Gladiolus alatus is a stunning Gladiolus species characterized by stunning red-orange flowers and, quality very rare in red and orange flowers, a beautiful scent. This cormous plant is native to South Africa in Namaqualand and Cape Region, characterized by winter rainfall. The active period of growth is between autumn and spring, and the beautiful blooming occurs in spring. The natural pollinators of these flowers are not sunbirds, which are the most common pollinators of red flowers in Africa, Asia and Oceania, but solitary bees, and this kinda make sense, if you think that, being sunbirds not very sensitive to scents, would be a complete waste of energy for Gladiolus alatus to produce its wonderful fragrance, if it were sunbirds its natural pollinators.
I bought this plant delivered at Border Alpines UK ( www.borderalpines.co.uk/ ), that is one of my favourite nurseries for alpine plants as well as rare bulbous and cormous plants. In the video I describe the flower characteristics and fragrance, plant biology and cultivation requirements, as per the information that I found, because I had this one only for a couple of weeks, even if I had already in the past several Gladiolus species and hybrids (you can find here a video on general common Gladiolus hybrid cultivation • How to grow Gladiolus ... ).
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