Gladiolus— The King of Flowers 
G-lads are so easy to grow that even if you 
don’t have good “luck” with flowers, as a rule, 
you can hardly fail with Glads. It’s worth 
quite a bit to start out with this feeling of 
success practically assured. 
We grow these lovely flowers by planting 
bulbs, just about the same as we would plant 
onion sets—no more trouble to plant them 
than to plant the sets. The bulbs vary much 
in size, from as small as a large garden pea 
up to several inches in diameter. 
The smallest bulbs are not supposed to 
bloom the first year, though some of them 
do. They are planted to grow nice large 
blooming size bulbs for next year. Growing 
and increasing Glad stocks from these small 
bulbs and still smaller bulblets is another 
story and an interesting and profitable one. 
Just now we will talk about growing Glads 
from the blooming size bulbs—those that give 
us quick returns in flowers. 
And that’s Just one of the many remarkable 
and delightful points about Glads. You not 
only get your money’s worth, and then some, 
the first year from the flowers, but when fall 
comes you are handed back not just as many 
bulbs as you planted, but still more, as a rule, 
with a lot of tiny bulblets hanging to the 
apron strings of the mother bulbs, for good 
measure. 
Show me the fella who started that saying, 
“You can’t eat your cake and keep it too”! 
I'll bet he never grew Glads. Just think of 
it! Prom the one investment you can grow 
and enjoy Glads for years. With care you 
can increase the supply from year to year. 
Seems too good to be true, doesn’t it? 
That’s why buying Glad bulbs should not 
be considered an expense, but an investment. 
This idea could be carried further, of course, 
to prove that buying any sort of flower bulbs, 
plants and seeds, should not be considered an 
expense, for if growing flowers add to your 
happiness and health it isn’t altogether an ex¬ 
pense, to say the least. 
Just what is there about Glads that make 
them so interesting and fascinating to grow? 
Sure, they’re easy to grow, as I’ve said. That 
helps a lot. But that alone would not mean 
so much. Weeds are easy to grow. What 
counts is what you’ve got after you’ve grown 
’em. That’s where Glads shine. 
Along in July you begin to get your first 
blooms. A medium size bulb will send up one 
spike, maybe two. A large bulb usually pro¬ 
duces two or three, sometimes four spikes. A 
spike is the tall shoot that comes out of the 
leaves and unfurls a flag, so to speak, of 
blossoms. 
Not all the blossoms open at once. A few 
varieties, like Phipps and some others, will 
sometimes display all or nearly all the blos¬ 
soms of a spike at one time. Usually the 
lower buds unfold, one after another, several 
a day, thus going up the spike until the top¬ 
most buds open. The whole performance lasts 
a week or ten days. With some varieties, as 
long as 18 or 20 days. Lower blossoms fade 
after a few days, as newer ones come out. 
It is this gradual unfolding habit that makes 
the Glad such a satisfactory and profitable 
flower for florists. They use them by the 
millions annually. Literally millions of Glad 
bulbs are planted during the winter, while 
millions more are grown by florists, as well 
as others who sell to florists, during the sum¬ 
mer and fall. 
The amazing thing about Glads as cut 
flowers is the fact that the spikes may be 
cut when the very first bud is partly open, 
or even before it unfolds at all. After that 
the spikes may be taken into the house, where 
they will go right on with their schedule of 
blooming, as though left on the plant in the 
garden. 
Thus the cream of the garden can be 
transferred into the house, on the dining room 
table, in the sick-room, or to decorate a room 
or entire house. It is not unusual to have 
these cut spikes in bloom ten days or so in¬ 
doors. All they ask is water, light and air. 
But that’s not all. Seems like the Glad has 
more good points than any other flower. When 
cut with first buds about to open, the spikes 
may be shipped hundreds, even thousands of 
miles, after which they will come forth smil¬ 
ing, and bloom splendidly. 
Although popular for years, the Glad is 
coming into favor more and more as people 
discover new ways of using it for garden 
display and as a cut flower. As I’ve men¬ 
tioned, few flowers are so welcome in the 
sick-room, for it is a never-ending joy forthe 
sick or convalescent to watch the buds unfold 
from day to day—to figure out just how long 
before the next flower will be full open, and 
to enjoy the beauty of the flowers individually 
and collectively. 
Having no odor or fragrance, the Glad can 
be enjoyed by many who could not endure 
some other flowers in a room. 
Much could be said also about using more 
Glads for garden display. A long period of 
blooming can be had by planting different 
varieties, some blooming earlier than others. 
Also, by planting different size bulbs of same 
or different varieties. The larger, bulbs bloom 
first, followed by blooms from the smaller 
bulbs. 
Then, too, many kinds send out additional 
spikes as side shoots. A few even produce 
good size spikes from the stump after the 
main spike has been cut. The Los Angeles is 
especially noted for this, having won the name, 
“The Cut-and-Come-Again Glad.” Plant them 
in rows, colonies, clumps or masses. A nice 
way to use them around the house and lawn 
is to plant each color or kind separately in 
small groups. Often a bit of space around 
edges of shrubbery can be utilized this way. 
While Glads grown in mixtures are pleas¬ 
ing, yet your Glad joy motor will never hit 
on all six until you begin to plant named 
varieties and learn to know each Glad by its 
own name, same as you know your best and 
closest friends. 
There are today thousands of named Glads, 
no two just alike. And more being originated 
and introduced each year. Naturally, one in¬ 
quires, “Just how long can this continue? 
Will not every conceivable color, combination 
of colors, type and form be brought forth ere 
long?” The answer is, “When there are so 
many people on earth that no further varia¬ 
tion in appearance, habit, etc., is possible, then 
the limit shall have been reached in Glad 
origination.” 
However, out of these thousands, only a 
few hundred are of outstanding merit. Others 
will come and go. A few topnotchers are 
introduced each year, along with many kinds 
that are no better than the old favorites. 
Some not so good. It’s my job, and the job of 
anyone who specializes in growing and selling 
fine Glads, to sort out the better kinds and 
discard the less desirable. In the following 
list you will find a number of the newer and 
better kinds that will be grown and highly 
prized long after many others are forgotten. 
All are good, but some are exceptionally good. 
If a few are rather too high in price this sea¬ 
son for your Glad budget, just wait a year or 
two until stocks increase and prices decrease. 
17 
