274 PLANTING THE ORNAMENTAL GROUNDS 



SUMMER BULBS AND TUBERS 



GLADIOLUS. Of summer and fall-blooming bulbous plants 

 these are, perhaps, the most widely popular. The showy 

 kinds cultivated are, with rare exceptions, hybrids or their 

 descendants. The colors range from scarlet and purple, to 

 white, rose, and pure yellow. The plants are of slender, 

 erect habit, growing from 2 to 3 feet high. They dislike a 

 heavy clay soil. A light loam or sandy soil suits them best. 

 They should have a new place every year, if possible, and 

 always an open sunny situation. 



The corms may be planted 2 inches deep in heavy soils, 

 and 4 in light soils. For a succession, they may be planted at 

 short intervals, the earliest planting being of smaller corms 

 in the early spring as soon as the soil is dry enough to work; 

 later the larger are to be planted the last setting being not 

 later than the Fourth of July. This last planting will afford 

 fine late flowers. 



The successive plantings may be in the same bed among 

 those set earlier, or they may be grouped in unoccupied nooks, 

 or portions of the border. The plants may stand as close as 

 6 inches from each other. The earlier planting may be say 

 a foot apart to admit of later settings between. 



Late in the fall, after frosts, the corms are to be dug, cleaned, 

 and dried in the sun and air for a few hours and then stored 

 away in boxes about 2% inches deep in a cool, dark and dry 

 place. 



The varieties are perpetuated and multiplied by the little 

 corms which appear about the base of the large new corm 

 which is formed each year. These small corms may be 

 taken off in the spring and sown thickly in drills. Many of 

 them will make flowering plants by the second season. They 

 are treated like the large corms in the fall. 



Gladioli are easily grown from seed also, but this method 

 can not be depended on to perpetuate desirable varieties, which 

 can only be reproduced by the cormels. Some of the best flow- 

 ers may be cross-pollinated, or allowed to form seed in the 

 usual manner the seed sown thickly in drills, and shaded till 

 the plautlets appear, then carefully cultivated, will afford a 



