Gladiolus callianthus

I like this, never seen it before.

thanks Chris, i think it looks more like an orchid than a gladi, don't you? its quite hard to get into flower though. i have planted about 30 bulbs last year, and they all come up blind last summer, but this year i have 3 in flower! the rest are blind agian, but well worth the wait me thinks!

Here we go with the name game again!! I have these aplenty...but mine were labelled Acidanthera ....I notice you have that name in your tags...
I planted mine in with the canna lilies... and they smell so wonderful..I love these...and they are very reasonable...so you don't have to mortgage the farm to have a nice showing. Do you have to lift yours, Majeeka? or is your climate sufficiently warm to leave them in the ground all winter?

to be honest Lori, i don't lift anything! it takes it's chances in my garden or it stays in a pot in the first place so that it is easy to put in the greenhouse through the winter. but they were in last year, and did'nt flower, this year they come up, but they have'nt all flowered as yet, but they did go in late last year so not sure if that is why they did'nt flower at all. also i live greater London - a very built up area, in one of the warmest parts of the county, i do get away with all sorts that i proberly should'nt in my garden. and we did have a very mild winter last year, so if you are in any doubt - and not as lazy as me, the lift them. i did buy 25 bulbs for about a £1.50 - they are quite easy to find here too. i think the name thing on this one is due to a name change, i am not sure which way round it is, but i think they previously did'nt consider this to be a member of the Gladi family, hense the name Acidanthera, but then due to recent developements have realised that it is acutally a member so have re-named it. or is it the other way around? lol i remeber reeding it somewhere quite recently. either way both names are correct and universal.