THERE was some confusion at the garden centre this week. A customer spotted and inquired after a plant that I had on one of my back retail benches. It had long swordlike leaves about one metre high and an even taller stem that was studded with 2in wide star-shaped, scented white flowers which had a deep purple throat.

A young volunteer had brought the corms in earlier in the year and had excitedly sown several pots of them, labelling them as ‘sword lilies’. It was only afterwards, when I went to check out the Latin name, that we realised that the original label had been thrown away. I placed them at the back of the nursery with the intention of looking up the proper formal name, but it wasn’t until I was asked what the name of the plant was by the customer that I realised I had forgotten to identify it.

That was when all the references books came off the shelf and onto the desk. The customer said that she had one at home but that it was known as an acidanthera. I looked this up in the trusty RHS encyclopaedia of plants and flowers and could find no mention of it.

It wasn’t to be found in the Reader’s Digest encyclopaedia of garden plants and flowers either. In a last ditch attempt I tried the more botanical and a little more up to date Index of Garden plants and there it was, except that it suggested that its name had now been changed to callianthus. I had never heard of this either so began the reference search again. This time I struck lucky in all three books. The plant was actually a gladiolus, gladiolus callianthus to be exact, otherwise known as the Peacock Flower or the Ethiopian gladiolus or the Abyssinian gladiolus. The common name Sword Lily turns out to be a colloquial term for any gladioli. It just goes to prove two things. Firstly, that it pays to immediately label any plant with all the words that come on its original label, and secondly, that there really is a reason for having Latin names as opposed to common ones, in that identities can be pinpointed accurately and botanically.

Jobs this week

Divide overcrowded clumps of bearded iris once they have finished flowering. Make sure each piece has a good chunk of root attached to it, and plant it with the rhizomes with their tops showing, so that they can get a good baking next summer. Cut the leaves down by a half, so that the plant puts more energy into developing the root system rather than growing leaves.

Break off the heads of the rhododendrons and azaleas as they go over, being careful not to damage the growing tip just below them.

Build up a circular ridge of soil around courgette plants. This acts as a well and keeps the moisture around the roots, where it is most needed.

■ Brigid presents the BBC Tees Gardening Show on Sundays from 1pm to 2pm. Questions can be answered on the day by emailing brigidpress@ bbc.co.uk anytime during the week, or texting 07786-200995 and phoning 01642-225511 during the show.