How pretty and nice you have something that has been in the family for quite a while.

I think they are Byzantine Gladioli.

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: images for Byzantine Glads

Those are species glads, gladioli byzantium. I tried them, they bloomed once and then petered out. You are very lucky to have such a beautiful flower happily established in your gardens, especially with the family history attached to it.

Any idea when would be best time to divide them? I do like them, and would like to have more of them.

That area used to be my great-grandparents front yard/garden, but their old house was moved out in the late 60's. Brush and oaks had taken over, but I cleared much of that out and now I'm finding her old plants still thriving after all those years.

I'll hope that someone more experienced will chime in but in the meantime I guess I'll put in my 2 cents....

If they go dormant during the summer I would say transplant as the foliage is yellowing.... if they stay green all summer (like regular glads) I would say wait until fall. But that said, they are probably a hard to kill bulb, so even moving them in early spring when the sprouts are just coming up would probably work just fine.

Try a couple, see how they do, and then tackle the rest if it goes well!