Abyssinian Gladiolus, Peacock Orchid, Fragrant Gladiolus, Sword Lily

On Jun 15, 2014, coriaceous from ROSLINDALE, MA wrote:

The flowers are indeed beautiful. More graceful and more natural looking than florist glads, they mix better with other plants in the garden.

Generally one flower to a stalk at any one time, blooming in succession up the stalk. They're a little stingy with their bloom, and need to be planted in clusters.

To my nose, the fragrance is OK but unexceptional, neither especially strong nor especially nice.

I don't irrigate faithfully, and in two consecutive seasons my Gladiolus murielae have been plagued with spider mites to the point where they haven't bloomed. I conclude that this plant really does require consistent moisture through the summer for it to look good and bloom well.

On Aug 18, 2013, httpmom from Livermore, CA (Zone 9b) wrote:

Here in 9b Livermore, CA these beauties grow without support and bloom in Mid Summer till Fall. I spaced the bulbs close together in groups of three and they seem to give each other support. They stay in the ground all year and even weathered out our 2 week winter freeze this past year. I have them in two spots. One full sun and another in bright dappled sun. They seem to be happy in either condition and are naturalizing just as I had hoped. It's so nice to have a blooming bulb in late summer as opposed to having it all happening in the spring.

On Apr 9, 2012, Sandwichkatexan from Copperas Cove, TX wrote:

I dug up about 50 of these from my moms flowerbed . She gave them to me because they were overcrowding the tight flowerbed they were in . Mine have been in the ground now for about 4 years and I have them growing through a red Texas star hibiscus and they grow through the stems and when they flower the hibiscus keeps them upright . They are fragrant but much more so at dusk . My only gripe is the ants seem to like the flowers and they always have a small mound in that spot .

On Jan 4, 2011, gardenkim from West Hollywood, CA wrote:

I planted a dozen corms in a dryish spot two years ago -- and only got leaves the first year. I divided the set and moved half to a second site. Both sets have bloomed this year -- they started just before Christmas, and I have cut flowers in my office right now. I think the aroma is delctable, but not everyone can smell them. I think I will have blooms for a couple more weeks. What a winter treat.

On Nov 14, 2009, Julie55 from Lonaconing, MD wrote:

I grow these indoors as a potted plant. They have always done wonderful for me. I get a good number of offset bulbs & seperate them when my flowers have finished blooming each year. Plus I self pollinate these each season, only a few at a time, as I usually have to remove the bloom to do so & have had many viable seeds produced from doing so.

On Jun 3, 2009, MavisFlowers from Lufkin, TX (Zone 8a) wrote:

Pretty plant and it is fragrant but I have not had real success with these after the first season. They do well the first year but don't return or fail to flower much afterwards. Although I have purchased them from both Wal-Mart & Old House Gardens, I had similar results.

On Jun 11, 2008, ifonly from Brookfield, CT wrote:

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

On Jan 9, 2008, NorthernSeasons from Bozeman, MT (Zone 4b) wrote:

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.

On Jan 7, 2007, vossner from Richmond, TX (Zone 9a) wrote:

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.

On Sep 27, 2006, TheTomato from Lincoln, NE (Zone 5b) wrote:

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.

On Oct 16, 2005, mks5958 from Cross Plains, WI wrote:

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 Gau... read morera 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.

On Jul 11, 2005, Purple_Pansies from Lincroft, NJ (Zone 7a) wrote:

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. :)

On Oct 31, 2004, msbobolink from Tompkinsville, KY wrote:

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.

On Jun 18, 2004, BUFFY690 from Prosperity, SC (Zone 7b) wrote:

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.

On Oct 10, 2003, soilsandup from Sacramento, CA (Zone 9a) wrote:

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.

On Aug 28, 2003, Earthmover from Putnam Valley, NY (Zone 6a) wrote:

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.

On May 16, 2003, S_Haffner from Stratford, CT wrote:

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... read more 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.

On Aug 8, 2001, killerdaisy from Dallas, TX (Zone 8a) wrote:

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.