Gladiolus Flower Planting | Growing | Caring

Gladiolus Flower: Gladiolus (from Latin, the diminutive of gladius, a sword) is a genus of perennial cormous flowering plants in the iris family (Iridaceae). It is sometimes called the ‘sword lily’, but is usually called by its generic name (plural gladioli).

The genus occurs in Asia, Mediterranean Europe, South Africa, and tropical Africa. The center of diversity is in the Cape Floristic Region. The genera Acidanthera, Anomalesia, Homoglossum, and Oenostachys, formerly considered distinct, are now included in Gladiolus.

Gladioli grow from rounded, symmetrical corms, (similar to crocuses) that are enveloped in several layers of brownish, fibrous tunics. Their stems are generally unbranched, producing 1 to 9 narrow, sword-shaped, longitudinal grooved leaves, enclosed in a sheath. The lowest leaf is shortened to a cataphyll. The leaf blades can be plane or cruciform in cross-section.

The flowers of unmodified wild species vary from very small to perhaps 40 mm across, and inflorescences bearing anything from one to several flowers. The spectacular giant flower spikes in commerce are the products of centuries of hybridization and selection.

The flower spikes are large and one-sided, with secund, bisexual flowers, each subtended by 2 leathery, green bracts. The sepals and the petals are almost identical in appearance and are termed tepals. They are united at their base into a tube-shaped structure. The dorsal tepal is the largest, arching over the three stamens. The outer three tepals are narrower. The perianth is funnel-shaped, with the stamens attached to its base. The style has three filiform, spoon-shaped branches, each expanding towards the apex.

The ovary is 3-locular with oblong or globose capsules, containing many, winged brown, longitudinally dehiscent seeds. These flowers are variously coloured, ranging from pink to reddish or light purple with white, contrasting markings, or white to cream or orange to red.

The South African species were originally pollinated by long-tongued anthophorini bees, but some changes in the pollination system have occurred, allowing pollination by sunbirds, noctuid and Hawk-moths, long-tongued flies and several others. In the temperate zones of Europe many of the hybrid large flowering sorts of gladiolus can be pollinated by small well-known wasps. Actually, they are not very good pollinators because of the large flowers of the plants and the small size of the wasps. Another insect in this zone which can try some of the nectar of the gladioli is the best-known European Hawk-moth Macroglossum stellatarum which usually pollinates many popular garden flowers like Petunia, Zinnia, Dianthus, and others

Gladiolus Flower Tattoo | Drawing

Gladiolus Flower Arrangements

Botanical name:

Gladiolus xhortulanus

Common names:

Common gladiolus, garden glad, and sword lily (because of the long, pointed leaves)

Zones:

Perennial in zones 8-10. Can be grown as annuals in zones 2-7. Some G. nanus types are hardy to zone 4 or 5.

How they grow:

Although you will often see glads labeled as “summer bulbs,” they are herbaceous perennials that grow from bulb-like corms covered with a fibrous papery skin. Unlike spring bulbs, glad corms are sensitive to freezing temperatures and must be dug up in fall and stored until planting time the following spring. In mild climates, some hardier glad hybrids can be left in the ground over winter.

Types:

You’ll find countless cultivars of glads in local garden centers and catalogs, all derived from various combinations of more than 250 species, most of which are native to southern and central Africa and Eurasia.

The three main glad groups are:

• Grandiflora: The largest group of garden cultivars. These hybrids are the showiest of the bunch, with blooms up to 6 inches wide and the most extensive range of colors.
• Nanus: Another group has commonly grown in the garden. Miniature hybrids that tend to be more cold-tolerant than their taller cousins.
• Primulinus: Have daintier hooded flowers and very narrow leaves.

Flower characteristics:

Most garden glads come in nearly any color and shade (except for true blue) in both solid and multicolored forms. Depending on the cultivar, the petals may be frilly, ruffled, semi-ruffled or plain, and the size can range from miniature (under 2 ½ inches in diameter) to gigantic (over 5 inches). The flowers are typically arranged on only one side of the stem and open in succession from the bottom up, with the largest flower at the base. As a bonus, hummingbirds really love these flowers!

Height:

1 to 5 feet

Bloom time:

From early summer until frost, depending on the cultivar and when the corms are planted.

Red Gladiolus Flower

White Gladiolus Flower