How to Plant & Care for Gladiolus Bulbs
Gladiolus is one of summer's brightest beacons of color, serving up blues, pinks, peach, ruby and an array of other colors. Their distinctive bloomed spikes are great for cutting flowers. Their height and color anchor any flower garden and offer a versatility that enables them to serve as a back border or a centerpiece. For gardening enthusiasts, planting and caring for gladiolus bulbs is easy, well worth the effort, and certain to result in compliments galore. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Gladiolus corms
- Shovel
- Compost
- Stakes
- Mulch
- Water
- Garden tiller
- Mesh bag
- Florist shears
Instructions
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Select a well-drained planting area that offers full sun and protection from the wind. Begin preparing the garden bed after the last frost by using a tiller to loosen soil approximately 15 inches deep. Apply four inches of compost and till with loosened dirt.
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Dig a four-inch hole. Place a corm in the hole and position the corm so the pointed end of the bulb is on top. Cover the corm with soil and tamp down dirt firmly. Repeat process as desired, placing corms six inches apart. Water each planted corm generously.
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Care for your gladiolus during the growing season. Place a four-inch layer of mulch over your planted gladiolus to help soil remain moist and to discourage weed growth. Provide gladiolus with one inch of water per week during summer growing season. Deadhead blooms and trim flower stalks. Avoid cutting foliage to encourage corm development.
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Remove corms from the soil before the first fall frost. Shake loose soil and trim stalk to one or two inches of corm. Store in warm area for two weeks, then place largest corms in a mesh bag. Keep them in an indoor area where the temperature ranges between 35 and 45 degrees until spring, when corms may be replanted after the last frost.
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Tips & Warnings
To make cuttings off your gladiolus, use florist shears to cut stalks with three or fewer flowers open and place them in a tall bucket filled with lukewarm tap water. Unopened flowers will gradually open over the next day or two. Leave at least four leaves on the plant in order to reuse gladiolus bulbs the following spring.
