Gladiolus cruentus
Gladiolus cruentus
Safety & Hazards
None known
Cultivation Details
Gladiolus cruentus is native to the subtropics of eastern southern Africa. It is not a very cold-hardy species, though it is known to tolerate short periods with temperatures down to between -5 and -10°c[1]. Prefers a sunny sheltered position in a light sandy neutral to slightly acid soil with a pH between 6.5 and 7[2, 1]. Requires a stony gritty loam. A beautiful species in its own right, it is one of the parents of the cultivated garden gladiolas[1].
Propagation
Seed - sow early spring in a greenhouse at 15°c[1]. It usually germinates freely[2]. The seed can also be sown as soon as it is ripe in the autumn in a warm greenhouse[1]. Sow the seed thinly so that the seedlings can be grown on in the pot without disturbance for their first year, giving them an occasional liquid feed to ensure they do not become nutrient deficient. Pot up the small bulbs when they are dormant in the autumn, placing about 2 - 3 bulbs in each pot. Grow them on for another year or two in the greenhouse and then plant them out in late spring. Division. Dig up the corms in early autumn, dry them in well ventilated conditions at about 20°c and then store them in a cool but frost-free place over the winter, planting them out about 10cm deep in mid spring[2, 1]. Cormlets harvested when digging up the corms in the autumn can be stored in a similar manner to the corms[1]. Larger cormlets can be planted out in spring, smaller ones may be best grown on for a year in the greenhouse. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Gladiolus+cruentus>
Pollinators
Insects
References
- [1]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
- [2]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
- [3]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications · 1990 · ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 ↩︎Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.