Gladiolus 'West Coast Hybrids'

This gladiolus hybrid was first made by the late Collingwood Ingram, who crossed Gladiolus tristis with Homoglossum watsonium and coined his new cultivar xHomoglad 'General Smuts' (I'm not making this up!). Now that The Evil Taxonomy Empire has eliminated the genus Homoglossum, it officially became gladiolus. These small rock garden-size, winter-growing perennials emerge in early fall and form small, 15" tall clumps with very narrow, rush-like foliage. Topping the plants in late March and into April (NC) are delightful, small, lightly fragrant, creamy-yellow flowers with the top three petals having dark brown central markings. Since these are seed-grown, the flower color may vary slightly. These are superb rock garden plants that simply must be grown to be appreciated.