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?

TIA

The message
from JB contains these words:

My OH is pressing me to put some of my allotment space aside to grow
flowers to cut for the house.

Great idea

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?

Plant hardy perennial bulbs, flowers and shrubs. Gladioli are not
fully hardy so in
most areas of the UK, will need lifting, drying, storing, and
replanting every year. Or, just buy a dirt cheap bargain bag each year
and leave them in the ground to do or die the next year. You won't lose
much money.. B and Q etc sells bargain packs.

Other hardier bulbs like lilies, crocosmia, daffodils, snowdrops can
be planted and left untouched for years and are pretty cut flowers. I
used to grow a row of HT roses on my allotment, a graceless gawky bush
in the garden IMHO but wonderful flowers for cutting. They will last
many years and can be bought very cheaply.The old-fashioned herbaceous
double red paeony is another great cutting-flower which can be safely
ignored for the rest of the year.

Janet

On Tue, 24 Jan 2006 14:49:20 +0000, 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?

TIA
I grow a selection off plants for cut flowers for my better half.
Glads sweet peas, Chisanths., and last year Princes Alstroemerias
which have long stems and last nearly three weeks in a vase.
Peter J Smith Alstoemerias
Chanctonburry Nursery,
Freepost ANG30254
isbech
Cambs, PE13 2XS
Neil

"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

quote 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?

Cutting the flowers will not weaken them, in fact may well help them as
then all the plants energy will go into building new bulbs and corms
for the next year making them more likely to flower. Proffessional bulb
growers do not let them flower, or at least cut the flowers off as soon
as they open, which is why there is a flower parade at Spalding each
year, they use the cut of blooms to decorate the floats.

Mike