Gladiolus saundersii

The "Lesotho Lily" has 50-90cm tall stems bearing large flowers of salmon to scarlet with an infusion of orange. In contrast, the lower petals are white in the centre with the white speckled with the same scarlet-orange shades. The region around can sometimes, rarely, be a darker shade, as in our plants.

Reliably cold hardy, this can overwinter in the ground as long as it does not sit in stagnant wet conditions. In the wild it is a native of the highest regions of the Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa where it occurs at over 2700m near the ski resort of Tiffindell.

Hardy in the UK it likes deep planting in a fertile, well-drained soil in full sun and lack of disturbance. Very little known but extremely deserving of cultivation.