|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2006 14:10:24 GMT
Hi all, I've just come to the mournful conclusion that I'm going to have to lift and give away a dozen gladioli bulbs  . They are my favourite flowers for indoors, but looked horrible and plasticky in the garden (it didn't help that, among the yellow ones I had bought, were a couple of salmon-coloured imposters which looked like something in a tin). Any other plants you thought you loved and discovered you loathed? ... cheers ... |
|
|
|
Post by Plocket on Sept 11, 2006 16:10:18 GMT
Oh CC that's such a shame - why don't you keep growing them especially to pick and put in vases? I can't remember any specific "loved and loathes" because as soon as I decide I don't like them they come out!!! There isn't room in my garden for anything I don't like  |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2006 17:23:27 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by Plocket on Sept 11, 2006 17:49:14 GMT
I've got papillo but they weren't brilliant this year - I think they were a bit overwhelmed by the heleniums close by!!! And I love that caerulus Dee - do you stock them by any chance?
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2006 17:58:33 GMT
I will be Plocket, I had to grow them from seed (3 years to flower), then sow that seed - another 3 years to get those to flowering size. I'm 4 years into the project at the moment and just potted up 70 babies at the weekend - so another 2 years yet.
I have lots of lovely species glads coming on, it takes so long though.
G.papillo doesn't like competition I've lost two huge clumps because I was too busy to move them somewhere more open.
|
|
|
|
Post by Plocket on Sept 11, 2006 18:10:12 GMT
Yikes I think I'd better move mine then - not that there's much open space in my garden!!! I don't suppose they'll grow in a container will they?
I'll try to remember to order some caerulus from you in a couple of years then - good luck with them in the meantime.
|
|
|
|
Post by Margi on Sept 11, 2006 21:43:33 GMT
Just pinging this so it gets on my bookmarks. Do you take orders for two years hence, Dee, as I'd like some of the caerulus too... Plocket and I bought Papilio together at Trentham, and both thought we'd lost them, then they came through rather later than we'd thought. Mine are all babies this year, and haven't flowered but that may be because they're rather crowded in a pot... Hoping for great things next year though!
Margi x
|
|
|
|
Post by obelixx on Sept 12, 2006 9:34:27 GMT
Hi Dee - have to agree about the small glads. I bought some Byzantium a few years ago and was told they wouldn't last in my cold winters but they keep coming up every year. Are the others you mention of the same sturdiness?
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2006 10:21:10 GMT
Hi Dee ... those gladioli in your photos look gorgeous, particularly the tristis one, and definitely deserve garden room - but the large-flowered hybrids, yeuch! My own fault, obviously best to stick with the small and elegant ones! ... cheers ...
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2006 22:47:30 GMT
Hee hee. I love introducing new ideas and species to people, The majority of garden centres and nurseries have such a (relatively) limited range of plants, so that's all people come familiar with.
I'm constantly looking for new species and trialing them, some do better than others and some are spectacular, some that promise to be turn out to be not very interesting or weedy.
I get most of my seed stock from specialists, although it is almost impossible to get hold of some of the really stunning USA native species. Sadly the Americans seem not to be very interested in their astonishingly lovely native plants. I can occasionally obtain some Mexican species from a botanist in Houston who goes seed collecting but they are very few and far between.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2006 22:51:54 GMT
CC - G. tristis is astonishingly hardy. Mine survived, they flower in late winter/early spring, and last year we had heavy snow and the worst winter for 30 years, with below zero temperatures on many occassions - fortunately quite a dry winter though (well for Cornwall anyway), and they survived and flowered beautifully.
The moral here is even the slightly tender species will flourish given good drainage, I think this is true across the board for bulbs, it's the drainage that is the key.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2006 11:04:58 GMT
Well, Dee, G. tristis is definitely one to keep a beady eye out for ... particularly if it flowers in winter/early spring ... cheers ...
|
|
. They are my favourite flowers for indoors, but looked horrible and plasticky in the garden (it didn't help that, among the yellow ones I had bought, were a couple of salmon-coloured imposters which looked like something in a tin). Any other plants you thought you loved and discovered you loathed? ... cheers ...
