You'll Be Glad You Planted Glads!

Saturday, May 09, 2009 03:46 AM

Gladiolus is one of the more popular summer blooming bulbs. They are easy to grow and the long stems are filled with beautiful open trumpet shaped blooms that come in a large variety of color. The blooms are often used in floral bouquets as they make an excellent cut flower. The leaves are long and sword like which is why they are sometimes referred to as Sword Lily. Native to Africa, gladioli are a member of the iris family, and have over 300 different species that are divided into different classes ranging from the miniature to the giant.

Gladioli are grown by planting the corm in the soil in the spring time. Plant the corm as early as possible for the best success so they can be planted outdoors as soon as you can work the soil or you can start them indoors planted in peat pots and then transplant them out later. The easiest way of doing this is using 4 inch peat pots and a good quality potting soil. This way there is no damage to the roots when it comes to transplanting as you plant the entire peat pot into the soil. Gladiolus do best in full sun and well drained soil, they will however tolerate almost type of soil providing it is well drained. Most landscapes tend to place the gladiolus in the back of the flowerbed because they can get quite tall, depending on the variety. When planting, space the corms/plants about 7-15 cm apart and generally 10-15 cm deep depending on the size of the corm. Give them ample water throughout the growing and blooming season and fertilize with a fertilizer such as 12-36 12. When a gladiolus begins to bloom it will start from the bottom of the stem and work its way up. You should remove the old finished flowers from the stem so that the energy will go towards the remaining flowers. After the stalk has finished blooming remove the flower spike to prevent any seed pods from developing if you plan on saving the corm for next year.

Gladiolus bulbs/corms can be dug up and saved to be planted the following year. If weather permits after you have cut off the finished flower stem allow the remaining foliage to die off naturally. After it has turned brown or if the plant experiences the first frost dig up the corms by loosening the soil near the corms and then pull on the foliage so that the corm comes out of the soil still attached to the foliage. With scissors, cut off most of the foliage to within 3 cm from the corm. Allow the corm to dry by placing it in a warm dry place for about 4 weeks. After it has dried, pull the old corm and remaining stem off of the new solid corm. Throw out the old corm and save the new corm as this is the one you will be using next season. Store the new corm by placing it in a single layer in a ventilation box, or in an onion bag, where it will receive good air ventilation and the temperature is around 5 Celsius. Sprinkle bulb dust on the new corm before storing it as this should help prevent fusarium basal rot or the insect, ‘thripes’, which both can be a problem for gladiolus. In the spring take out your stored gladiolus corms and plant them as you did the year previously

-Jos

Jos Van Hage owns and operates two Art Knapp Garden Centres in the Prince George area:

Highway 97 North at Northwood Pulpmill Road
Highway 16 West at Kimball Road

Previous Story - Next Story

Email |

Print |

Facebook |

Twitter |

Digg |

You'll Be Glad You Planted Glads!

Comments