Gladiolus nanus information?

I'm interested in finding a gladiolus that is hardy to my zone, one whose corms I can successfully overwinter in the ground. One of my books on flowers suggested the nanus species, so I checked both the current Sunset Western Gardening Book and our own PlantFiles, to no avail. This species wasn't even listed in the USDA Plants National Database (http://plants.usda.gov/)!

I'd be happy to add an entry for Gladiolus nanus, but am mostly limited to the information provided by nurseries that sell it. Would that be sufficient for starters? More importantly, are there other handy references (whether online or off) where I can find these details?

Donna

Nanus is a division of Gladiolus rather than a species, the cultivars in the Nanus section are of hybrid origin and can sometimes be found named as 'Butterfly Gladiolus' in the USA. Nymph and Charm are two of the best known cultivars.

I was hoping you would find this thread, Baa. No wonder I'm confused! In further online reading, the three main groups of hybrids seem to be nanus, grandiflorus, and primulinus. No species identified for any of them.

If I were to add a Nanus hybrid entry to the PlantFiles, what would be the best way to indicate it? I'd like to try to make it as accurate as possible so the editors wouldn't have rework. :)

As Gladiolus doesn't have a it's own database as yet we'd have to do some work later on of we made a special database for them.

To indicate a division where there are no checkboxes you can use the additional cultivar names box to add them. So G. Nymph would be written as

Family: Iridaceae
Genus: Gladiolus
Species: (leave blank)
Cultivar: Nymph
Additional cultivar names: Nanus Group

Not sure if this is much help

http://plants.thompson-morgan.com/uk/en/product/7705/1?SA=1303

We have them in Australia as "Miniature gladiolis" corms sell for about $1 - $1.50 AU each (see below )

http://www.gardenexpress.com.au/index.html?target=dept_42.html&lang=en-us

One of my friends has them in her backyard - thrives on neglect.

Liane