Gladiolus cardinalis
Archive entry 01.07.07
29th June 2007
A spectacular species that is now seriously endangered in the wild. I sowed seed in 2004, which I had acquired almost by chance (I saw the name in a seed list, and thought I would give it a try)!
Bright red flowers with flashes of white are very striking. It was once grown more widely in the UK, but seems to have fallen from favour.
I grow it in a fairly standard dryish compost in a pot, but have recently been advised to grow it much wetter, which I will try when I have a spare bulb. I am slowly getting used to the idea that
many of the South African Irids grow in wet or marshy locations naturally.