Gladioli P H N
Iridaceae:  Gladiolus
Gladiolus, 2011
Gladiolus, 2011
2021
Mary 16: I put my bulbs from last year in a tub of water.
May 19: Planted. June 7: No sign of them yet. It has been dry. 8: One shoot.  

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2020
March 25: I put 50 bulbs of large flowering ruffled assorted bulbs from Costco root side down in a tub. This to to force the stems, if they sprout, to grow the right way up.
~May 2: I gave the bulbs a bit of water, to give them an early start.
20: I planted them. A few had long stems but most had just small roots.
June 8: Stalks have begun to appear above the soil.
August 16: They have grown well and today the first flower is out.
December 31: Not many flowers. The bulbs I collected are medium sized.  
2019
May 26: I put my bulbs from last year on newspaper in a tub, root side down, and added a cm of water.
 
2018
May: I bought 30 bulbs of each of Far West, Priscilla, Purple Flora, and Cardinal.
late June: I planted all the bulbs plus my own that I had saved.
July 13: Many plants growing fine.
December 31: Almost no flowers. I collected the bulbs.
 
2014
April 22: I bought 8 purple-flowered bulbs from a dollar store, $2. The bulbs in the basement have short green shoots.
June 3: I planted all the bulbs and there are thin shoots now about 15 cm high.
July 31: One purple-flowered stalk is in bloom.
 
2013
June 3: I planted my 7 bulbs. I moistened them in the basement a few weeks ago and they have short green shoots.
28: Four shoots are up.
September 23: I got one flower. The plants are still growing.
 
2012
September 16: They did not grow very large, and only 2 have flowered. July and August were very dry.
 
2011
May 19: I bought 4 Twilight bulbs and 4 Zamora bulbs from T&T, $4.95 each set.
28: I planted all my bulbs, both the saved ones and my new ones.
June 8: Two shoots came up today, and well up.
 
2010
~May 16: I planted 2 rows of bulbs, some from last year and some new purple-flowered ones. I treated my own bulbs with hot water before storing them to kill the thrips.
June 17: Some spikes are up their rows.
July 2: Coming along.
12: The spiked are quite variable in size.
 
2009
~May 12: I cleaned my bulbs and set them right side up in moist vermiculite in the dark to give them a head start.
24: The bulbs had sprouted radial roots and stalks, some long. I planted them.
July 4: Coming along. The plants that were developed before planting sent their first leaves up almost as soon as I planted them.
August 3: Doing fine.
18: About 5 plants are flowering.
September 2: The edges of the flowers were brown. After picking some today, I see there are many bugs in them, probably thrips. This is the first time I've noticed the thrip problem but I see from these notes that they were probably there last year too.
 
2008
May 12: I bought 12 bulbs at LaCoste Garden Centre, 49 cents each.
14: I planted my bulbs. Besides the ones I bought I planted 4 very large white-flowered bulbs, 4 large white-flowered bulbs, and 4 of coloured flowers, probably yellow.
26: Several sprouts.
June 24: Good germination and doing well.
August 13: Sadly, the flowers buds are brown and never open.
 
2007
May 12: Ben planted the bulbs.
June 16: 30 cm spikes in their row now.
 
2006
April 17: I cleaned the bulbs up and put them in a tray. This is make sure they're pointed the right side up so that the first sprout goes straight up. Then I sprayed them and added a little water. I'm trying to give them a head start. Is this a good idea? I don't know. I guess I'll find out.
~29: I put them into moist vermiculite.
May 13: I planted them, 17 bulbs. Some had no roots, some one root, some many roots; one had a small green sprout.
27: Some leaves today. Starting them early in vermiculite doesn't seem to have had any effect.
August 1: Coming along. No flower stalks yet. I think they have been hurt by the extreme dryness in July. I hope the irrigation system helps them out.
 
2005
May 9:  The bulbs are all still in the basement.
17:  I planted a row.
31:  First sprout.
July 7:  A nice row of leaves.
August 8:  First flower, a red one.
 
2004
March 30:  I removed the stalks.
May 18:  I planted the bulbs.
June 7:  First sprout.
October 18:  I got only a few flowers. They did not do well in this cool wet summer, and the bulbs, that Ben has brought in, are small.
 
2003
May 2:  I removed the stalks and old bulbs from the new bulbs and set them right side up in a box.
13:  I planted, salmon-rose, yellow, and white.
May 28:  Shoots up this morning.
July 5:  Coming along fine.
22:  First flowers, white.
August 26:  The weather has been dry and most of the flowers have had brown edges and did not open fully.
October 5:  Ben dug the bulbs.
 
2002
May 5:  I planted the salmon-rose bulbs. I dug the bed earlier today and worked-in some compost. I gave each bulb a small scoop of super triple phosphate.
7:   I planted the yellow- and white-flowered bulbs.
12:   I planted another row of the yellow- and white-flowered bulbs, using the remaining smaller bulbs.
June 8:  Shoots today.
13:  I planted 2 rows of small corms, to try to produce full size bulbs eventually.
August 10:  First flowers, 2 white ones.   Only 1 of the small corms has grown, to my surprise.
September 7:  I have had a succession of flowers.   I have been marking the plants as I remove the flowers according to the colour of the flowers, white, yellow, or rose.
 
2001
May 18: I planted the good-sized bulbs, and also 7 small ones to see if they grow, even if they don't flower.
May 28: I bought 10 bulbs for $1.97 from zellers.
May 29: I planted them.
June 6: The May 18 planting is coming through.
June 11: The May 29 planting is coming through.
July 31: First flower.
August 19: The May 29 bulbs are flowering well, in a beautiful salmon rose colour. The other bulbs have produced 3 flower stalks so far, in white or yellow.
October 4: I dug the bulbs. Most of them are large. A few are rather small; I expect those were the small ones that I planted.
 
Gladioli, 2000
Gladioli, 2000
2000
March 18: I put moist peat moss on top of my bulbs. They were drying out. I removed the stalks months ago.
April 21: Some of the bulbs have roots and sprouts.
May 20: I planted the bulbs, and mulched them with grass clippings. The sprouts have dried out; I don't know how those bulbs will do. I expect that new sprouts will develop from other spots on the bulbs.
June 24: One shoot up at last.
July 7: Several shoots came up today, I think from the bulbs that had made a false start. There are about 4 shoots already up from, I suspect, other bulbs.
August 24: First flower, a yellow one.
October 4: Fairly heavy frost last night. I dug the bulbs. Only 3 plants flowered this summer, undoubtedly due to the false start.
 
1999
April 1 (approx.): I removed the old dried stalks from the bulbs (actually corms), and removed the newspaper wrapping from about half of them.
April 25: I removed the newspaper from the rest. The bulbs look fine. There are many of them, and many are sending out a small new shoot.
May 3: I planted them.
18: The first shoot is pushing through the ground.
June 30: Flourishing.
July 28: First flower, a white one.
August 3: Flowering nicely. There are about 10 stalks today, 5 white and 5 yellow. I have picked some.
31: Flowering is recently over. Leaves and stalks are tall and green.
October 2: I dug up the bulbs, leaving the leaves and stems on, and put them in a bucket in the basement. The bulbs are huge!
 
1998
May 24: Only 2 bulbs from last year were large enough to use. I bought about 20 more, and planted them all.
June 1: shoots visible.
 
1997
May 23: Planted 12 bulbs saved from last year.
June 9: 1 up.
26: Still just appearing now.
December: Eventually, a good show.
 
1996
May 10: Bulbs planted.
June 8: Shoots up, after heavy rains.
August 26: First flowers.
September 4: About 14 nice flower stalks so far. They're almost done.
 
1995
May 9: Planted my 3 remaining bulbs. They were a good size. I put bone meal in with the bulbs.
11: Planted 20 more bulbs, landscape series, from T&T.
31: First shoot visible today.
July 7: All or almost all bulbs have sprouted.
September: Some good-sized bulbs were harvested, white flowered varieties doing the best.
 
1994
June 21: 6 plants growing. They're not very green.
July 1: Fertilized.
August 17: 2 whites flowered. They are not generally doing well. They displayed iron chlorosis. Try bone meal another year?
September 7: One more in flower now.
 
1993
August 18: Two white gladiolus stalks in flower and others coming,
September 4: One spike remains.
~October 12: Harvested 10 bulbs. Kept 7.   2 are coloured, the others probably white-flowered.