Gladioli are easy to care for. Just give them lots of water, good soil, plenty of sunshine and a few bamboo stakes to support their tall flower spikes.
I grow my glads in rows in the vegetable garden because I use them as cut flowers, but when planted in clumps in mixed borders, they provide bright late summer colour in the landscape.
Gladioli corms can be planted quite close together. Leave about a 10 centimetre space between the corms, with rows about 15 cm apart.
Planted before the middle of May, gladioli will finish blooming before fall frost arrives. Gladioli corms that are planted deeply will take longer to bloom and will be less susceptible to drought.
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Since I am able to water my garden regularly, I don’t plant my glads too deep, which encourages earlier blooms, but I have to make sure I dig the corms before a heavy fall frost occurs. Bloom time varies according to variety. Look for early, mid-season or late on the label.
Although glads are not bothered by many diseases or insects, thrip can be a problem. Any plant that turns yellow or develops yellow stripes on its leaves should be immediately removed and destroyed. Discard any corm that doesn’t look right.
In the fall, dig gladioli using a garden fork to lift the corms. Use a sharp knife to cut off the tops, leaving about six cm of stem on each corm. I scatter the corms on top of an old blanket in the sun to dry.
I continue to put the corms outside in the sun on warm days, dragging them into the garden shed at night both to protect them from frost and to keep them from getting damp.
Once the weather cools and we have our furnace running regularly, I take the glad corms down to the furnace room, spreading them out on the floor, where they will stay until December, when I clean them up and store them. I snap the old corms off the bottoms of the new corms that have formed during the summer.
After putting them in a brown paper bag with a sprinkle of all-purpose bulb dust, I give it a shake to distribute the dust evenly. The bag of corms is then ready to be placed in storage in a cool location that is not damp.
Other than checking on the corms a couple of times during the winter and removing any corms that are rotting, the corms will stay in storage until early May when it is time to put them the ground. Gladioli blooms are beautiful and I cannot imagine my summer garden without them.
