Thanks, that's the kind of info that we needed.

Have a great 4th,

Don


Laura wrote:
That's pretty much the nature of them - tall gladiolus quite frequently fall
over.

You can use plant hoops or some stakes and ties to hold them upright. I take
the lazy way out; I just planted mine in a "cutting garden" in the backyard
and cut them for bouquets when the bottom bud on each stalk opens. Even if
they had already fallen over in the garden, they still stand up in a vase.
:-)

There are "hardy gladiolus" (g. byzantius) that are shorter and less likely
to fall over, and are supposed to be hardy to zone 5. They are quite pretty,
though the flowers are somewhat smaller and the range of colors appears to
be white, pink, rose, and bicolors/patterns of these colors. Many of the
mail-order nurseries sell these, and they are usually quite cheap. Do a
Google search on "hardy gladiolus" and you will get lots of hits. Sometimes
my local garden centers also have these in the spring, although usually they
just have the regular gladioli.

And Brecks has some new "Glaminis" that supposedly have full-size blooms on
a 20" plant. I just got some (on clearance - the full price was $$$!) and I
am waiting for them to come up, so I can't speak to their qualities yet.

I can't speak from experience as to their hardiness; I'm in zone 8b, so I
usually leave all of my glads in the ground.

HTH,
Laura


"Donald Gares" wrote in message
...

Ok, we planted about a zillion gladiolus bulbs (cheap at Menards) this
spring and to our surprise they most all came up. The problem is that they
got VERY tall (some almost 5 feet) and most have fell over before they
were even totally in bloom. In short, it just seems like they at "top
heavy".

Did we not plant them deep enough, do they need fertilizing, cheap bulbs,
etc., or is it just the nature of them?

Also, any chance they will make it over winter in extreme SE Iowa (zone
5)? We know that the books say that you must dig them but as cheap as they
are we seriously doubt if most individuals do.

Thanks to all who reply,

Don & Rhonda