A flower that is quite common around Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly is the Gladiolus communis subsp. Byzantium better known as ‘Whistling Jack’ or the ‘Sword lily’. It is a relic of the Scilly bulb fields and is extensively naturalised where there is little frost. It flowers from May to July.
You can buy bulbs for the garden but beware you might not actually get the true bulb. Perfect for bridging the gap between the last of the spring bulbs and the first of the summer perennials it bears spikes of funnel-shaped flowers in the most intense magenta pink.
This is my last photo for Dawn’s Festival of Spring which was in celebration of this season.
Cornwall in Colours 
Why Whistling Jack, I wonder? It grows wild here too- or something very like it.
All Cornish emigres are known as Cousin Jack so I imagine that has something to do with the name.
Having a nice time? 🤗💟
An unexpected adventure today! I’ll message you.
What a glorious burst of colour to find appearing in the grasses.
I’ve actually seen some in the lanes this year.
How pretty!
Gorgeous color!
Yes, definitely an ‘in your face’ colour.
I love Gladdies 🙂
I like these wilder ones.
To see them popping up in the wild would be wonderful 🙂
I’ve never seen these, at least I don’t think I have. That’s a gorgeous color. Are they always that color?
Yes. Though the ones I bought are paler, so probably not the genuine bulbs even though they were sold as being. Still nice, but they haven’t bulked up.
They are so beautiful, sometimes you can find them also in the countryside 🙂
I’ve seen some growing wild in the verges this year too.
Gorgeous. Lovely series. So it must be summer now! 🤞🏻
One would like to think so!
That Jack could whistling my garden anytime!!
😁
Could whistle in my garden. Sigh.
I had to look up to see the difference between your naturalized scilly and our naturalized scilla. They are both lovely, ours blue, yours pink.
Ah, this is not a scilla, but a gladioli from the Isles of Scilly which are off the Cornish mainland.
Yes. I did learn that. I love them both.
I’m not sure we have native scilla. The Peruvian (actually from Portugal) grows here and scilla luciliae from Western Turkey, both in shades of blue
It is all over New England. I don’t know that it was originally native, but it thrives here.
Whistling Jack thrives in Mississippi too, although the name is new to me. They’ve finished flowering here, but the faded stems are still decorative.