Tuesday, July 13, 2010

My Glads Make Me Sad

Gladiolas are so lovely. But I simply cannot manage them. When I first bought my house I went crazy buying all kinds of bulbs, including glads.  I have some purple ones that come up every year and promptly fall over.


This poor glad is leaning on top of a nearby day lily.  These purple glads have come up every year for the last four years. Now I ask myself: why purple?

If you like to see gorgeous bulbs, go to the website for American Meadows. This pretty pink glad came from their catalog.

American Meadows also has a Biltmore Collection, featuring varieties grown at the Biltmore Mansion in North Carolina.  The next two photos are from that collection. These didn't bloom last year at all. In fact I had forgotten all about them until I saw them blooming a few weeks ago.




It pays to walk around my yard every day. I never know what I might find!

4 comments:

  1. I only have a couple of glads, because I get tired of trying to keep them from passing out on the ground. And they don't bloom very long either...

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  2. My cousin grows thousands of them and sells them by the roadside. She shows them at the State Fair and is known as the glad lady. My grandfather used to grow them and now my mother does. She also sells them by the road. In our zone 4 area, we have to dig them up each fall which is why I don't grown them anymore. Although I do have some that come back each year that I've left in the ground.

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  3. I love the Biltmore Collection ones; those are gorgeous! They are a headache though so probably best as cut flowers rather than leaving them in the yard.

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  4. Bonnie, I can't imagine having to dig them each year! That's quite a task. The Biltmores are beautiful, and they are not expensive, either. My problem is that I should be planting in concentrated areas instead of here and there.

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