Tuesday, October 21, 2014

PHOTO A DAY......number SEVENTEEN

This is a little different today.   For the forty years we have lived in our present home, each year these flowers have appeared in our front garden.  They are a type of bulb and have spread quite a distance through the garden but have not become a nuisance.  I have no idea what they are and thought perhaps, if I showed a photo of them, someone well versed in flower nomenclature may give them a name.  They are very pretty and it would be nice next year to say "Oh look, the xxxxxx are in bloom again."  Can you help?


At first I pulled them up thinking they may be a flower that has become a weed similar to the Watsonia spp. in our southwest but they don't seem to spread enough to cause them to become a problem in the wild.  From the second year I just let them run free and am glad I have as they are cheerful companions in our garden.

12 comments:

  1. It will be interesting to see if anyone knows what they are....they are very pretty indeed.

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  2. Hari OM
    With apologies to MacWheeler but those are NOT irises. What you have there is one of the many LILY forms and I suspect a variation on the storm or rain lily. ... they are lovely and it matters little to have their exact designation; as it has been said, ' a rose by any name...' &*> YAM xx

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    1. I am not sure they look like what they actually are but then I'm not a horticulturist. xx

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  3. My contribution is that I too, believe they are a lily of sorts but gosh Mimsie I'm the most hopeless gardener in blogland but still, they do look like a lily and maybe someone will call by with a proper name.
    They are lovely!

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    1. It's strange to think I have had this mysterious plant in our garden for 40 years and never enquired before what it is. Now I know I'm still not completely convinced but then, what do I know?

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  4. Clearly a lily of some sort, but what sort?
    Nerines?

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    1. We now of course have the answer we were seeking thanks to your good self. : )

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  5. As you know, I emailed the Gardening Australia people about this and here is the reply I received today.

    A: It is Gladiolus carneus, an easily grown South African bulb that flowers in mid spring with cream, pale pink or apricot flowers with maroon throat flashes on 45cm tall stems. It’s very drought hardy and, like many of the species Gladiolus, has escaped from gardens and is a weed in WA, especially around old settlements from Albany to Busselton. It grows from corms and spreads readily as they produce many tiny corms around each small corm.

    There you have it, Gladiolus carneus, drought hardy and a weed in WA.
    So it isn't a lily as I thought.

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    1. Oh dear, I do hope I emailed you back to say thank you for your efforts on my behalf and, I I missed doing so, my sincere apologies.
      Ours is obviously the white variety as no pinks at all. I checked and found it is known as "Painted lady" and am pretty sure it has a corm more than a bulb but then have not pulled one up for many years.
      Many thanks again for solving this mystery for me.
      I must admit I have never over the years seen them growing as a weed unlike the watsonia which one sees on the roadside out in the countryside.

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