June, 1918 
68 Slower (Brower 
The Gladiolus As a Summer Cut Flower. Its Culture in the South. 
| By Chas. L. Baum, before Tennessee State Florists’ Association. Nashville. 
Mr. President and Fellow Members 
I will not mention at this time the dis- 
covery, history or the origin of the Gladiolus 
of to day, but my theme is the Gladiolus as 
a summer cut flower and its culture in the 
South. 
The popularity of the Gladiolus has grown 
to such an extent that no florist is up-to- 
date who does not grow or handle them as 
a summer florist flower. It is worthy of 
world wide popularity as there is no flower 
that is more satisfactory. There are no 
plants that have more gorgeous coloring 
than these, and words cannot paint their 
beauty ; there are none that give more sat- 
isfaction to the customer, and nothing-offers 
so much for the money. There is no summer 
flower that has the keeping qualities of 
the Gladiolus, and if cut with only one or 
two blooms just opening and placed in water 
the whole stem will bloom and last quite a 
week or longer. 
Some of the newer varieties have the most 
gorgeous coloring that you can imagine, 
every color, shade and tint of the rainbow is 
displayed and they are actually a rival of 
the orchid. 
This beautiful flower can be used in a 
number of ways. Nothing excels it for the 
home decorations. It also makes a beau- 
tiful display in vases. Nothing makes more 
handsome funeral sprays than some of the 
lighter colored varieties and stemmed indi- 
vidual blooms are as pretty in a floral design 
as a lily. It also can be used in hand bou- 
quets and corsages and the effect is very 
beautiful. Lily Lehmann is as pretty in a 
corsage bouquet as a white orchid, and for 
spray work it is unexcelled. 
In my opinion, the variety Lily Lehmann 
is the best all around white Gladiolus to 
date ; no white variety equals it— a lily in 
both name and form, a pure glittering white 
with just a tinting of pink on tips of the 
petals, matchless in form and coloring. I 
will quote here what an expert on Gladiolus 
says of it. He says: 
“ Lily Lehmann is the most beautiful white 
grown ; very slightly tinted with pink at 
first, then turns snowy white, with white 
stamens, and in form and color as beautiful 
as a lily.” 
This variety can now be purchased very 
reasonable and is an early free bloomer and 
a fast multiplier, and is fast becoming uni- 
versally grown. It is almost in a class by 
itself. It differs somewhat from other varie- 
ties as the large wide open flowers are 
almost opposite on the stem and are spaced 
farther apart than most varieties. My next 
choice in white is Ettropa, which is a pure 
paper white with a slight lavender touch 
down deep in the flower. Glory of Holland 
is a good commercial white. Augusta is an 
old variety, easy grower, but not white 
enough and is too small. Chicago White is 
also too small. Meadowvale is fine but a 
little high-priced. Peace is a strong grower, 
but should not be classed as a white as it 
has too much color. 
One of the most popular Gladioli, and the 
most universally grown is that beautiful 
light pink variety, America. However, I 
fear it has seen its best days, and I believe 
will soon have to take a back seat for Pan- 
ama , which has a better color and is a larger 
flower. It has not quite as much substance 
and more care must be exercised in handling 
it. The color is a deeper shade of bright 
pink with no lavender shading. Taconic and 
Pink Perfection are fine, darker than the 
above; Pink Perfection is the best. Pink 
Beauty is the earliest of all the pinks, but is 
not wanted as soon as other pink varieties 
come in. Halley is the finest dark salmon 
pink, beautiful large open flower and is one of 
the best. 
In yellow Niagara is the best one that can 
be purchased at a reasonable price. It is a 
beautiful buff yellow, fine for sprays and 
vases, and in my opinion will be the best 
yellow for sometime to come. Schwaben, 
light yellow, is a beauty, but as yet it is too 
expensive for general use. Klondyke is a fine 
commercial variety and has many pretty 
flowers open on the stem at one time, giving 
a beautiful effect but the flowers are a trifle 
small. 
In reds, Mrs. Francis King is most popular, 
but it is not a true red, having more of a 
salmon red or brick color. Electro is the 
finest red I have ever seen, but it is yet a 
little expensive. Velvet King is a good dark 
red. Crackerjack is also a good one, but In- 
tensity is better and very early. While we 
have a large number of red varieties I be- 
lieve these are the best that can be procured 
at a reasonable price. 
There is but little demand for blue shades 
and there are but two varieties that are of 
any value for cut flowers : Bluejay and 
Baron ]. Hulot. Bluejay is the best of the 
two, but Hulot is the cheapest. There are 
a number of other blues, slate and chocolate 
colors but of no value commercially. 
While we have hundreds of varieties of 
Gladioli, I believe I have mentioned the most 
popular cut flower varieties to date. Most 
of these varieties can be purchased at such 
a reasonable price that but very few growers 
are growing the cheap mixtures any more 
for cut flowers. 
Now, just a word for some of the newer 
varieties (I say some of the newer varieties, 
not all, for they are too numerous to men- 
tion ; there are thousands of them and some 
at a very high price— for instance, $1,000 
per bulb, as quoted in a Gladiolus catalogue 
just received a few days ago— I didn’t buy 
any): 
Last year we grew 150 varieties, all named 
varieties or seedlings under number from 
different Gladiolus specialists, and there are 
some wonderful flowers among them. We 
had a Gladiolus show at our store and ex- 
hibited 124 varieties at one time, and it was 
quite a pretty sight. We have added a few 
more new varieties to our collection and ex- 
pect to have another display this July. 
Now, as to the cultivation of Gladiolus 
bulbs here in our Southern country. I do 
not believe there is a place anywhere that 
is better adapted to their culture than here. 
We can begin planting late in February or 
early in March and have a long season in 
which to grow the bulb, and from a small 
bulblet or cormlet grow a flowering bulb in 
one season, and if these bulbs are just left 
in the ground, not dug, the next season they 
will give you 60% of select and 40% of No. 
1 blooming bulbs, and a sounder or more 
healthy bulb you cannot find anywhere. I 
am speaking from experience for last April 
a year ago I planted three bushels of 
America cormlets and left them out over 
winter, and this last fall they were dug and 
a finer lot of bulbs were never harvested. 
They were all blooming bulbs and 1| acres 
of cormlets planted last October in the field. 
The former acres we will harvest this 
coming October, and the other 1§ acres will 
be dug a year from the coming October. I 
have seven bushels of hard cormlets to plant 
this spring which will be planted in the 
same field, and as last fall was the first time 
I planted hard bulblets in the fall it will de- 
termine which is the best — fall or spring 
planting. 
I have been growing Gladiolus bulbs for 
the last four years and have used both 
Northern and European stock. I find the 
Northern stock forces better than the stock 
from Holland, but for outside there is no 
difference except the Northern stock will 
bloom a little quicker when planted at the 
same time. But if we can get the Holland 
stock in the fall I can see no difference after 
we dry and cure the bulbs. However, I 
always buy home-grown bulbs if I can get 
the variety I want. 
As I said before, I don’t believe there are 
any better Gladiolus bulbs grown anywhere 
than we can grow in the South, and while 
we have some advantages over the Northern 
grower we have some disadvantages also. 
One disadvantage is this, we must plant the 
same variety in the same place here, or fol- 
low with some other crop, as the cormlets 
are hardy here, and if one variety is followed 
by another they will become mixed. Our 
advantage over the North is that we can 
produce a better bulb in less time, and I 
know we can grow a better bulb here than 
in Holland, and I believe by growing them 
on a large scale we can grow them just as 
cheaply as on the other side, as we have 
better weather conditions and do not have 
to dig the bulbs until they have reached their 
full blooming size. 
We begin planting as early in the spring 
as the ground can be worked. We plant 
the cormlets first in flat bottom drills scat- 
tering very thick, about 150 to the running 
foot, covered about 2 inches; next we plant 
small bulblets anywhere from 1 to 3 inches 
apart, alternately in a double row, accord- 
ing to their size; and so on until the large 
blooming bulbs are planted. We find that 
the smaller bulbs bloom later than the large 
ones. We plant blooming stock as late as the 
last week in June for late flowers, but if the 
weather is dry we must water regularly in 
order to get good results, otherwise the 
bulbs will not all bloom even if the larger 
sizes are planted. I have not irrigated to 
any extent yet, but for cut flowers I believe 
it a good policy; however, for just the grow- 
ing of bulbs I believe frequent cultivation 
will do just as well. 
The question, “How deep to plant?” has 
been asked many times. I would say from 
3 to 4 inches, according to size of cormlets, 
from No. 5 to No. 1, and just as soon as 
they come up cultivation should begin. The 
crop should be run through with cultivator 
or hoe every week or ten days and all the 
weeds should be kept down, which is some- 
times quite a task during our rainy season. 
The bulbs should be hilled up, say 4 or 5 
inches, when a foot or more high, so they 
will not have to be staked or tied up to 
keep from blowing over and making crooked 
stems; planting double rows, say four inches 
apart, also helps to keep the stems straight. 
The flower stalk should be cut so as to leave 
at least four leaves to mature the bulb if 
you intend to save the bulb. 
I will endeavor to give you the special 
treatment for forcing and the ten best va- 
rieties: Take the bulbs you wish to plant 
indoors (but not the ones you wish to plant 
later on in the field) and place them in shal- 
low crates or boxes, and put them in your 
boiler room or anywhere where they can be 
kept at a high and dry temperature for ten 
or fifteen days, say at 85 to 90 degrees, but 
