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It had some faults, and gradually lost popularity until it was scarcely heard of, but now, after an interval of two or three decades, it is again making its way to the front, and is listed in catalogues at good prices. Popularity of the Gladiolus. This flower is already very popular, and is becoming more and more of a favorite every year.
Whichever plan is adopted, the work is very fascinating, and if the grower succeeds in attaining the realization of his ideals along the lines he is pursuing, or even a near approach to those ideals, the pleasure he experiences is ample recompense for all his efforts. Enemies and Diseases. The gladiolus has almost no enemies, and the same may be said of diseases.
And in no other way can you invest a little money and be sure of such generous returns. What the Geranium is to the window-garden that the Gladiolus is to the outdoor garden, and one is of as easy culture as the other. Some of the choicest varieties are sold at a high price. One reason for this is the finest varieties are slow to increase, and it takes a long time to get much of a stock together.
While gladiolus blooms are exceedingly beautiful when fresh and well cared for, they are very unattractive when neglected, and it requires so little attention to keep them at their best that it seems a pity they should ever be allowed to suffer for the want of it. The best time to cut the spikes is when the first flowers unfold.
The gladiolus comprises such a marvelous range of colors, from white up through all the shades of pink, melon, and scarlet, to the richest and most glowing reds; some fine tints of yellow; and innumerable blendings, markings and variegations, that there is no need of accepting or perpetuating an unlovely color or one that requires an apology. How to Obtain a Choice Collection.
Hybridization, like physical culture in the human, has evidently infused grace in the plant races, for many things that in my youth seemed the embodiment of stiffness, like the gladiolus, have developed suppleness, and instead of the stiff bayonet spike of florets, this useful and indefatigable bulb, if left to itself and not bound to a stake like a martyr, now produces flower sprays that start out at right angles, curve, and almost droop, with striking, orchid-like effect.
Fortunately, most soils do, as a matter of fact, contain a fair supply of fertility, but very rarely as much as a crop can appropriate, and it is best to be on the safe side. The gladiolus is a sturdy grower, able to assimilate a generous supply of nutriment, and should be properly fed.
Quietly, unassumingly Rumbold stepped on to the scaffold in faultless morning dress and wearing his favourite flower, the Gladiolus Cruentus. It was exactly seventeen o'clock.
Seedlings well grown the first year will show a few flowers the second, and the next season all will bloom. The grower can then choose those that please him best, and this work is unspeakably captivating. How to Keep a Collection Vigorous and Well Balanced. The gladiolus, like other flowering plants, shows the effects of continued neglect or ill usage in diminished vigor and inferior bloom.
Finally, whatever the grower's objects may be in his work, and whatever methods he may adopt in carrying it on, he will find plenty of room for the exercise of his own judgment and tact, after he has read and pondered all that he can find in print in regard to gladiolus culture. By Garden History of the Gladiolus.
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