Another Sniff of Abyssinian Glads

        Our friend Jonathan Lubar of Gainesville, Florida adds this to our ongoing discussion of the fragrance of Abyssinian glad: “I think they smell like four o’clocks (somewhat citrus flower-scented).” (Nov. 2008)

What Do Abyssinians Smell Like, Part 3

        Here’s another contribution to our ongoing discussion, from our good customers Elizabeth and Sarah Heeren: “We think the Abyssinian glads smell like Easter lilies.” (late Oct. 2008)

What Do Abyssinian Glads Smell Like? Part 2

        Our good friend Larry Rettig of the Amana Colonies in Iowa writes:
        “I just read your latest newsletter and had to run right out to smell the Abyssinian glads I ordered from you this spring. Definitely an angel-trumpet-type fragrance (Datura), perhaps tending a bit toward its relative, Brugmansia. All three are blooming at the moment, so it was easy to make a comparison.”
        Does your nose agree? Email us your fragrance-description!

What Do Abyssinian Glads Smell Like?

        When our Abyssinian glads started blooming here in August, the debate to describe their subtle fragrance began. “Perfumey,” Alexa said, “Like lilac, with a touch of . . . ?” “Honeysuckle,” Renee suggested, “lilac and honeysuckle . . . and maybe forsythia?” “Forsythia? What does forsythia smell like?” everyone asked. “I love this scent,” Jessica said, “but I can’t describe it.” “I can’t even smell it,” Scott lamented. So help us out. What do Abyssinian glads smell like to you? (Sept. 2008)

Ugly Little Buggers: Gladiolus Thrips

        These almost invisible insects suck the life out of glads. To learn about their warning signs and how to protect your glads, check out our new web-page at oldhousegardens.com/thrips.asp . (April 2008)

Customer Raves: Another Glad-Hater Converted by Our Heirlooms

        Last summer, Kerry Hoffman of Clara’s Meadow Flower & Herb Farm in Watsontown, Pennsylvania, wrote us in excitement:
        “Just wanted to tell you how absolutely GORGEOUS the glads are that I planted this spring. I’m a cut-flower market grower, and I stayed away from gladiolus because they were just too big for my bouquets and, truthfully, rather gaudy looking to me. But your heirloom varieties are stunning! They’re an absolute hit with my customers, too. ‘Atom’ was the first to bloom last week, and everyone wanted to know its name. I love you guys. I will buy from you faithfully forever and ever and ever.” (Apr. 2008)

Tip of the Month: Storing Glads in Egg Cartons

        Here’s a creative and earth-friendly suggestion for storing gladiolus bulbs from Lena Hart of Bayfield, WI, writing in Fine Gardening magazine:
        “I have discovered an excellent storage container [for glads]: an egg carton. I simply fill it with a dozen cleaned bulbs and write the variety name with a permanent marker in the corresponding spot on the cover, the way candies are labeled in a box. The individual cells keep mold and diseases from spreading, and the carton takes up just a little space on a basement shelf.” We’d only add that, if you're using styrofoam egg cartons, be sure your bulbs are good and dry before storing them.
       For more advice on winter storage, see our “Planting and Care”. (Nov. 2007)

Web-Only Special: ‘Little Mo’ Gladiolus

        More and more gardeners are re-discovering the virtues of glads, especially the small-flowered ones that blend easily into mixed borders. Here’s one more we can finally share with you — if you move fast, because we have just 50 corms! From the psychedelic 1960s, ‘Little Mo’ [currently unavailable] is a zippy, small-flowered cutie of vivid coral-orange. Plant it this spring in your garden or pots for a happy little jolt of energy. (March 2007)

Scott and Old House Glads Featured in Garden Gate Magazine

        “Scott Kunst on Growing Spectacular Glads” – that’s the title of the article that kicks off the Jan.-Feb. issue of Garden Gate magazine. It’s part of an on-going series that features nationally-known experts talking about topics of growing interest. With the help of editor Jim Childs (one of our favorite garden writers), Scott shares his tips for growing glads in pots, perennial borders, and throughout your garden, and recommends five of his favorite heirloom glads. (Jan. 2007)

She’s Awed by Our TRUE Byzantine Glads

        Our fall-planted Bulb of the Year is NOT your ordinary glad. For a start, it’s perennial through zone 6, and we have true stock! Our good customer Tamara Bastone of Chesapeake, Virginia, writes:
        “Yes, without a doubt your Byzantine glad is the real thing and worth every penny to boot! I ordered one last fall and when it bloomed alongside of the other Byzantines I had grown for years (of course thinking they were the ‘real’ thing but wondering why they didn’t look like the ones in English gardens), I was in awe of its beauty. The color is a deep magenta and it is taller and sturdier. Plus, it’s a good investment for it will multiply over the years. Trust me, you are the only ones offering the ‘real’ thing. Thank you!” (Sept. 2006)

Gladiolus Bonus: Hummingbirds

        A self-described “glad lover for over 50 years,” our good customer Margaret Kwitek of Maribel, Wisconsin, says if you don’t have glads blooming in your garden this summer, you’re missing more than flowers:
        “Oh my goodness, your pictures of glads are wonderful! As for any ‘glad haters,’ all they have to do is put a comfy chair in the garden when the glads are in their glory. Sit quietly and enjoy the show of hummingbirds. They seem to know when you relax and feel quite comfortable coming in to those lovely flowers. I’ve even had them come to flowers I had cut and was bringing into the house. I’m never disappointed when I need a lift. I ALWAYS have glads if for no other reason. Who would fail to be delighted?” (Aug. 2006)

Japanese Gardeners Prize Butterfly-like ‘Atom’ Glads

        Here’s an interesting tidbit about our current Spring-Planted Heirloom Bulb of the Year from Growing Gladioli (1989) by Anderton and Park:
        “In Japan, where it was a huge success years ago, ‘Atom’ was known as Beni Kochi (Little Butterflies).” (April 2006)

Read Scott’s “Glads for Glad-Haters” at BBG.org

        When the Brooklyn Botanic Garden newsletter asked Scott to write an article about small-flowered glads (the next big thing?) for their “Plants with Pizzazz” column, of course he said yes! Now you can read the entire article online at the BBG website at bbg.org/gar2/topics/plants/2006sp_glads.html. (March 2006)

Newsletter Special: Parrot Glads, Rare African Wildflower

        Don’t delay! It’s been years since we’ve had enough of this rare glad to offer it, and we expect the handful of corms we have will sell out in a flash.
        The parrot gladiolus [currently unavailable] was the first African glad to reach American gardens way back in the early 1800s, and though it has long disappeared from commerce it can still be found in old Southern cottage gardens. Small-flowered and bright, this rare wildflower will add an exotic touch to any garden, and it’s hardy through zone 7 at least. (Feb. 2006)

Monet and Parrot Glads

        While thumbing through a book about Monet recently, I was excited to see what I’m convinced are parrot glads [currently unavailable] blooming in one of his best known paintings, “Garden at Sainte-Adresse.” Painted in 1867, it shows a sunny, waterside garden with tall, narrow, red and yellow glads that must be parrots. See if you agree: nga.gov.au/MonetJapan/Detail.cfm?WorkID=W95 (click on the painting to enlarge it).
        Monet also painted a large bed of glads in his own garden with Mme. Monet standing in back admiring them, a painting I have enjoyed at the Detroit Institute of Arts for years. (see dia.org/the_collection/overview/full.asp?objectID=54805&image=1). So there’s no need to plant a pond full of waterlilies to garden à la Monet. Just plant a few of our old glads and you’ll be all set! (Feb. 2006)

We Say Byzantine Glads, They Say Whistling Jacks

        Our friend Greg Grant sent us this tidbit by the illustrious Roy Lancaster from a BBC website:
        “I recommend a wild species, the Gladiolus byzantinus, which is very common in the Isles of Scilly where they call it Whistling Jacks. It’s perennial and the flowers are quite outstanding with a rich purplish-rose color.” (Oct. 2005)

Our True Byzantine Glads Flourish in Ireland, Too

        Our Texas friend Cynthia Mueller emailed us in June saying:
        “I’m happy to report that our old friend, Gladiolus byzantinus, is alive and well in southern Ireland. A few weeks ago I saw them blooming proudly in Helen Dillon’s Dublin garden, Glasnevin Botanical Garden, Powerscourt, Muckross Castle, at Mount Juliet estate, and here and there along the way in cottage gardens. . . . The winters there are fairly warm but the summers are never as hot as here in Texas where they thrive. The glads were growing happily with Oriental poppies, columbine, tradescantia, knautia, bronze fennel, bearded iris, true geraniums, Russell lupines, foxgloves, and so on.” (Sept. 2005)

A Glad Worth Stealing: ‘Atom’ Snatched in Seattle

        This just in from our Seattle friend Gail Chapman whose shop A Garden of Distinction is a treasure-box of antique and modern garden furnishings:
        “Can you believe this? A woman came along in front of our showroom and dug up your ‘Atom’ gladiolus bulbs which have been blooming gloriously for us since 2001. Our building courtyard was also robbed twice in the last month, and a friend who owns a water garden nursery has had her very expensive Koi stolen. Ah, such times. And I thought gardening was so pure and peaceful!” (July 2005)

Glads in Pots

        We often plant glads in black plastic nursery pots and then when they bloom we set them into the border wherever a fresh burst of color is needed. As a bonus, the rigid sides of pots help keep glads standing upright better than they often do when planted directly in the garden. (2005-06 catalog)

Gladiolus “Best of All” in 1890

       Glads were one of the most popular flowers of the late 1800s, as attested to by Eben Rexford of Wisconsin in his Home Floriculture of 1890:
       “The gladiolus is the best of all the summer-flowering bulbs, all things considered. . . . It is a flower anybody can grow, and it is lovely enough to satisfy the most exacting. . . .
       “Of late . . . the size of the flower has been increased, its colors intensified, and new markings and combinations of colors of wonderful beauty have rewarded the skillful hybridizer. It deserves a place in every collection. . . .
       “There is nothing coarse about the Gladiolus. It has all the delicacy of the Lily combined with the magnificence of color peculiar to the most brilliant and showy tropical plants. Nothing is finer for cutting for vases. . . .
        “The bulb increases rapidly. If you invest a dollar or two in bulbs this season you will have quite a stock of them in fall, when you come to dig them, and from these, planted next spring, you will obtain all you care to use, and very likely more. If so, it will afford you a great deal of pleasure, doubtless, to share them with your flower loving friends who may not be so fortunate as you are.” (2004-05 catalog)

Style Alert from Garden Design: Glads and Dahlias Are Cool Again!

        In its March issue, chic Garden Design magazine offers a full-page “Guide to Plant Snobbery.” Good news: glads and dahlias are in again! ‘Bishop of Llandaff’, they write, “put dahlias on the comeback trail,” and now “the stylometer has swung 180 degrees: not only do bunches of dahlias grace the most sophisticated interiors, it is okay to own up to a weakness for panty-pink cactus forms” like our ‘Miss Rose Fletcher’. As for glads, they write that “tastemakers such as Beth Chatto, English plantswoman, returned to the long-neglected species . . . and rehabilitated the genus.” They praise Gladiolus byzantinus with its “elegantly arching stems with cerise pink flowers” and add that “even the Doris Day types are trendy again.”
        So, be cool! Order some great old glads and dahlias for spring planting! (March 2004)

Tough Little ‘Atom’ Survives Two Years in Storage

        Sandra Pickett of New Castle, Indiana, writes of our best-selling glad:
        “Two years ago, I dug up my gladiolus bulbs and put them in a crawl space to store. Last year, I completely forgot about them. This year, when I discovered them again, they were dried up, and not so healthy looking. I decided nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I planted them. Imagine my surprise when my ‘Atom’ appeared, the first glad of the season. Talk about a survivor!!! Your bulbs are wonderful.” (Dec. 2003)

Fine Gardening Spotlights Our “Antique Beauties”

        The May/June issue of Fine Gardening magazine features a great article (if we do say so ourselves) by our own Scott Kunst. It’s titled “Antique Beauties: Heirloom Dahlias, Gladiolus, and Cannas,” and it includes dramatic photos of a baker’s dozen of our very best. Check it out! (June 2003)

Hummingbirds Put Differences Aside for ‘Atom’

        Our good customer Elizabeth Newsom of El Cerrito, CA, writes:
        “The hummingbirds loved my ‘Atom’ glads. Sometimes there’d be two birds drinking at the same time, and they are determinedly territorial! Thanks for the great show.” (2003-04 catalog)

Two Customers Say “Yes” to Glads

        Last month, we asked you to tell us why you do or don’t plant spring-planted bulbs. To all of you who responded, thank you! Here are two “glad” responses:
        “I always plant a few glads because they are foolproof,” says Leslie Swartz from Hollister, California. “No feeding, no extra watering, planted in unamended adobe clay soil.” Kae McDonald of Glenwood Springs, Colorado, adds, “We lived in a condo, and I found that glads did very well in containers.” (Jan. 2003)

For Gazette Readers Only: Extra-Rare ‘Grey Wing’ Glad

        Still too rare for our catalog, ‘Grey Wing’ [currently unavailable] is available this spring to our newsletter subscribers only – and we can spare just 50 corms! One of the oldest and most unusual glads we’ve ever grown, this exotic beauty really is gray – a silvery, smoky, pewtery, pearly, luminous gray that’s both unique and gorgeous. Introduced from Australia in 1934, it hasn’t been offered in the US for decades. We’ve been slowly building up stock from a few corms that we got from the Old-Timers Guild of the North American Gladiolus Council. Be one of the first to enjoy the rare fruits of our glad labors. (Jan. 2003)

High Heat and Glads

        Glads may grow with kinked stems in extra-hot weather as they sag a bit during the heat of the day – unable to keep their cells full of water – and then grow upright at night.
        Thrips (tiny sucking insects) may attack your glads when it’s extra hot, too. Insecticidal soap is one mild control.
        And heat affects gladiolus colors, too. ‘Green Woodpecker’ glads [currently unavailable] in many areas were more yellow this year due to abnormally high temperatures. (Sept. 2002)

For articles on other topics, see our main Newsletter Archives page.