HARDY GLADIOLUS. 



5G3 



growing the new hardy Gladioli is so easy that it will not take 

 long to explain. 



Under the denomination of hardy hybrid Gladioli fall the 

 varieties both of G. Lcmoinei and of G. nanccianus, as both 

 equally withstand our severe winters. They must be planted in 

 exactly the same way as the Ghent Gladioli, and successively in 

 March, April, and May. If you take care to plant first the 

 earliest varieties, such as Mine. Lemoinier, Vesuve, Mile. 

 Therese Lambert, A. Thiers, Lamarck, Ferdinand Bergman, 

 P. Duchartre, &c, you will be able to get the first flowering 

 spikes before July 1-5, and the bulbs will continue to bloom in 

 rotation until frost comes. In general, the hardy hybrids are 

 earlier than Gandavensis : they admirably fill the gap between 

 the early-flowering and the Gandavensis section. 



In such countries as England, where winters are rather wet 

 than cold, most classes of Gladioli sufficiently withstand the 

 frosts. It is not the same with us, in the east of France, and it 

 is for hardy Gladioli a most invaluable quality to be able to 

 stand against all frost in the open ground, sheltered, with only 

 one or two inches of straw or leaves. However light it may be, 

 this shelter is always sufficient, and bulbs preserved in this way 

 start again readily in the ensuing spring, and give as beautiful 

 spikes as the year before. This hardiness is not of great moment 

 to amateurs who are in the habit of lifting their Gladiolus bulbs 

 every year ; it is the same with the trade growers, who need to 

 keep the bulbs in their warehouses ready for sale and shipment ; 

 and in any case it is good to lift the bulbs every two or three 

 years, in order to divide the clumps and to replant the bulblets. 



But these hardy Gladioli possess a quality which is, in my 

 opinion, of far greater importance. They are able to shoot up 

 vigorously, to send forth strong spikes, to enlarge their bulbs, and 

 to increase themselves by means of bulblets, in every kind of 

 soil, either wet or dry, either of stiff clay or of light sand. I 

 do not know whether, in the climate of England, the growing of 

 ordinary garden Gladioli is liable to any failure ; but I am per- 

 fectly aware that there are in our country many places quite 

 unfit for their cultivation ; the soil of our nursery at Nancy, a 

 stiff clay ground, may be taken as an instance of it. Imported 

 bulbs of Gandavensis thrive well and yield good spikes the first 

 year ; in the following season the leaves grow yellowish and the 



