I don't imagine your ground freezes in Southern California so glad corms can be left in the ground. If the leaves are brown and ratty, you can cut them down to ground level (or an inch or two above ground level so you know where they are. Clean up any cut foliage from the ground and dispose of properly to eliminate any thrips or pests that might be present.

Thank you duluthinbloomz4, what do you think of my idea about planting snapdragons between the cut glads left in the soil for the winter.

The only thing I'd worry about is the water requirements for snapdragons - they tend to need routine waterings, glads don't since the corm itself pretty much provides what it requires.

Moistening the soil down 6" or so regularly for the snapdragons could rot the glads.

So, if I want snapdragons, I would be better off to remove the glad corms and store them. What will be the best time to replant the corms in the spring?

If I could leave glad corms in the ground year round, I probably wouldn't disturb them until they got crowded. Then I would dig, separate and relace in the ground immediately. Have you no other place for your snapdragons?

If you do decide to lift the glads, store them and replant in February (which I think is about the right time where you are) you might want to search the web and read up on the proper storage methods, etc.

Plants and climate in Southern California are pretty alien to me here on the shores of Lake Superior.

Browning glads can be lifted and will cure with no special cut back or treatment as long as they remain dry. That allows the collection of the bulbils or cormlets that glads produce around the mother corm that can be planted by themselves for growing on next year. Some few will even bloom the first year in the nursery row. All should bloom the second year. The mother bulbs get larger every year and can get huge. Glads that are mature as yours do not go dormant for the cold, they go dormant for the dry; so I would not interplant those left in the ground. Personally I would dig them to replant next year, even if that were back into the same bed.

To store strip off the cormlets, dry and save them in a paper bag. Bind the stems of the mature plants together and hang in a dry place. Easy Peasy. Shell out the bulbs to be planted next year when planting time comes around, just before you put them back in the ground. In southern California the only condition would be to keep them dry in storage. Up here we dare not let them freeze either, although a nip on the foliage is generally not an issue.

In your climate you can replant glads anytime you want; so that would depend on when you want the flowers or you can stagger your planting for a longer blooming season. Keep them well watered from emergence through bloom and then a couple more weeks. Then cut the watering and let them dry themselves out.

They can be dug wet or dry though and will dry themselves out with one of the most natural cures of anything we store, just so that they are far enough along to have set and built the size bulb one wants, provided that like for tulips one does not cut the stems back until they have completely dried themselves out after having been dug.

I now leave my Glad corms in the ground all year round. Back in the 60s, they would all die if I did that so I got into the habit of bringing them in, storing them in a cool dry place in a paper bag containing dry saw dust.

About 10 years ago, I neglected to bring in a section of them and they all came up the next spring. For not, they are on their own.

I have about 8 different varieties and they all thrive very well here in Zone 4.

Hi, My neighbor has a chain link fence. My son and I planted 30 glads along our side. She sprayed weed kill along her side and it got over on my side and killed the glads that were about 3ft high. Do you think it killed the bulbs too? I sure hope not. I was so unhappy about it, but I know that she didn't mean to.

Sorry salleeann, if the weedkiller killed the tops it almost certainly killed the bulbs, too. If the neighbor used the kind that keeps weeds dead in the fenceline for a long time, you have an on-going problem, because that may sterilize your side, too. I suggest you mention the loss to the neighbor, find out what kind of weed spray she used, and ask for the lost bulbs to be replaced.

This sort of thing is carelessness, even if accidental or unintentional. Your neighbor should be trying to make it right, which may be a bit difficult depending on what kind of weedkiller she used. Worse case is that you may not be able to plant anything at all back along that fence for a while.

Most weed killers are systemic meaning that the leaves absorb the chemical then deliver the poison to the roots. This would include permeating and destroying the bulbs.

There are several ways it destroys the weed. Some of the sprays are advertised as a long term deterrent to weeds and it remains in the soil. They can also prevent seeds from germinating.

Unfortunately the "weed killer" does not differentiate weeds from flowers. Some, but few, are geared to grass killers but event those do not kill all grasses. Others are herbicides meaning that they literally kill everything. Weeds, flowers, shrubs and even trees if the dose is heavy enough.

Sorry to say, it could be 6 months to a year before you can safely plant anything there. Watch for new weeds, they will let you know when it is safe again.

You should at least ask what the chemical was and let us know.

I wonder, what was your relationship with this neighbor before and after this incident? My guess is that the effect was totally unrealized and a valuable lesson was learned.

It would seem that your bulbs should be replaced by your neighbor but I would not push it. Are they all that expensive?