Gladiolus dalenii "Halloweenie"

This cultivar was grown from South African seeds and a selection of it marketed as "Halloweenie" by Plant Delights. It has very bright red and yellow flowers, but one serious fault--it does not bloom until very late in fall, hence the name "Halloweenie". This year I planted all the corms in a large pot and let it spike outside, then brought it into my classroom before frost threatened. The flowers were quite spectacular, and I did freeze some pollen to play with in my gladiolus hybridizing efforts for next year. I will cross it with other forms of dalenii that bloom in midsummer to see if I can get the color into them, so as to create a more useful plant of similar appearance for northern gardens. It multiplies readily, in fact some cormlets lifted themselves out of the pot on their long stolons, which are typical of G. dalenii. Hand pollinated flowers did not set seed, but that might be due to indoor conditions not being ideal, and in fact it was easier to let the plants go dormant after blooming, so they are now sleeping in their pot, waiting for spring to come.

Glads from Ebay

Ebay has a lot of overpriced junk for sale in its plant listings, but a careful search does turn up some good bargains, and some cool plants. I got this form of Gladiolus dalenii (or hybrid thereof) from someone down South. I got a good number of corms for something like 99 cents plus shipping. It apparently is one of the common passalong plants in parts of the South, but it is never seen up here. I got around to planting the corms rather late but they did bloom nicely in the school garden, and the corms produced dozens of baby corms as well. Propagation will not be a problem! The flower is more open in form and a bit brighter in color than other forms of dalenii that I grow, except for "Halloweenie", a dalenii form that, while gorgeous, blooms too late to be of much garden use here. I dug most of the corms for winter, but left a couple behind to see if it is hardy in our climate. Its a nice old "antique" variety that is very hard to find via commercial retail nurseries.

Hemerocallis "Real Wind"

I got this daylily from Greg Pitrowski, a daylily expert who has a nursery in NC now, when we both worked at the NYBG. A lot of daylilies were being moved out of an area for some reason I don't recall now, so I asked Greg for some that he thought were particularly nice and reliable varieties. I got a lot of nice no names and seedlings, but he gave me a divsion of one called Real Wind. He told me that Real Wind was an oldie but goodie, and I have to say that he was right. It is a tough as nails plant, which didn't sulk even when I moved to to the slope garden at school after a few years in my home garden. The flowers have great form, are beautifully colored, and the plant seems to do well regardless of how dry or wet the summers are. The foliage looks good too. I worry that the deer might find it, but I do spray it when it starts to grow and when it is in bud with obnoxious smelling stuff like a spray that keeps cats of furniture, and a homemade deer repellent mix of garlic powder, milk powder, hot pepper, soap and/or raw eggs, and (my secret ingredient) a tiny but funky touch of lime sulfer. I should note that lime sulfer should not be used when it gets really warm, since it can burn leaves and flowers at high temperatures. The deer did explore the garden briefly in early spring, but stopped after I made things smell less attractive to them, and they did not return during the summer or fall. Most of the surrounding plants are also not attractive to deer, so that probably helps as well.