Gladiolus is a classic perennial known for its tall flower spikes and large, colorful blooms. Great cutting flowers, gladioli look spectacular in summer bouquets. Here’s how to grow gladioli in your garden.
Commonly called “glads,” these lovely flowering plants are available in a multitude of colors and typically reach between 2 and 5 feet in height. Their blooms also range in size—from “miniature” flowers less than 3 inches in diameter, to “giant” flowers greater than 5 inches across!
The taller varieties, which need to be staked, are often placed in the back of a garden to nicely complement shorter plants.
Note: In Zone 7 and colder, gladioli corms will likely need to be dug up in the fall, stored, and replanted the following spring. Find your planting zone here and see instructions for this process below.
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color change
We planted glads for the first time last year, and were thrilled with the results! We dug up the corms, which had grown in size, saved them in the house over the winter, and replanted this spring. They are blooming, but the color is remarkably different. All the bloomers so far are a much-faded yellow with a tinge of pink in the middle of the flower. We did have over a week of early extreme heat here in Zone 5. Could that have altered the color? Thank you!
weaker color
Every once in a while we get a question like this: why does a flower come back a different color, and there is no good answer. It’s probably nothing you did (or did not do). It happens and we are at a loss to explain why. If anyone has an answer, please share.
gladiola planting depth of soil if using planter
Love glads- but property soil is not ideal. Using a raise palnter box this yr, and purchased many bulbs! Would like to know the best depth of soil, or depth of planter box or other container for gladiolas. I used some in a very deep and big pot, and wondering if its not a good thing to have the soil too deep, as roots growing down might take the inertia of the stalk/blooms growing upward? thanks
how deep?
Planting depth varies with the size of the bulb (corm). Large corms should be planted 4 to 6 inches deep and 6 inches apart. Small corms should be planted at a depth of 3 inches. You need to provide some room for roots—2 to 4 inches of soil, depending on the size of the corm. But be prepared to stake the plants, too; the root systems are not very robust (strong).
gladiolus
The flower was not one I learned about in my youth by gardening. Once I may have tried anything to make the back rocky slope take color and the Norway maple and clay soil made a fail of everything including the test glads. When I travelled to Brazil I stayed long enough to attend a wedding with a humble bouquet of wildflowers and an elderly man's funeral at nearly100 years old, His wife had died a month earlier. In his wooden coffin he lay with a covering of pink gladiolus and they were nearly as tall as him. At my wedding I asked the florist to make an arrangement for the reception with pink glads in the center but messages get misconstrued and roses would have to do. Now, trying to grow glads, knowing nothing the six corms were planted on a fence that gets morning sun to mid day sun and although they were marked my husband ran the lawnmower over the lowly patch but all six grew back the next year. This mini success has me trying again and the winters here are borderline 7 and a fail is quite expected this year. I bought 60 this time and am grateful of the heads up about their water sensitivity as my neighbor's downspout aims near the fence line and I have to be more careful where I plant again.
onions
Would it be ok to plant glads with or next to my yellow onions ?
glads and onions OK?
Hi, Harlan, This is one of the few questions that we can not answer; we can not confirm a yea or nay. We recommend that you contact your local cooperative extension. Find it here https://www.almanac.com/cooperative-extension-services
Hope this helps–and let us know the answer, please!
Gladiolas and all th rest
What a volume of information!!! Wow. Thank you for all the info, tips, guidance and advice on your site. The Old Farmer's Almanac is like an Encyclopaedia of gardens, planning & layouts, plants, flowers, fruits, horticulture in general, etcetera.
Thanks once again.
thinning out glads
I have one small garden dedicated to glads. I live in Zone 7 but my house is white vinyl siding and faces due south. I have never dug them out and they keep multiplying and I get many blooms every year. I have 3 colors right now. The baby ones bloom later in the summer it seems. I thought perhaps I should thin them, but with so many blooms and such good health, I hate to disturb them!
Becoming a Gladi expert!
Totally fabulous , informative article. Thankyou very much.
Everything I needed to know about Gladiolis ! I'm in my 3rd year of growing them ( UK ),
They are multiplying, so hopefully moving forward I may lift them, & plant more out unless as you say they are weak? But, you never know . I like to experiment.
They are such spectacular blooms.
I think I'm going to have to get more colours.
I didn't lift mine, and expected them to rot, but seemingly not.
It was 2 free bags of corms I had, as my mum hadn't planted them, so all in all it's been great planting experience as I expected nothing !
Viv hg.
gladiolus
I don't pull my Glads in the fall, and this year I noticed I lot, I mean a lot, of small shoots coming up right alongside the main shoot on most of the returning ones. Not all of the one returning have these shoots. They are all planted in the same area. It looks like they are small Glads trying to come up, if so, there are way too many of them, and can't be doing the plant any good. I don't know what they, are and if they are good or not.
I've looked at hundreds of pictures, and have not seen this problem/blessing shown.
Can someone help me?
baby glads
They are, as you surmise, baby glads, which are not necessarily glad tidings. The bulbs create baby bulbs; had you lifted them last year you would have, or could have, knocked these off. They seldom mature to fulfill bloom expectations. You can dig them up, discard the small shoots and see how the “mother” looks, then replant it or plant new bulbs.
Eaten Sprouts.
My little sister's dogs ate the tops of my recently sprouted Vista gladiolus and my recently planted rose bush. Is there any chance of them re-growing in a few weeks, or are they goners?
Sprouted Gladiolus
Hi James,
There’s a chance they will grow back in, but it depends on how bad the damage is!
first frost coming... still flowers blooming
I live in Canada and we are forecast to have our first snowfall, with temperatures at well below freezing for a few days. I still have several glads that are about to put forth flowers. Should I cut all flower stems and then dig up my bulbs despite the fact the plant has not "died off"? Thanks for any info
Awesome
These are really pretty interesting in taking care of gladiolus. Thanks for sharing your insights and tips.
Neon Green Glad's!
I dug up some of my Mom's Glad's when we had to sell the home after my dad's passing & my mom was put into a Memory Care Home. So far I have Purple, Pink, & Neon Green Flowers. Not Yellow! Nowhere have I ever seen the Green Glad's nor has anyone I know. My Mom's are the only ones! Is this unusual?
after the first year my glads
after the first year my glads just grow good green leaves? no flowers. i do not dig them up each year is that a problem?
Gladiolus leaves but no flowers
Usually, the reason you get leaves without flowers is because 1. bulbs have been overfed with with a nitrogen fertilizer (or lawn fertilizer) which encourages leaf production sometimes at the expense of flowers, or 2. bulbs are planted in too shady or wet of an area. Most bulbs need at least 6 to 8 hours of sun and soil that drains well.
Another possible reason is that the bulbs leaves were cut too soon the previous year. Bulbs need the leaves even if the blooms are done. The leaves collect nutrients for next year. Once the leaves yellow, they may be removed.
Finally: If you have been growing these bulbs in the same area for many years, they may need to be divided. Bulbs can be dug and divided once the leaves yellow this spring. Replant soon after digging. No need to wait until fall to replant.
cladiolias
I planted glads and spikes came out but got broken off by watering it
will it still grow
Zones
Why can't I find a map showing the zones you are talking about? I am not sure which "zone" I live in.
USDA Zones
The zones in question are those defined by the USDA. Find a map here: https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/
Gladiolus
I received a stem of gladiolus with my Mother's Day bouquet of flowers and would like to plant it, how do I do that? Is there anything to need to do to prepare if for the dirt or do I just put it in dirt. I'm not good with flowers of any kind at all, but these are so beautiful I would like to keep it growing.
I live in the very south, my
I live in the very south, my gladiolus stay in ground year round. They now have multiple small shoots around each original plant. Do I need to thin them? The larger plants have beautiful flowers. By late spring the bed looks like it needs mowing.
Gladiolus
I live in southern tip of Texas, zone 9b. I have never grown glads in this kind of climate. It is January 5th and most of my glads still have green leaves. We may not get even a light frost here. Do these need to be cut back before spring growth? Please advise.
Glads in zone 9
Do not cut them back; the flowers bloom on the stems. No stems, no flowers. We are finding sources that assure that glads will thrive in zone 9, perhaps none better than the Galveston County office of Texas A&M’s Agrilife Cooperative Extension. They produced a 100-page booklet and a search for “gladi” in it brings you to Chapter, 5, page 49: https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/publications/Creating-the-...
We recommend that you reach out to folks there; you can find them here https://www.almanac.com/content/cooperative-extension-services Click on Texas and numerous options come up (we clicked on “AgriExtension” at the top, and in the middle of the page pops up a button for asking questions.
We hope this helps.
gladiola
My tallest glads this year have grown to a height of 7 foot, they had plenty of water in heatwave. and the colours were vibrant. 90 days from planting six inches deep to flowering.
all fed Epsom salts and home made compost.
giant glads!
Seven feet tall?! Were they a particular variety? That is amazing! No doubt your “formula” worked magic on them! Thanks for sharing! Although we can not post pics here, we’d love to seem them on Instagram if you tag TheOldFarmersAlmanac . Cheers!
7’ gladiolus
Hi. First of all congratulations on your 7’ glads !! I am utterly in awe & would love to see pics if u could show me these beautiful flowers uv grown!! I must learn your secrets to grow them here for my mother!! I live in Central TX out in the country & my mother’s fav flower is gladiolus. I have tried to grow them 3 years in a row with poor outcome!! this year will be the first year I have been able to actually cut a flower for the table, I have planted hundreds of bulbs!! I have used a variety of planting spots to see what if any area is best. I have tried full sun part sun ground soil potting soil and miracle grow food I have tried potting the.bulbs as well! I’m so frustrated that out of so many bags of bulbs i have only produced one beautiful red gladiolus that was breathtaking... the rest are either of poor health dismal color or get eaten.by our annoying grasshoppers before I ever see color bloom!!! Some are curled when they come out of the stalk and don’t look good at all & others the flower itself dies before ever blooming!! This is exasperating as I want so badly to produce multitudes of fresh flowers daily or weekly at least for my 80 yr old mother!! I feel like she may pass away before I ever get to spoil her with bouquets of fresh gladiolus on our table!! Please help! Thank you!
gladiola
I see the remarks about glads being called the sword lily.
may I add to that, the Romans had a short sword called the gladius. look up wiki.
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