Scrapbook image

Your scrapbook

Forgotten your details?

Enter your email address and we'll send your username and password to you

London

  • FairToday
    14°C/19°C
  • FairTomorrow
    12°C/20°C
  • See Gardeners'
    7-day forecast

Our Gardeners' 7-day forecast warns you of changing weather conditions (including frost, high wind and drought) and suggests actions to take to protect your plants.

Gardeners' World magazine - 3 issues for £1

Save 25%

Subscribe now

Advertisement

Gardeners World blog

Plants

Glory be!

Posted by: Adam Pasco, 08 October 2007, 09.38AM

Gloriosa rothschildiana They were a long time coming, but my Glory Lily has finally started flowering. It was my fault really, as I should have planted the tubers earlier in the year. Time caught me out, and despite receiving them in March they remained in the paper bag until May. At least they did get planted - better late than never - and now I'm really enjoying their display.

I first grew the Glory Lily about 25 years ago when I was editor of Greenhouse magazine (this was actually my first editorship after entering journalism, but that's another story).

I just love their Latin name... Gloriosa rothschildiana. The Gloriosa bit is very uplifting, and captures the thrill I feel of seeing these spectacular flowers unfold their stunning petals... simply glorious. Then comes the upmarket bit. Anything called rothschildiana must have a good heritage. Apparently it was named after Baron Z.W. Rothschild (a keen ornithologist) who collected flowers from Africa to exhibit at a horticultural show in England in the early 1900's.

Growth is quite upright at first, but these are twining plants that love to scramble. The tip of every leaf has a hooked end that helps it catch hold and climb. Lend a hand by tying to canes in the pots. With this in mind, growth can get top-heavy, so plant in heavier terracotta pots instead of plastic ones to provide more stability.

Like so many exotics gloriosa is not hardy, but I've never had a problem saving tubers from one year to the next. I just refrain from watering pots from about the end of October, letting plants use up moisture until the compost has dried up and they die down. Then I leave the dormant tubers in their dry compost over winter, which I hope insulates them from cold.

Memo to myself: Remember to start the gloriosa tubers into growth earlier next year so that I can enjoy their flowers for longer.

PS: Gloriosa are highly toxic if eaten, so don't eat them... not even a nibble if you're feeling peckish!

PPS: Trawling the web, I've just discovered that gloriosa is the National Flower of Zimbabwe.

Comments

  • Lorrie Flannery

    08 October 2007, 12.24PM

    I've got a Canna Picasso which is in a tub and is only just flowering now. I grew it from a seed given to me by a friend, which I started into growth in April this year. It only has one flower stem but I am still pretty pleased with it.

    Can I do what you do with your lilies - let the soil dry out, let it die down, and leave it in the dry compost to overwinter? Or should I dig it out of the pot and store it with my dahlia tubers? Here in Sheffield, whichever way I store it I will have to put it in a frost free environment because it could be too cold outside in the winter.

  • Adam Pasco

    09 October 2007, 11.25PM

    I also grow canna lilies in large pots, and one has been in the same pot for its third summer. I simply move the whole pot into my unheated greenhouse in late October, before frost strikes in my area.

    Refrain from watering to allow the foliage to die down naturally, and then snip this away at compost level during winter. Come spring I just start watering the pot again, and once shoots emerge I start giving a liquid feed occasionally too. No, I don't remove it from its compost or do anything complicated, but it appears to thrive.

  • Wendy Sait

    10 October 2007, 05.18PM

    I have grown canna lilies in large pots for several years and have always found that even though kept in a greenhouse overwinter they have been very slow to come into bloom. Last in desperation - because I had bought a yellow striped leaved canna and forgotten to put it in a larger pot and therefore it had dried out several times - I put it in the garden in a sunny position. Would you believe this year it has been the best canna in the garden, that includes several in pots as mentioned. This has grown to about 5-6ft tall and has flowered repeatedly for some weeks now. The others have hardly produced any flowers at all and are stunted in comparision. So maybe with our warmer winters they can now be left in the garden.

  • Lorrie Flannery

    10 October 2007, 04.34PM

    Thanks for that Adam, I'll give it a go. However as I heat my greenhouse in the winter I will probably store it in my frost free outhouse.

  • Lindsay Hobby

    11 October 2007, 05.00PM

    A friend made my wedding bouquet of gloriosa and ever since I have wanted to grow this plant but have not yet tried. Can it be grown outside (North West England) as I haven't got a conservatory?

  • Val Horton

    12 October 2007, 07.36PM

    I bought glorisa tubers from Gardeners World NEC in June and did not pot them until July and had a good display September and still flowering. I grew mine in the kitchen. I believe you can grow them outside in the summer but maybe have to bring the tubers inside for winter. They climb and climb.

  • Val Horton

    12 October 2007, 07.36PM

    Did you know that the Gloriosa lily is known as the 'Flame Lily' in Zimbabwe? I also wondered if I could treat my new Rheum Palmatum the same way as you treat the Gloriosa Lily? It is in the greenhouse and wouldn't want it to die. I live in the North East - Newcastle.

  • G.Mel

    13 October 2007, 04.19PM

    I need some help as this year I planted two arum lillies, at the start of the year in the garden. They have flowered profusely this Summer and are continuing to do so. I live in between Glasgow and Edinburgh, so the weather here might not be suitable to keep then in the garden over Winter. I have read varying advice on the internet and am no further forward as to how I can look after them. I was also wondering as to how I could propogate them? Any advice would be great. Thanks!!

  • Adam Pasco

    15 October 2007, 11.44AM

    I'm afraid this really is a plant for a pot growing in warm conditions, Lindsay. I've never seen it grown outside in the UK, and wouldn't recommend it unless you live in a very warm area that can provide a bright, hot, sheltered position (hopefully backed by a warm wall).

  • Mary Buckingham

    24 October 2007, 12.57PM

    I live in London can anyone recommend a stockist of the Glory Lily. Is this the same as the Flame Lily we have just seen in the Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens in South Africa?

  • Adam Pasco

    26 October 2007, 11.48AM

    You should be able to find lots of mail-order suppliers on the internet, Mary. Gloriosa are not often sold at garden centres, but wait until the New Year and check the summer bulb catalogues for prices. They will NOT be found at this time of year.

  • Wendy Sait.

    27 October 2007, 07.16PM

    I have grown canna lilies in large pots for several years and have always found that even though kept in a greenhouse overwinter they have been very slow to come into bloom. Last in desperation - because I had bought a yellow striped leaved canna and forgotten to put it in a larger pot and therefore it had dried out several times - I put it in the garden in a sunny position. Would you believe this year it has been the best canna in the garden, that includes several in pots as mentioned. This has grown to about 5-6ft tall and has flowered repeatedly for some weeks now. The others have hardly produced any flowers at all and are stunted in comparision. So maybe with our warmer winters they can now be left in the garden.

  • joanie

    29 November 2007, 06.58PM

    i have a forsythia lynwoodii. This shrub now looks totally brown wood with some hollow stems, can anyone tell me if this is normal for this time of year, there are absolutely no leaves on it at all! And i only bought it this year. Who can tell me what is wrong with it?

  • Max Fincher

    01 January 2007, 12.00AM

    What a beautiful plant. I was wondering if anyone has experience of leaving their canna lillies outside over Winter? I live in Bucks and thought I would give it a go this year with the winters' seeming to be milder now. It's a Canna iridiflora that has flowered for 2 years running. I covered the crown with a good layer of straw and peat, and a big pot. Do you think it will bloom again this year or have I been foolhardy and lost the plant? I can't see any new shoots yet.

  • gloriosa.

    20 May 2008, 11.24AM

    I bought mine at the tulip museum in Amsterdam. I live in Lincolnshire. The garden is large but reasonably sheltered can I grow my gloriosa outside. its too tall for my office. its in a trough thanks.

  • welsh joan

    03 July 2008, 05.38PM

    hello,I have a gloriosa tuber and because i haven't yet seen any growth since i planted it in April-wonder if i have planted it upside-down or something. It arrived looking like a long finger!Advice please!

  • John- Stockport

    09 July 2008, 04.05PM

    I have grown two Gloriosa from seed this year. As yet they are very small, and I doubt that they have formed any appreciable tuber yet. Does anyone have any experience of growing them from seed and over wintering them? I did discover that tubers are recommended planted horizontally, and after flowering the tuber collapses leaving two daughter tubers, which, I believe can be separated to form two new plants.

Leave a comment

We'd love you to post a comment, but please be aware of our Code of Conduct.

Please email gwremovalrequests@bbc.co.uk to report any comments you feel are inappropriate. Please detail the post title and the comment you are referring to in your email. We'll take a look, and take appropriate action.

By submitting your contribution to this site, you confirm your acceptance of the website terms.

Thank you for your comment

Thank you for your comments. All comments will be looked at by a moderator, however, due to the numbers of comments we receive, we can't promise that all will be posted on the site.

Advertiser Links

Subscribe to the magazine

August edition of Gardeners' World Magazine

In August...
The August issue is on sale from 30 July. Subscribe today and receive the next three issues of Gardeners' World magazine for just £1.

The UK's number 1 gardening magazine

TV & Radio

Television icon

What's on this week

Find out what gardening programmes are on TV and radio this week. And read more about the Gardeners' World programme.

Offer

Planter

Order five lavenders and only pay p&p.

BBC Magazines

© BBC Magazines Ltd. BBC Worldwide Ltd.

The BBC Gardeners' World Magazine word mark and logo are trademarks of BBC Worldwide Ltd.

BBC Magazines is owned by the BBC and our profits are returned to the BBC for the benefit of the licence-fee payer.