WE tend to have preconceptions about gladioli. We think of them as wildly flamboyant, which many of them are. We also think of them as tender – and yes, most of them won’t take much frost. And don’t they all need digging up and drying off in the autumn? Yes – most of them do.
But do you see where I’m going with this? There are also hardy varieties, often in softer colours, that we can leave in the ground all the year round, and some of them are the most beautiful of all. A few are even scented.
The dramatic gladioli of the flower show and florist, and which Dame Edna Everage made famous in the 1980s and 1990s, have been developed primarily as commercial cut flowers. And for cut flower growers what counts are the colours, plus the size and form of the individual flowers. We gardeners have other priorities.
Hardiness is a huge factor. If our gladioli will take a normal winter, left in the ground and not dug and dried off, then that makes less work. And growing them in clumps, with hardy perennials, looks better than growing them in rows for cutting. And because the flowers come in succession, there’s colour over a longer period.
From North Carolina and South Africa
Top of the list are the magenta-coloured G. communis subsp. byzantinus, which is not only hardy everywhere but spreads by runners, while G. papilio is another hardy runner with hooded purplish green flowers.
In recent years I’ve been growing ‘Boone’, in peachy-apricot, with a red streaked throat, and ‘Carolina Primrose’, in primrose yellow. Both have proved fully hardy and prolific. They were found in abandoned gardens in the chilly Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and have now arrived here in Britain.
Esta historia es de la edición March 06, 2021 de Amateur Gardening.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición March 06, 2021 de Amateur Gardening.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
To dig or not to dig?
Should we be carrying out a full dig on plots now? Bob considers the pros and cons of the 'autumn dig' debate
The box ball blues
As if his beleaguered box hadn't already taken a beating, Toby now has to deal with some hungry box caterpillars
Save your own seeds
Masterclass on: seed saving
Strange sightings
Three unusual insects turn up in Val's garden in one day
A bolt from the blue!
Cornflowers are perfect for garden and vase
Winter moth prevention
Ruth shows you how to avoid maggoty tree fruits
Create a winter container
There are as many options as in summer
Lightweight gardening tools
AS well as being good for our mental health, gardening is also great exercise.
Autumn price round-up
AG finds better bargains in lesser-known brands
Rudbeckias
Rudbeckias are ideal for sunny summer patios and borders, with some able to survive our coldest winters