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What variety of Gladiolus
gwenstrough
Posts: 1
in Plants
I would like to order some Glads and wonder if some of you "experts" could give me advice on which varieties are the most beautiful and which gardening catalog do you order from? Thank you, in advance, for your reply! 
0
Posts
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I only really like the simpler forms like Byzantine and acidanthera, not the Dame Edna blousy things.
In the UK there are plenty of suppliers from big bulb companies. Have at Avon bulbs, Peter Nyssen, Dejager and then companies such as Crocus, Suttons, and so on. You may even find some still on sale in your local garden centre.
I like the 'nanus' types - yes they are smaller flowered than the Dame Edna varieties and as Obelixx says, that's just a matter of preference - but I also find them hardier than the showy ones - so a practical reason too
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Hitherto I have grown the acidanthera in pots and gradually lost the Byzantines in teh ground to cold and/or wet winters so glads need lifting unless you have a very sheltered, well drained garden or else need to be grown in pots which can be moved to shelter for winter.
I have some nanus 'the bride' which keep coming up in my cold clay garden - albeit in a sunny spot. The only others that are still with me 5 years on are called 'papilio' and are rather odd looking but apparently quite hardy too. Anything flouncier is long rotted away
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Those are both gorgeous RG. I shall have to look out for them. I first planted a packet of acidantehra in a large pot on a man-hole cover in my hottest, sunniest bed. Similar to your Bride but atller and witha purple throat.
They survived in there several cold wet Belgian winters - good drainage I suppose - and multiplied. I have given loads away and brought some with me. They flowered through the journey an don into the first 10 days of October and were attractive to the biggest bees I've ever seen.