Gladiolus Blue Isle - Sword Lily

The Gladiolus 'Blue Isle' offers flowers of a magnificent deep blue-violet colour, a rare and very deep shade, slightly illuminated at the centre of the petals with a thin white linear spot. This gladiolus is perfect for creating beautiful bouquets and adding verticality to flower beds in the garden.

Cultivated gladioli, belonging to the iridaceae family, are hybrids. They are divided into 3 main groups: Grandiflorus (large flowers), Primulinus (early) and Nanus (butterflies). 'Blue Isle' is part of the Grandiflorus group. It is a perennial herbaceous plant with broad, fan-shaped leaves forming a clump 100 cm (39in) tall. The leaves are topped by a spike inflorescence with funnel-shaped flowers, 10 cm (4in) long, carried by sturdy stems. Here, the flowers are dark blue-violet, intense, with a small white line at the heart of the petals. The storage organ is a corm, which is a swollen stem with scales.

Gladioli and their long, colourful stems are reminiscent of the 70s and slightly formal floral arrangements. While they are irreplaceable in bouquets, in gardens, their silhouette appreciates the presence of plants with lush foliage to enhance their abundant yet romantically wild flowering. Plant 'Blue Isle' corms alongside sage, tobacco, bee balm, and forget-me-nots, for example. They are commonly found in cottage gardens, where they accompany vegetables all the way to the kitchen table. To make bouquets, cut the flower stems when the first floret begins to open. Plant them at intervals of two weeks from early spring until the end of June to bring flowers into the house and garden all summer.

The gladiolus gets its name from the shape of its sword-like leaves, derived from the Latin word,  gladius. Its wild forms were often represented in jewelry or on carpets and fabrics made by the Semitic people before the Christian era.