatus

A beautiful late Spring flowering Gladioli, the last in my collection to flower. No scent, but a beautiful green, yellow green flower, with wavy petals. It holds itself well, not upright, but gently arching over.

I've attempted a few crosses with frozen pollen, but it seems reluctant even in the warm spell we've had recently, to offer any pollen of its own,

Sweetly scented

What a shock to smell this winter growing, spring flowering Gladioli carinatus when it bloomed for the first time yesterday. I smelt the perfume before I realised amongst all my tristis blooms this was lurking. its scent unlike G tristis is comparable to a Freesia, to my mind more sickly sweet. Its coped with sub zero temperatures for weeks in my unheated greenhouse, but despite this it has survived. Pollen has now been removed and in the freezer. I've put some summer flowering pollen to this, but as of yet, no pods are beginning to swell.