"JB" wrote
My OH is pressing me to put some of my allotment space aside to grow
flowers to cut for the house. Which is fair enough but if I cut
flowers such as gladioli will they regrow next year from the same
bulbs or be too weakened to recover. Is there a trick to cutting
flowers in such a way that they can reliably grow from year to year?


We have had rows of Glads on the allotments for years, I only lift them to
separate them about every three years as they are perfectly hardy here. One
problem is that bulbils take and grow everywhere so you end up with the
plant surrounded with grass like young plants.
You can cut the flower by pushing a pointed sharp knife into the leaves to
cut the stem of the flower only which then pulls out of the leaves leaving
them to continue producing food for the following year.
You will find, if you live in an warmish area like ours, that you end up
with more corms than you need as they split and divide, eventually even
friends and neighbours can't use any more.
Some end up huge which are the ones for the best flowers.

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London