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Florists' flower
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The gladiolus is a favourite plant for many a bouquet-maker
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GLADIOLUS, WHICH belongs to the family Iridaceae is a popular florists' flower, much grown for the cut-flower trade. The plant gets its name from the Latin gladius — a sword, on account of its sword-shaped foliage. Gladiolus is a very popular decorative plant with grassy one-sided stems and long spike-like flowers that are available in rich colours of almost every shade.
Flowers measuring about 10 cm across are white, pink, grey, purple, scarlet, salmon, crimson, rose, yellow and more hues. There are over 150 known species of gladiolus, a large number of which are from South Africa. Many hybrid varieties have been produced. This is a herbaceous plant growing from a solid fibrous-coated bulb or corm. Grow gladioli in deep rich sandy loam and compost in sunny situation sheltered from wind.
Plant the corms 5 to 7 cm deep, and water sparingly first and more freely as growth progresses.
Shoots with sword-like leaves arranged in one plane come up soon on each corm. Stake the plants (fasten the plant to a wooden stick). Apply liquid manure once a week. Top dress the soil once the plant reaches 15 cms. Once the flowering is over, the leaves turn yellow. Lift the corms and store them in paper bags in dry sand.
Propagation also by seeds or offsets. Sow seeds in well-drained sand-pans for the corms to develop. It takes time (two years approximately) and when the bulblets are large enough, plant them in fine soil in pots.
The spikes are excellent as cuttings for the vase, coming to full development when kept in water, till the last flower opens, and keep fresh for many days if cut either early in the morning or late in the evening.
CHITRA RADHAKRISHNAN
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