Gladiolus Old Fort North Carolina Native Plants sits atop a nicely mottled

sits atop a nicely mottled 1-2' tall petiole (stalk)

thanks to a gift from the late fern collector Nancy Swell of Virginia

The top conversation piece in our garden

We have not found the gold pattern to fade

so each clone is slightly different

Gladiolus Old Fort North Carolina Native Plants sits atop a nicely mottledThe year was 2004, the highway, Interstate 40, the exit, Old Fort, NC. Though it isn't advertised, old Ford vans can go from 60 mph to 0 in just a few seconds as I can attest when I saw this long abandoned gladiolus growing by the guardrail just outside Asheville, NC. Upon closer inspection, it was not the Gladiolus dalenii often found in southern gardens, but an old garden hybrid a very winter hardy hybrid. Back in our trial gardens, Gladiolus 'Old