Growing Gladiolus Bulbs – Gladiolus flower symbolizes strength, moral integrity, remembrance as well as infatuation, its also used as a symbol of chastity, faithfulness and honor. Gladiolus is one of the florist’s favorite flower found all over the world. Its striking and colorful flowers with towering stems are available in hundreds colors and commercially cultivated at large scale.
It is also known as sword lily, gladiola or glads, it is a perennial flowering plant categorized under Iridaceae plants family. Meaning of latin word Gladiolus is “sword”, because its deep green leaves resemble to a sword. Gladiolus has approx 260 species which produce beautiful showy flowers in several shapes, shades and colors.
Gladiolus bulbs are referred to as corms. A corm or bulb is a shortened and thickened section of the stem that appears at the base of the plant. On the corm are buds for each layer of leaves. Gladioli like other bulbous flowers cultivated by bulbs, planting them via seeds may take years for blooms to appears.
Growing Gladiolus Bulbs
Early spring is the best time to plant gladiolus bulbs, prepare soil, coco-peat or potty mix in a well drained 6″ pot, choose a place that receives plenty of sun light for minimum 4 hrs in a day.
Prepare garden mix with rich compost and moist the potting medium, plant the bulb one fourth to half of an inches (1/4-1/2 inch) deep with the pointed end facing up. Space the corms 3 to 6 inches apart if you are planting many bulbs in a large container or soil.
Water the corms generously but make sure water does not log in the pot, Gladiolus like well-drained, light potting medium and full sun, if the soil is kept fairly moist, the bulbs should sprout in a couple of weeks.
It takes around 90 days from the time gladioli are planted to root, grow and bloom.
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