Growing Gladiolus

How to Plant, Grow, and Care for Gladiolus

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Gladiolus is a classic perennial known for its tall flower spikes. Great cutting flowers, gladiolus look beautiful in midsummer bouquets.

Available in a multitude of colors, gladioli grow between 2 to 6 feet in height.

The taller varieties, which should be staked, are often placed in the back of a garden to nicely complement shorter plants.

In zones 7 and colder, gladioli corms need to be lifted—and replanted in the spring.

Planting

Plant gladiolus bulbs in the spring once the danger of frost has passed and the soil has warmed. See your local frost dates here.
Ready your garden by using a garden fork or tiller and loosen the soil to about 12 to 15 inches deep. After loosening the soil, mix in a 2– to 4–inch layer of compost.
Set the corm in the hole about 4 inches deep with the pointed end facing up. Cover with soil and press firmly.
Space the corms 3 to 6 inches apart. Water the corms thoroughly.
Gladioli like well-drained, light soil and full sun.
If you’re planting tall varieties, be sure to stake them at planting time. Be careful not to damage the corms with the stakes.
It takes about 90 days from the time gladioli are planted to root, grow, bloom, and store enough energy for the next season.

Care

Put a 2– to 4–inch layer of mulch around your gladioli to keep your soil moist and help prevent weeds.
If you get less than 1 inch of rain a week, water your plants regularly throughout the summer. Otherwise, water them moderately when in growth to keep the soil moist.
Remove the faded/dead flowers to ensure continuous growth. Once all the flowers on a stalk have gone, cut off the stalk.
Be sure to leave the plant intact so it can mature and rejuvenate the corms for the next season.
If you live in zones 7 or 8, put down a layer of hay or straw for winter protection.
Corms should be dug before the first frost if you live in zone 7 or ones colder. See instructions below.

Pests/Diseases

Gladiolus corm rot (Fusarium wilt)
Gray mold
Viruses
Aster yellows
Spider mites
Thrips
Aphids

Harvest/Storage

Storing Gladioli

Before the first frost, you can dig up gladiolus to store over the winter.

Use a spade and dig up the entire plant, grasping the top to pull it out of the soil. Avoid bruising or injuring corms while digging. Shake off all loose soil and discard damaged corms. Cut the stalk within 1 inch above the corm. Save the small cormels separately if you so desire.
Allow the corms to dry in the Sun for 1 or 2 days if the weather agrees. Sift out excess soil and place corms in wooden flats or trays. Cure in a warm and airy location for 2 weeks (at a temperature of 80-85°F). Remove and throw away the oldest bottom corms (from the base of the new one).
Dust freshly dug, clean corms with a fungicide (“bulb dust”) to avoid disease problems. Place dust and bulbs or other structures in a paper sack and shake vigorously.
Store the large, new corms in paper boxes, open paper bags, cloth bags, wooden trays with screen bottoms, or old onion sacks. Stack or hang the containers so air can move among them. Store the corms at 35 to 45°F in low humidity. A cool basement is quite suitable. Do not allow corms to freeze.
Replant these corms in the spring for another year of beautiful blooms.
Learn more tips for storing gladiolus through the cold winter.

Recommended Varieties

‘Candyman’, for its beautiful deep pink flowers
‘Dream’s End’, which makes a good back border plant because its flower spike is up to 3 feet long (and it has pretty light orange flowers with large yellow centers)
‘Prins Claus’, which has white flowers with splashes of pink on its petals

Wit & Wisdom

Gladiolus are one of the August birth flowers.

Planting Times

Reader Comments

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Galdiolu

I haven't grown these before bought a mixed bag is it alright to plant in to fairly deep pots rather than the ground soil and the best compost to use, once planted if I can put in pot do I use a ferterlizer like fish and bone? Jocelyn Leyland

glads in containers

Yes, you can plant gladioli in containers! The shorter varieties work better, so that you won’t have to stake them. Choose a pot at least 12 or 18 inches deep. A good potting mix with loam works well–you can also mix in some compost. You can add in a little bonemeal when mixing up the potting mix, if the potting mix doesn’t already have fertilizer for flowers already in it. Fish meal might have too much nitrogen, which encourages leaf growth over flowering. Hope this helps!

Do deer eat gladiolas?

Not having grown gladiolas before, do I need to plant them somewhere protected from deer, or are they like daffodils that deer don't like? Thank you!

gladiolus deer-resistant?

Gladiolus are somewhat deer-resistant but not as resistant as daffodils. See our list of most deer-resistant plants: https://www.almanac.com/content/deer-resistant-plants

Gladiolus

Very informative. Thanks

Gladioli

Will Gladiolus return the following year if the stems are not cut? My mom died suddenly last year and in my grieving I forgot to cut the stems...

I have always just stuck mine

I have always just stuck mine in the ground and that is all. I have never cut my stalks and mine return each year for about 4 years now

Gladiolis

Can you tell me if one bulb multiplies? I planted a couple of bulbs and I noticed that I have a lot of extra gladiolis that have come up in my gardeen.

Planting Glads

I live in zone 5 and purchased glad corms from Holland arriving in early November. I thought they should be planted in fall but am now confused after reading this post. Will these corms survive for planting in spring or should I go ahead and plant them? If so, how deep and will covering them with mulch help them survive. Please let me know as soon as possible.
Thank you

planting glads now or in spring

Many summer bulbs such as glads are not “hardy”; they are tender and may not survive a cold/severe/heavy winter. They are usually lifted in autumn and replanted after the last frost. That said, many people report success with gladiolus bulbs that are not lifted, that spend the winter in the ground. According to anecdotal reports, your zone, 5, seems to be the border: zones 6 and up have better luck, zones 4 and below less or none. You should consider your immediate environment—your microclimate. Is your garden protected by fencing or shrubbery, for example? On the south side, getting the most full sun? Those would be conditions favorable to planting now. But if you do, pile on several inches of mulch, too. You need/want to protect the bulb from freezing. Realize, too, that you can only protect from Mother Nature to a limited degree.

If you decide to wait and plant in spring (it gets closer every day!), follow the storage guidance above and plant at the earliest safe opportunity.

We hope this helps!

agriculture

hi iam akhtar research student working on gladiolus the information you people shared are really helpfull thank you all....

Re gladioli

I would like to know when should I reap tje corms from my gladioli plant. It just finished flowering and I hace cut the stalk. I live in the tropics

Color Changed drastically

We had purchased purple, blues, pinks, and yellow glads. However, when they all blossomed they were variant shades between white/pink and solid pink. They were all planted 3-5 inches deep, with all the similiar soil. My original glad that is deep pink with yellow center and edges is normal but all the rest are variants and before it was transplanted from a pot to a garden. Should we pot plant then transplant as a regular rule of thumb? Or will they still drastically alter like ours did?

Gladiolus Color Change

Hi Davis,

Since gladiolus grow from corms, they produce new offsets throughout the growing season. The strongest hybrids will eventually crowd out the original varieties that you planted. The way to avoid this problem is to dig up the corms once every year or two in the fall and separate the new growth offsets. Plant the offset corms elsewhere and see what color blooms they produce the following year; if the blooms are colors that you like, replant the offset corms in your main gladiolus patch. We hope this helps!

Gladioli's

Hi I live in Ocala FL can I grow them in FL
Also I have a summer home in NH and would like to, plant
them here. We come up the first of June and leave the end of Sept. can I plant them the first of June and get blooms. Also if I cover them with hay in the fall before we leave will they come up again next spring.
If so if I plant some now will they be ok for the winter, here in NH
Thank you so much for your info
Jackie

Abt glads

Iam from India I jst saw the glads I loved it and ordered seeds online can u please help me out how n when abt this plants and iam vry new in this planting please help me

Gladioli plantings

Hi, i live in NE GA, where periennels like daffodils, hythanths, gladiolus bulbs will sprout as early as Feb sometimes. therefore, I need to plant the bulbs in the fall -- early or late? Thanks for your help!

planting bulbs

Hi Julie, Plant spring-flowering bulbs in the fall. In Georgia, spring-flowering bulbs can be planted from October through late December in most areas. Hope this helps!

gladiolus

Our gladious are beautiful, issue is they are ovrr 4feet tall, when they bloom I hzve staked but the blooms bend completely over so I have lots of gladious in vases. The other issue I have if the bloomis really tall the top 2 inches bend over
Any input would be appreciated.

4-foot glads falling over

The size of the corm is directly related to the size of the flower and height of the plant; you must have planted the large type! It’s not at all uncommon for glads to bend under their own weight, especially when they are in the ground; stakes are recommended. This is also one reason that glads are often cut to be used in vases; they display better there. The bend, or droop, that you describe at the top/s is likely due to disease in the plant but could be the result of wind damage. If it’s disease, this could be botrytis blight, which can be the result ofo watering from above and creating standing water/slow drainage or cool, damp weather. This is best avoided if healthy corms are planted in rich, well-draining soil in sunlight. See above for other considerations.

How do you determine the colour of the flower from the corm?

I bought one of those bags of mixed gladiolus corms. They're doing really well in the shallow water bath I have them started in. The thing is, I don't know which bulb is which colour. I noticed some of the corms were more yellowy and others more red or violet. Is that any indication of the colour of the flower? I want to plant them so that all the colors are mixed. Any bright ideas?

Can they be planted late?

I live in southeastern Pennsylvania. I dug up my Glad corms last fall and stored them in my basement. I could not find them for the longest time. I just found them today (June 28). Is it too late for me to plant them? If so, will they keep in the basement until Spring 2018?

Planting Gladiolus Late

Gladioli take up to 90 days to bloom, so if you plant them now, they might make it just before the first frost. If you don’t mind that your blooms might be a little short-lived, then there’s no harm in planting them now. And if they don’t end up blooming this year at all, they will at least have had the chance to gather energy for a great bloom next summer!

Gladiolus planting

Go ahead and plant them and then leave them in the ground .... If they don't bloom for you this fall, they will come back next year. I live in zone 5b/6 and I've never dug up my gladioli corms and they come back every year. My step father told me his late wife had some and never dug them up so I figured I'd give it a try (even though everything I've ever read said that they will not survive in the ground in my zone).
Anyway, might want to give it a try with just a couple of you're nervous but I've had mine for years with great success. :)

gladiolus

I live in upstate NY and left my glads in over the winter. I have noticed that they are indeed coming up right now. Are they going to bloom? I always thought they had to be dug up and wintered inside. big surprise to me

Growing glads in cold climates

Traditionally, the corns should be lifted anywhere where temps go below 32 degrees F and the ground freezes solid or you risk loosing them. Lift 3 to 4 days after the first hard killing frost. If you live in a cold climate but enjoyed a warmer-than-average winter, your gladiolus plants may still grow even if they weren’t lifted. It does seem that winters are getting warmer as we also live in a cold climate and we’ve seen some glads that we missed emerging out of the grown.

When to expect flowers?

Hello, I'm a bit of a novice with Gladioli but have planted several in my garden this year. The leaves are growing nicely but I was wondering after how long i can expect to see flowers appear. The leaves are all over a foot tall but no sign of flowers.
Sorry if this is a stupid question.

Gladiolus Flowers

Hi Andrew,

It takes gladiolus about 90 days from planting until they bloom. If it has already been 90 days since you planted and there are still no blooms, there are a few possible explanations: It could be that there was not enough light (they need full sunlight to bloom), there was too much water (if they are flooded they may begin to rot), or they are too small and young to bloom. For the final possibility, add a little fertilizer mix of 8-8-8 to the soil. If there continue to be no blooms, cut the leaves down in the fall or after they die. Maybe they will bloom next year!

Gladioluses sunburnt?

I have about six or so gladioluses growing pretty remarkably, but I've noticed some rough, reddish patches on some of the leaves. I live in a zone 7, in Georgia, so there's all-day, full sun. It doesn't seem to be hindering their growth, so I'm wondering if this is normal?

spots on glads

The spot are not likely to be good news, Sheree. Are they brown spots with reddish edges? How is the plant at the soil line? Is it showing any signs of decay? This could be boytrytis blight. It may be that the corm was infected and more serious indications may begin to appear as the season gets on. It is advised not to plant infected corms—but yours are already underway.

If the spots are longish, almost rectangular with brown and yellow, this could be curcularia leaf spot. Again, planting of infected corms is not advised.

There are a number of other problems that can afflict gladiolus corms, also indicated by spots of one color or another. Fungicide is recommended, and not planting infected corms is advised. A nursery person could direct you to the proper fungicide.