After the weather has become settled and danger of severe frost is past, the corms may be safely planted out, say ten inches apart each way, and four or five inches deep. Our seasons are often very dry, and when planted deep the Gladiolus do not suffer from the drouth as much as if set more shallow. If it is desired to keep up a succession of bloom, plantings may be made every fortnight until the middle of June. As soon as the plants appear above ground they will require to be carefully hoed and the ground loosened and stirred. This should be done occasionally during the growing season, in order to keep down the weeds and the ground loose, so that air and moisture may penetrate. Unless the plants are actually dying from drouth it is not desirable to water them.
As soon as the stalks and leaves turn yellow in the fall, or the frost has killed them, the corms should be taken up, spread in the sun and dried rapidly. The stalks should be cut off about an inch from the crown, the corms separated, the larger packed in a box with dry sand and stored in some cool dry place that is perfectly free from frost, and if it is desirable to multiply them as fast as possible, the little tiny bulblets that will be found at the base of the large ones may be saved, put up in paper bags and stored away where they will keep safely not only through the winter but also through the summer and the succeeding winter until another spring. If these little things are planted out the first spring, hardly one in a hundred will grow, but if they are kept over until the second spring not one in a thousand will fail to grow and form corms that will bloom the following summer.
Our climate is much better suited to the cultivation of the Gladiolus than that of Europe. The seedlings that are raised in America are much finer than theirs, and if our amateurs would turn their attention to the selection and hybridization of this flower, we would soon have a much better race than any that can be imported. If the seed be gathered and sown as soon as ripe it grows readily, and if one has a greenhouse may be kept growing, with short intervals of rest, and made to bloom in less than two years. The seed may be kept until spring, and sown in boxes by those who do not have the convenience of a greenhouse, and made to bloom the third year.
Except for those who make a specialty of this flower, there is nothing gained by purchasing named varieties at high prices. A dozen of mixed colors of very fine varieties, without name, can be purchased for one dollar, or a mixed dozen of those which have white ground color variously marked, or pink ground with different colored markings, can be had for a dollar and a half to two dollars per dozen. These massed in beds will give as much satisfaction to ordinary cultivators as the named sorts.
Some idea may be gained of the varied coloring of these flowers by reading the description of a few of the named sorts which is here given.
Achille; beautiful currant red, with a white stripe in the middle of each petal.
Antonius; cherry colored, slightly tinged with orange, blazed with carmine red, with very fine pure white stains.
Ceres; pure white, spotted with purplish rose.
Diomede; white, flamed with crimson, with dark carmine violet blotch.
Eldorado; clear yellow, the lower petals streaked with red.