Daily Awesome – Gladiolus virescens

 These transitional months, those between the grand season of summer and winter, or summer and winter, mainly, spring and autumn, are times of significant bloom for many plants either bloom in the beginning of their growing season ( quite common with many orchids, which is why orchid shows are held either in the spring, or the autumn).  Such plants bloom very early in the growing season, or near the end because they either require certain pollinators, demand a long season of growth in which to mature, or they simply require strong sunshine or moisture to mature a new annual growth.

 The reasons why some plants wait until the end of their growth season may seem odd, but if you think about it a little more, many of these plants grow in areas where there are harsh conditions, a hot dry winter, for example, and so it is with many of the species Gladiolus which grow in the winter rainfall areas of the western cape of South Africa. A land, where many gladiolus species come from, and where many of the species in my collection come from. Today, I share a new one for me, the lovely olive and gold flowered Gladiolus virsecens.