Gladiolus - Heloniopsis

Gladiolus
We delight in the huge diversity of the wild species and more natural-looking hybrids. The winter growers need protection from severe frost, although they will survive very low night temperatures briefly. We recommend Goldblatt & Manning's authoritative and beautiful 'Gladiolus in Southern Africa' for anyone wanting to get their head around the bewildering diversity of this genus. Mostly in small numbers, we'll probably have to limit several to 1 per customer, but if you don't ask you won't get.

Gladiolus angustus £3.50 WINTER GROWER.
A rather chunky winter grower whose large creamy flowers have an extremely long tube which, once you get your head around pollination in African Iridaceae, screams 'long tongued flies' at you. We find it easy in pots with unheated winter protection. They flowered fine after the cold 08-9 winter, but we have to say 'subject to crop' at time of writing, since they're still safely buried in pots of dried-out compost.
Gladiolus cardinalis £4
Large, vivid scarlet flowers with three white flashes. The flower stems tend towards the horizontal and cry out for a rock across which to flop out. In growth most of the year, usually going more or less dormant briefly in summer with us.
Gladiolus carinatus £3.50 WINTER GROWER
Delicate blue-lilac flowers, with yellow too on the lower tepals; deliciously fragrant. Slender, around 40cm tall. We've grown it in pots so far, but it's said to make a good garden plant in winter-rainfall parts of South Africa - sun and good drainage here. A traditional cut flower in the Western Cape.

Gladiolus dalenii
A relatively stout plant, and a good doer in the open garden here. Flowers on 40cm stems in late summer. It is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa, with much variation in flower colour. Two colours this year:
Gladiolus dalenii Yellow - a soft primrose £4 SUMMER GROWER
Gladiolus dalenii Orange-red £4 SUMMER GROWER

Gladiolus flanaganii £4 SUMMER GROWER
Scarlet, up-facing flowers in early summer on out-arching stems. Impressive and not hard to grow.
Gladiolus garnieri £4 SUMMER GROWER
Slightly pinkish red flowers with pale yellow throat. Tall spikes of big flowers only just stay within the bounds of good taste. I'm told it's native to Madagascar, but it's hardy and does well at chilly Rosemoor.
Gladiolus aff. huttonii £4 WINTER GROWER
Scarlet with a yellow throat and edging, this showy self supporting plant gives a blast of summer colour in spring. As easy and self-supporting as G. tristis, and shares its growth cycle despite coming from the Eastern Cape coast. I suspect some hybridity with tristis.
Gladiolus huttonii x tristis £4 WINTER GROWER
More definite hybrids, yellow streaked and peppered with red.
Gladiolus miniatus £3.50 WINTER GROWER
Coastal limestone endemic from the Western Cape. Low, but rather broad leaved plants, good sized salmon pink flowers on out-turned spikes in spring. Very scarce in the wild and in cultivation.
Gladiolus palustris £3.50 SUMMER GROWER
Turkish, and just like a very dwarf, slender form of communis.
Gladiolus papilio £4.50 SUMMER GROWER
Slaty purple flowers on 1.2m stems. Vigorous and hardy. Grows a treat in our wet clay.
Gladiolus 'Ruby' £4 SUMMER GROWER
An easy hybrid of G. papilio, of which even the PlantFinder rashly suggests that it's a form. The flowers are much larger and broader than in papilio, of a luscious purple-red. A plant that's become quite well known in the south west, but is more rarely seen up country.
Gladiolus splendens  £4 WINTER GROWER
An extraordinary and exciting species from the western Karoo, with bright scarlet flowers in two ranks, adapted for sunbird pollination. Rather than bore you with a botanical description, let's just say they don't look much like a Gladiolus. A slender plant, 50cm or taller, which we normally grow in pots in order that they don't get waterlogged in winter, and can be kept dry during the summer dormancy. We know of it thriving in a lean raised bed in the Severn Valley, and in ordinary soil in a well drained coastal garden near Padstow.
Gladiolus tristis £4 WINTER GROWER
Easy, with fragrant cream flowers on 75cm stems which don't flop, in early spring. Potsfull.
Gladiolus undulatus £4 WINTER GROWER
Fairly tall and stout, with extremely long-tubed flowers, cream, marked red on the lower tepals. From moist stony ground.

Haberlea rhodopensis AGM £3.50
Rosette forming gesneriad for a cool, well drained spot, perhaps a shady crevice in the rock garden, or a sink behind a North facing wall. The dark, hairy leaves are always attractive; lavender flowers in drooping heads.
Hacquetia epipactis 'Thor' £4
The variegated Hacquetia. Like a tiny Astrantia, the petal-like bracts around a tight umbel make, in effect, a single flower. These flowers emerge at soil level in earliest spring. Lovely in its normal form, the white variegation extends to the bracts to excellent effect in this desirable cultivar. For a woodlandy position. FROM SPRING 2010.
Helenium 'Sahin's Early Flowerer' AGM £5
The great thing about this 1m tall cultivar is the extraordinarily rich and changing colours of the flowers. The rays open a light orangey yellow. As they expand they become increasingly streaked with bright red, ending up a rich burnt orange. Flowers at all stages mixed over the plant are unfailingly interesting. The more I see others, the more I like this.
Helianthella quinquenervis £5
A 2m, clump former for the back of the border, studded with perfectly sized pale moonlit yellow daisies in late summer and autumn. Elegance is a scarce commodity in the sunflower world, but this and the next have it in spades.
Helianthus salicifolius £5
Exceeding 2m, this fine leaved spreading plant makes a lovely lacy, constantly moving backdrop to other perennials. The bright yellow, rather small daisies are pleasant while they last, but it's the foliage you grow it for. William Robinson long ago recommended it for the 'picturesque garden'.
Helleborus atrorubens £4
Slow growing smaller flowered species with red-green flowers. Carefully hand pollinated seedlings from bagged parents derived from Elizabeth Strangman's wild collections. Several years old now, and wanting to get out in the garden to build for a while longer.
Helleborus x ericsmithii £4.50
A very fine hybrid caulescent hellebore (niger x (argutifolius x lividus)). The leaves have a metallic grey tint, with 40cm stems of pink tinged white flowers from late winter. Sun, reasonable drainage.
Helleborus niger 'Potter's Wheel' £4
Divisions of a fine old form of the Christmas Rose: large, outward facing white flowers.
Helleborus x nigercors £4.50
Another caulescent hybrid (niger x argutifolius). Abundant greeny-creamy-white flowers over dark foliage: to 40cm.
Heloniopsis kawanoi £3.75
An uncommon dwarf species: umbels of white flowers over clean green rosettes.
Heloniopsis orientalis Korean form £4
We steered clear of this robust species for years, since it seemed to look as if it was dying most of the time. This collection, however, is a healthy green all year round, clumps up beautifully, and has flowers of a very attractive soft lavender blue. Thanks to Mark Fillan.
Heloniopsis umbellata £3.75
Rosettes of narrow leaves with inflorescences of white, pink tinged flowers. 15cm. Woodsy conditions.