For a long blooming season 
If you have glads vou will want them over as 
long a season as possible. So plant early ones as 
early as possible and a succession every 10 days 
or so till about 70-80 days from your first killing 
frost. My long season specials are fine. Also the 
unlabeled collections will bloom over a long 
period. 
Ruffled varieties 
Many people ask for ruffied ones. The fact 
1s most all varieties are more or less ruffled. 
Plain petaled ones look terribly plain nowadays. 
In order for a plain one to get by it must be 
exceptional in other respects. 
Changing color 
Let’s settle this once and for all that glads do 
not change color except for the occasional sport 
that comes once in many thousands of bulbs 
planted. When you plant a certain variety that 
is the variety that will bloom unless it was 
labeled wrong. Some varieties die out while 
others propagate fast and so make the grower 
think they have changed. Some times a variety 
that has sported to another shade will revert to 
the original color. This is especially the case of 
pinks that sported white like Leading Lady. 
Identification of blooms 
We are always glad to identify a bloom if we 
can. If you do send us any for identification 
always send a part of a sptke—at least 5 or 6 
buds and send them in the bud by air mail, if 
possible. Always when an open bloom is sent 
it arrives here with the color nearly all gone and 
usually decayed. 
Spotted blooms 
In some varieties the color sometimes peels 
out or becomes spotted by rain or dew. However, 
if the spotting is very bad it may be a virus of 
some sort that is carried by insects. DDT and 
Chlordane are the standard insecticides for thrips 
but to avoid the virus carrying insects you should 
spray or dust with some other material as 
Lindane or Pomo-green as these insects are not 
harmed by DDT 
In the fall or after heavy rains sometimes the 
blooms become spotted by Botrytis. Spray with 
Fermate for this. If your blooms become badly 
spotted during good weather and you think it is 
a virus, pull out the plants and destroy them. 
Crooked Stems 
Crooked stems is mostly a variety character- 
istic. However crooking is worse in extreme heat 
or when the plants have become soft thru too 
much fertilizer or water. Many kinds will wilt 
in hot sun but usually straighten up during the 
night. A few varieties are just natural crookers 
yet come straight under good conditions. 
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Guarantee 
We always try to satisfy our customers. If 
anything goes wrong or a variety 1s not true to 
name, we will do all we can to make things right. 
But, we do not guarantee bulblets to grow as 
so many things beyond our control can happen. 
And, we can’t guarantee the crop you harvest. 
Too much depends on weather and other con- 
ditions that we can’t control. However, if any- 
thing goes wrong just write us and we will do 
our utmost to help you. 
Thrips 
Is a minute insect that dries up the buds so 
they do not open. It is easily controlled by 
DDT or Chlordane. The first time a person 
gets thrips in his glads he thinks it is some 
mysterious disease and gets discouraged and 
doesn’t know what to do. Remember any time 
your plants make good growth but the buds 
turn brown and dry up so they don’t open, the 
trouble 1s thrips. To avoid this spray or dust every 
week or 10 days from the time they come up. 
Then you will have no trouble from thrips. 
Southern Gardeners 
Every year we state in our catalog that no 
northern grown bulbs are ready to plant in Florida 
or anywhere else till about January 1st. They 
have to have a rest. Yet every fall we get a lot of 
orders and enquiries about bulbs to plant at 
once. THE ONLY WAY to have northern grown 
bulbs to plant from September to January 1s to 
order them in the spring or early summer and 
either put them in a cold storage or let us hold 
them in our refrigerator. We can hold only retail 
orders however. Large orders should be put in 
storage at 35—4o degrees. The earlier you order 
the better because late in the season we are always 
out of many kinds. 
ORDER EARLY axnd get what you want. 
Opportunities 
There are innumerable opportunities for small 
growers around many towns thruout the country 
in growing glads. There are hundreds of towns 
where gladiolus blooms are not available either 
for local florists or the public. I believe small 
growers could make some easy money in such 
places by growing a limited number of varieties, 
perhaps from medium size bulbs. If interested I 
will be glad to correspond with you about it. 
Color 
No other flower can anywhere near equal glads 
in range of color and form. Just about every color 
imaginable can be found in glads and every 
variety 1s different in form. There are varieties 
to please everyone. 
Popularity 
Gladiolus is the most popular flower in America 
having recently passed the rose. Are you growing 
this most satisfactory flower? 
