African Parrot Glads

I found a while bunch of African Parrot gladiloas growing in the wild. I made my hubby take me back to dig them up. I left a few so they could keep propagating, btu I have seen glads growing in the wild all over the south...I'm not talking abut in people's gardens...they just spring up by woods in the middle of nowhere. Well, these were blooming....so I had to go back, right? When I got out there and saw hor gorgeous they were I went nuts! Got home and posted them on the ID forum to find out what they were (Gladiolus Natalensis). Found them online...it said they were 'rare' and one nursery was charging $20 per bulb!

Here is a picture of the scape. I must have dug up about a hundred of them...including some young ones I intend to nurse to adulthood. I planted about 1/4 of them in my garden. saved 1/4 for my sis and my cousin...the rest are really tiny and I will nurse them till next year and make them all big and strong!

Here is a pic of how many of them I dug up...Amazing that these are considered 'rare'..and they are growing wild here!

That was a geat find! I love the speices gladiolus, I have 3 speices, dalenii from seed last year which is similar, I am going down the road of growing them from seed from a source in Sth Africa, as soon as I get myself sorted with all the other things I have to grow!

I think you have done the right thing, they will now be increased even more by spreading them around.

Yes, plus the grub worms in thsi area are really bad so they might have been destroyed out in the wild. This way, a bunch of them will be sent to NW Flroida, othrs will be sent two counties over....and the third pot will be nurtured for future use.

When the mud here gets really wet, it has the consistency of pudding. Between yesterday morning's rain and watering them in, I was having trouble getting the blooming galds to stand up. Then about midnight it rained like a cow peeing on a flat rock. You should have seen me outside at midnight with a lantern and umbrella...lightening striking a mile to the suth of me....trying to stake my new babies..... Once the clay sets, those glads won't even think of laying down unless we get a tropical storm dropping rain on us at the rate of 12 inches+ per day. And I staked them pretty well so they ought to be OK till the soil sets.

I had to laugh at the cow peeing on a flat rock, I grew up on a dairy farm so I do know how much they can do! I don't know if they will stand up very well, as they are in full growth and may die back but they should recover eventually. 12+ iinches per day? Heck that is a lot!