IRIDACAE 
: , .. ' . i» 
This plant family includes Gladiolus, Watsonias, Montbretias, Ixias, Ba- 
bianas, Freesias, Tritonias, Iris, etc. listed in following pages. 
GLADIOLUS 
Since we have learned how to grow Gladiolus in spite of the thrips pest, 
they have bocome again one of the most popular garden flowers. They are the 
most popular cut flower. 
Culture. Plant in full sun preferably. They will bloom in half shade. 
They do well in any good soil either sandy or heavy. Heavy soils should be 
lightened previously by spading in heavy crops of weeds or leaves, etc. Manure 
is good if spaded under several months before planting. Do not use strongly 
alkaline soils unless the alkali has been neutralized by a mixture of large quan¬ 
tity of peat. Glads prefer a mildly acid soil. 
Most fertilizers are too alkaline for glads. The only safe fertilizer is a 
small quantity of superphosphate. Try a tablespoonful to 3' of row. Apply 
when well above ground. 
Keep the glads wet when growing. They like lots of water. Continuous 
sprinkling for a half hour every evening (to avoid spoiling if in bloom) is 
about right and this alone will almost or quite eliminate thrips daimiage. 
Plant large bulbs 4" deep. Very tall ones deeper. One can plant two 
rows in a wide furrow with bulbs twice their diameter apart. We cover bulbs 
first with granulated peat, then soil until furrow is almost full, then 1" layer of 
peat with enough soil on top to keep peat from blowing away. This gives 
the necessary acidity. But peat makes soil dry out quickly, so give more water 
if used. Oak leaf mould instead of peat is good. 
Thrips. When the flowers appear burned on edges the damage was done 
probably by thrips. This damage may be avoided most simply by planting 
early, so that they will bloom early in the spring before the thrips attack them. 
The very best time to plant in Southern California is from Nov. 1 to Feb. 1. 
In central California one can plant up to March 11. In the east Mar. is a 
good month. 
But little advantage is gained b'y planting late dug bulbs, early. Be sure 
you plant early dug bulbs. Ours are dug in August. By Nov. 15 they have had 
the necessary resting period. 
If you will irrigate your glads with overhead sprinkling for about thirty 
minutes every day you may make later plantings for a succession of bloom. Use 
overhead pipe,(Skinner system) or sprinkler attatched to hose. Even tho thrips 
are present on your plants if the ground is kept very moist little damage is done. 
Whether you’ve had thrips or not, bulbs should be treated. When you plant 
your bulbs don’t plant thrips too. To kill any thrips on bulbs, immerse them 
in a solution of one oz. powdered Corrosive Sublimate to 7 gallons of water. Soak 
bulbs in this 6 hours. Use no metal container and keep animals away as it is 
a deadly poison. Dissolve the Corrosive Sublimate in a gallon of hot water 
and dilute. We treat all our bulbs before selling, so no further treatment is 
necessary. Even tho you may have had thrips one season, do not discard good 
bulbs. Treat them. 
GLADIOLUS LIST 
Our brief descriptions do not do justice to the wonderful beauty of the 
following varieties. But neither words nor pictures can do that. We have selec¬ 
ted for this fall a more extended list of the world’s best at moderate prices. 
High priced ones are scarcely better, tho some may be a little different. Here 
are the best pinks, reds, whites, blues, yellows, lavenders, smokies and oddly 
colored glads. Every taste satisfied. Even for the rare and unusual. 
Prices are for one bulb. Unless otherwise stated, a dozen costs ten times 
the price of one. Half dozen at dozen rate. Less than 100 takes dozen rate. 
500 at 1000 rate, which is 9 times the cost of 100. L. means large, diameter 
;r 14 
