We're Glad We're Doing This

For many years, we didn't grow glads. It was a combination of having to stake the flowers and also having to store and replant this year.  Fortunately, my spouse is a hard worker in the garden because, with my bad back, a lot of things wouldn't happen otherwise if my back wasn't being cooperative.

 This year we decided to give glads a try, buying yellow, pink and purple varieties.

Here are two of the colors I put in a bouquet back in July.

Glads blooming in August.  These I decided not to cut.

Here's a glad that rebloomed (flowers looking tighter together) recently.  I know of at least one other local gardener who had reblooming glads this year.  Generally, they do not do this here.

Now, frost threatens, and the heat of summer is only a fond memory, as we may have snow flurries tomorrow. Glads will not overwinter here in our zone 5b climate, so it is time to dig up the corms and store them for next year.

A work friend of my spouse's told my spouse how to do it.

Dig up the corms, snipping off the foliage. (We are doing this as we are soon to have frost, but the friend does this  or 3 week before).  Clean, and let "cure" for a couple of weeks. The old (original) corm must then be discarded, along with any corms that are not firm.  The tiny cormlets, we were told, can be replanted next year, but will take up to five years to bloom, so we probably won't want to bother with them.

In this case, we now have two corms - and both can be planted next year. We ended up with over twice as many corms as we planted.

The friend said to soak the corms in water with a small amount of Lysol (four tsp to one gallon) to prevent thrips.  Let dry before storing in open paper bags.

So, by this time next year we may have a lot more glads to plant.  Or, to give away.

Neighbors, watch out!