Fasicated Gladiola???

I've grown glads for years and years and have NEVER seen one do this. The bloom stalk seems to have split. The 'parent' stalk is blooming, but then it has this baby stalk taht seems to have split off the botom. At first it looked like the bottom bud was just sort of on a stem, but as each day goes by, it appears to be growing a second bloom stalk. It is a little hard to see because I can't seperate it from the abckground, but if you click on the thumbnail, you can see taht it has two separat bloom stalks...one taht is full size, and a smaller one that is growign larger daily. Has anyone else ever seen anything like this?

Freak of the iris family. It happens. Rarely, but it does. It seems less odd when you think of Crocosmia.
K. James

Thanks. This is my first year growing Crocosmia and so far it has just put up leaves...no buds.

Crocosmia have well-branched inflorescences, going out in a very pleasantly geometric way. See it in this fun photograph:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/82228/

Good luck on yours, I hope they bloom their first year for you (they often don't). Mine only have leaves right now, too.

(By the way, that is a smashing Glad!)
K. James

I love glads. While driving throught he country this spring I discovered a bunch of wild African Parrot Glads. I dug up all the adult plants and brought them home. Had some great blooms off of them, but they seem to only bloom in the Spring. Now my regualr glads are finally starting to bloom...and I am working on apainting of glads. I've done the same painting twice before and lost the photos of them. The first one was for a present for my ex MIL...then a coworker saw it and paid me to paint her one like it, but with slightly different colors. I started painting it again so I'd have a copy of it for myself...but have been so buys with actually growing flowers, I have not had time to pain them...so it has been sitting on the easle with the background in and the flowers roughed out, but no paint on the flowers. It might stay there till Fall at this rate. With all the dorught, I have to spend at lest 2 hours a day watering or I will lose all my plants. I have to sleep at least 12 hours a day because of my lupus, so that doesn't leave me much time to paint.

Thanks for the link. The pic on the bulb package didn't look so cool. That is the same plant at the top of the DG banner isn't it?

That's it on the banner.
Drought is in its cycle in the Americas now, it seems.

Good luck on your painting; a good wintertime pasttime.

It is a La Nina year...Drought in the south, tornandoes in the Midwest and torrential rians in the NE. De Ja vu to 1989. We had the exact same weather patterns in the SE back then.

Charming.

LOL! My sentiments exactly!

I just ordered my second go around of biltmore glads from ameican meadows...10 cents a piece for 1.00 bulbs...if you like glad...this is probably old news. Interesting looking glad in your picture...seems my plants never do cool things.

My Crocosmia Lucifer just started flowering this past Sunday and boy, do the hummingbirds love them.

Some lily lovers never in a lifetime see a fasciated stem in their garden among all of their varieties. (When a normally round stem goes flat like a hedgehog run down by a steamroller)

A friend of mine has one that reliably has several flat and branched lily stems dues to fasciation each year. The weakenss of such stems usually mean they will blow over in the wind like a bent straw, so she cuts them to enjoy indoors. It's a hormonal thing, I'll bet. The cactus and succulent people are always looking out for it, because fasciated "crested" things can be very desirable in their trade.

There is no pattern to it. Some of us are like Garden Glory who never have the fun of freaks in our garden.