PlantFiles: Abyssinian Gladiolus, Peacock Orchid, Fragrant Gladiolus, Sword Lily
Gladiolus callianthus

I am in Brigantine NJ next to Atlantic City - (on the bay) and I love these plants in my garden. I mulch very well, and leave my bulbs in the ground. They have come back for four year now and get better and better each year. The face south and get full hot sun most of the time. They are mixed with a wide variety of other incredible plants, but they are one of my centerpieces! Even if you have to dig up the bulbs each year, they are worth all the effort!

This is such an elegant plant - well worth having to plant each year (or dig up before winter) in my CT garden.

So much more subtle than its gladiola cousin ---

I may try old branches as natural supports and have planted close to patio so I can notice its habits more easily.

Love 'em

I have never grown this plant and am wondering if it makes a good cut flower. With its fragrance, it should be great!

I have spent six months trying to figure out what this plant was. No one knew. I now know why. Gladiolus callianthus is an annual in Zone 3-4 where I live. It is incredibly beautiful.

My story with the Abyssinian gladiolus is kind of funny (to me!!!), so I'm going to share it with you.
This June I was in a "rescue mission" at Home Depot. At least, this is how my significant other sees it. So, I bought several "out of season" bulbs, at quite a bargain, not being sure that I would see them flower this year. They were supposed to be summer or fall flowering bulbs that you plant in spring, right? Many of them were sprouted in their little bags, usually not the way you would want them (at least, not if you are a professional gardener).
Searching in the boxes, I found one loose bulb, not looking like any of the bagged ones. I took it, and when I went for the checkout, I asked if I can take it, and they let me have it for free (they had no idea what it was either).
I planted it as soon as I got home, in a separate pot, so I could follow the plant and, later on, hopefully identify it.
That's how I found the DG site. I only had one bulb, out of season, that started flowering on 1st of August, opening one flower at a time, beautiful white with the dark purple-violet center, heavenly scented, and I was looking for the plant ID. So far, it gave me 10 flowers on the same spike, and it still produces more buds, is already over 1 meter long (4 feet, I believe), and I think it can hold itself (but I staked it anyway).
Bottom line(s) is (are):
1. this is how I found you, and I thank my little bulb for this
2. for all the hopeless optimistic people (and/or beginner gardeners) in the world: sometimes, even out of season, you can have wonderful surprises from a sprouted, “unfitted” (for others) bulb
3. beautiful flower, nice addition for anyone that works to have a scented garden
4. the only regret is that I only have one right now, but I’m working on that!!!
Keep gardening and don't be afraid to experience!
Alex, the goofybulb

Rating it neutral because I find it hard to "read". Purchased bulbs from WM and got some in trade, they have grown lots of green in the 2-3 years I've had them, but flowered very poorly. However, blooms are beautiful and the scent absolutely heavenly. I keep hoping that the problem has been that I started with very immature bulbs and that eventually I'll have the displays I've seen in catalogs.

Mine are planted inground, full sun.

Totally care-free plant. The fragrance is heavenly, IMO! They aren't fazed by our GA heat or drought.

This was my first year growing these plants, and they are now among my favorites. They grow very quickly, and have a very long bloom time. I had a few early bloomers start around the end of July, and it is now the last week in September and I still have at least seven in bloom.

My main problem with this plant is that the leaves are very floppy, and tend to look a little tacky if left on their own when none of them are blooming; the wind wasn't too much of a problem, but it did cause some fraying on some of my larger plants. Also, I wasn't sure how much sun to give them, so I planted about 25 of them together in a bed that fades slowly from full sun to full shade. I noticed that the more sun they got, the larger the blooms were.

Does not always survive the dormant season here. Not sure if its the heat, humidity, diseases, or insects that does them in. But I love the plant when I can get it to be perennial. Always performs well for me in Houston the first season planted.

Having checked out local botanical gardens last fall, I planted well over 100 of these in a single site this past spring hoping they would be blooming for my daughter's wedding which was to be held at my home on October 8. Our summer was rough - very hot, with draught conditions, and I did water regularly. Although they were past their prime for the wedding, probably due in part to the hot summer, I found them extremely easy to grow. I planted them in full blazing sun with only minimum protection from the wind. Even there, they needed no staking, and they bloomed for weeks and weeks, providing a fantastic show planted en masse as they were. The 25' x 12' foot garden area where they were used contained the Gladiolus callianthus and only two companion plants - Pennisetum Hameln and white Gaura lindheimeri. The combination was stunning, surpassing all my hopes for a spot that has in the past been troublesome. Gladiolus callianthus is not hardy here, but I will definitely plant them again, and in large numbers as I did this year.

Massing acidanthera at the back of a border is a good idea. The strappy leaves can look floppy and unpleasant without other foliage to contrast with/support it. This year I planted most of my corms in my herb garden. It looked good with my sweet basil and parsley. I have had success growing the offset cormels in containers for a year before planting out in beds.

Easy to grow. Bulbs should be lifted in cold winter areas. Blossoms are pretty. Nice shape. And pretty color a white with a blackish/burgundy center. Very interesting combination. Strappy leaves. The scent is nice but not showstopping. (not in the league of tuberose) it is a light "clean" scent similar to moonflower. Smells somewhat like a modern perfume. Not worth growing just for the scent. But a nice flower nonetheless. :)

I've grown them in the ground and in pots but not had the 48" height. The more sun the more blooms.

The fragrance is wonderful and instant WOW affect when visitors ask about it.

Extemely easy to pull up in the fall with shallow roots, especially in friable soil. I let lay on the ground a few days (if not freezing) then cut tops off and let corms sit in open container in garage for another week before taking them down under a table in the basement. Very simple to save. They will have many tiny corms around the base that can be grown on next year but will not bloom the first year being so small.

I picked up corms for this flower from a display. I knew nothing about them when I bought them but looked them up on the internet and discovered that they wouldn't survive the winter here in Kentucky so I planted them in a large pot and sat them in a spot that was pretty shady until the tree that shaded them blew down in a storm and then they got several hours of sunlight, but not all day. I think every corm turned into a blooming machine-they got more comments from visitors than anything else in the garden. They bloomed longer than I would have ever believed. I just took up the corms today...before frost, but the tops were mostly dead except for a few that had come up recently. Where I had planted a few corms I now have dozens...I can see why others have said they multiply easily.

bought mine as a pack of 15...have about half of them planted out in full sun, the other half planted in pots or window boxes...those didn't last long.the ones plants out in full sun are near a crape myrtle and some of them bloom and some don't. i may move them to another location once they get done blooming i think they will look batter planted in a mass rather than in the circle like i have them now.

I bought one package of 12 corms this spring then I looked them up on the internet and read that they multiply quickly. So I figured I would try them out in two places I put 6 at my grandmother's house and they get most day sun but are against a wall and protected from wind and late afternoon sun they are doing great and already blooming, i planted mine in full sun and they grew up about half of what hers did and stopped, no blooms no further growth, I think I am going to move them to a place where they get a litttle shade in the afternoon next year. They are a really beautiful flowers though and they would go well with my garua seeing as they look like a big butterfly and the gaura looks like hundreds of Teeny Tiny ones. I will try these again next year.

This african Iris is suitable for subtropical climates, tolerating light frosts and moderate heat.

The upright, single-faced leaves grow from an underground corm on late winter. The flowers, with 6 equal tepals, are white, with a black or dark purple spot in the middle, appearing on summer. After the flowers fade, the plant starts to dry. Then the corms can be removed and stored, and planted elsewhere after the winter.

It likes full sun, well drained and rich soil, and regular watering.

I planted some corms about 5 years ago. Because they mulitply so freely, I separated the corms and spaced them in 4-5 different areas of my garden that have varying amounts of sun and water. I have had very sporadic luck with blooms - 2 yrs out of 5 so far. Last year I had some good areas of bloom; this year, all blooms in all spots were deformed,discolored, and looked insect/pest ravaged. One note of caution - it is nearly impossible to get rid of this plant once you have it planted. It is a good souce of color in the late summer so I have not totally given up on it.

I have grown these plants two years in a row now. They definitely need more sun than I can give them. The first year the grew in part sun/shade and I had two plants bloom. The blossoms are gorgeous and fragrant. They were only about 36" tall. In the fall I dug them up and stored them indoors (not winter hardy above zone 7) This spring I got them in the ground late, planted in a brighter spot and waited. They took a while but then grew and grew to about 48", much taller than I had planned. They dominate my hibiscus and block the light to my caryopteris. I had three plants flower this time and all the offsets from last years corms grew to about 18" These may take some time to mature. Next year I move them once again to a newly opened spot in almost full sun. Keeping my fingers crossed this time that even more will bloom. Also keeping them at the back of the border. If this fails they are being given away to someone with lots of sun and patience.

I planted these under the assumption that they would be 24-36" high. The plants are now taller than my six year old at about 48". The blooms look the same as the picture. I wonder if you can move the corms to a different location from where they were originally planted.

beautiful :)

I tend to experiment with any type of plant that has the slightest chance of growing in my Zone (6b), so I gave the Acidanthera a try.

I planted ten corms in semi-frozen ground in early March of 2002. The soil and sun conditions varied from poor sandy soil with almost full sun to semi-rich soil in almost full shade. Regularly treated the soil with fertilizer every 2 weeks.
None of the corms had sprouted by late spring, so I continued planting around them, figuring that the planting was mis-timed and the corms had died.

In early summer, over a 3-week period, all of the corms sprouted. In mid-August, when the plants had reached anywhere from 18"-24", they began to flower. BEAUTIFUL, and with a nice (almost cologne-like) aroma. Blooms kept appearing until late October.

Although this plant cannot survive the winters here in Zone 6b, they are SO easy to grow that I plant them every year (basically treating them as an annual). It seems that EVERY corm that I plant sprouts, so there's no guesswork involved.

My only problem that I have with this plant is that it grows SO tall (eventually 36-48") that I need to stake some of the plants, or the flower stalks get blown over in the wind. Otherwise, this plant is great.

I was surprised by the length of bloom time for this gladiolus. It began blooming in July-August and is still blooming (though tapering off) in September. The fragrance is wonderful; the white stars are nice as they peep through the brighter blossoms of nearby plants. I don't yet know about hardiness in my Zone 7, high desert garden; this is the first year I've planted these.

Beautiful fragrance. It is cold-hardy in zones 7-11; in colder zones, dig up corms and store at 60°-68° F.

Protect from wind. Thrips, bacterial scab, and mosaic virus can cause problems.