Glads will normally take 90 days to bloom from planting. Al

my friends said they plant them in two week intervals, so, if ya want them to bloom continously, plant so many, then 2 weeks later so many more, then 2 weeks more so many, and so on. ok i know you probably know that, but i'm a mommy of little one's so it makes me feel better to say that!! LOL *** just laugh please :')) and grinn*** ahh the weather is crazy!! ya know i never did do the every two weeks thing, cuz i'm a crazy gardener and things just bloom for me when they want to. so talla, my almost 6 yr old sings to my plants when she helps me plant, and they just do their thing. i don't know if its dumb luck or what, but they will bloom for a whole month throughout!! i'd like more, but i'm happy with that. now my goal for next year is to get her to do more than a month!! maybe she can sweet sing them!! LOL !Medo :'))

Conventionally June is the last month to plant these; the peak bloom is rather brief as once the bottom half of flowers on each spike has gone over the decorative effect is over, even though the rest of the spike is still opening - glads really only look good when the first few flowers have opened, down at the bottom. And if the ones you have chosen are anything other than miniatures you can expect to have to stake each individual stalk before the flowers open as otherwise the weight of the expanding blooms often bends the stalk over abruptly. Of course, if you are going to be cutting each one in the early stages of bloom maybe you won't have that problem. Some long-blooming perennials or even annuals, that did not need such precise timing would certainly be a lot less trouble - as long as you are willing and able to care for them the whole time you need them (the glads won't grow themselves either, but other than the staking requirement they are quite easy - unless they get thrips).

A drift of 100 I planted on Camano Island (north of Everett, WA) some years ago produced about 3 flower spikes in total the first year. I have no recollection of subsequent growth, as though the planting rapidly dwindled away or died out completely the first winter. What I've read about this plant for decades plus additional reading I did yesterday makes me think future attempts in this climate would best involve a south-facing wall, repeated summer watering, fertilization and some kind of winter protection. The American Gardener's World of Bulbs, Judy Glattstein, 1994, Little, Brown and Company: Where the temperature remains at least 10F above freezing in winter they may be left in the ground, provided they can be kept quite dry during this resting season The Larger Bulbs, Brian Matthew, 1978, B.T. Batsford: G. callianthus is an easy plant to grow but is not hardy in most parts of Britain. Near the Sussex Coast it persisted and flowered for many years in the chalky soil in a hot sunny spot but even in Surrey I do not find it winter-hardy. The corms should be planted in a warm sheltered position in early May and lifted in autumn before any serious frosts occur Garden Bulbs for the South, Scott Ogden, 2007, Timber Press: Along the Gulf Coast, Abyssinian gladioli may be expected to return if they have been well fed and watered. In the upper South, they may be dug and stored over winter Bulb, Anna Pavord, 2009, Mitchell Beazley: In certain well-mulched places in my Dorset garden it survives the winter Book of Bulbs, Roger Phillips, 1989, Random House: the corms are not hardy, but will survive outside in mild climates or if protected from freezing Christopher Lloyd's Garden Flowers, Christopher Lloyd, 2000, Timber Press: tender but lends itself to pot culture Perennial Garden Plants, Graham Stuart Thomas, 1990, Sagapress/Timber: the corms ... need lifting in all but the warmest of gardens Ogden (2007) actually groups it in his book with bulbs for damp places and Phillips (1989) shows it flowering in the wild on a dripping wet cliff. This post was edited by bboy on Fri, Oct 17, 14 at 14:09