A Nice Green Leaf: A Nice Green Flower

Here's my plant of the week: the gorgeous Gladiolus viridiflorus. It's ridiculously pretty, and looks like it was designed to go with the interior design scheme of a smart new London hotel.

However it is the real deal. A subtle flower, pale, with a darkish bruise-coloured stain criss-crossed with pale green lines. Originally from South Africa where it grows on Cape sandstones, I saw it flowering in the sparkly new Alitex-sponsored Alpine house at Wisley where the Alpine House growers have done themselves proud already this spring. As recorded by their blog which is astonishing for the fact that they have recorded a completely different set of plants to the ones I saw over exactly the same period.

Another instant love thing for me were the Muscari - grape hyacinths, but not as we normally know them. These exquisite plants combine the dark plum and fresh grape green of real vines. Muscari muscarimi: yum yum yum.