Celebrating Gladioli

Gladioli is the plural of gladiolus. Who knew? Gladdies were my first favourite flower.  My earliest gardening memories are helping my grandmother plant out the bulbs (right way up).

There are over 300 species of gladioli but oddly only one colour in my garden. A very pretty plain pink one we found growing in the ‘wild’ of the Wivenhoe Dam Spillway Common. I gather it is left over from when the Common was a garden. (This is a hint. If you are thinking of a gift for me, I will accept gladdie bulbs.)

With our mild and dry winter in South East Queensland there is no need to dig up the bulbs and store them over winter. Hence, I forget where my gladdies are and they come up like tall suprises. I don’t do much to them. They like a bit of water but can cope without. I treat them like all my bulbs and let the plant die back because I assume this returns nutrients to the bulb. Where did I hear this? Maybe I made it up.

Anyhow, this blog post is really an excuse to post some photos of gladoli. Glorious, glamorous, gladioli. These were my Valentine’s Day gift 🙂

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One thought on “Celebrating Gladioli

  1. Glads were my mom’s favorite flower. They always make me smile. Your photos are gorgeous – I love the light & the colors!

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