Glad to Have Gladiolas!

August 12, 2019
Posted by Aratrika Dasgupta

Gladiolas is a beautiful flower species known by its genus –Gladiolus, Gladiole, Gladioluses, and Gladioli etc. Gladiolus ancient name was Xiphium which was derived from the Geek word xiphos also meaning a sword. It is also known by the name of Sword Lily simply because it has sword shaped leaves. The genus Gladiolus has roughly around 260 species and out of these 260, 250 species are found in sub-Saharan Africa, mostly South Africa.

During the 18^th century African Gladiolas were imported to Europe in large quantities from South Africa. This flower is the birth flower for the month of August. Gladiolas have some medicinal properties as well and Britishers used its stem base known as corms (in powdered form) mixed with goat milk. At the same time some part of the Gladiolus is poisonous if ingested and some of its species may lead to skin irritation.

Nonetheless, this is a beautiful flower which signifies remembrance, infatuation, honour and faithfulness and it is imperative to take proper care of Gladiolus.

Tips to Taking Care of Gladiolus

Approximately, 2 to 4 Inch mulch is required around your Gladiolus in order to keep the soil moist and prevent the in growth of weeds.
Water your Gladiolus regularly, in fact an inch of water is required each week either from the rainfall or through watering for best quality flowers.
To make sure that you get a continuous bloom, you need to remove the faded or dead flowers and cut stalk once all the flowers have bloomed.
It is important to leave the floral leaves intact so that it matures and rejuvenate the corms next year.
To protect it from the winters, you need to put down a layer of hay or straw.
Excess soil to be removed, cut the stalks within an inch of the corms and place it at airy and warm location for at least one or two weeks.
Discard after removing the old corms and store the large new corms in a plastic bags. Keep it in a ventilated room where the temperature is around 35 degree F. You can replant it in the spring season

Making Gladiolus Bouquets

The first thing is to cut the stalks of the flowers early in the morning or night. The ideal thing would be avoid heat.
Use a sharp knife and use the lukewarm water bucket on the flower bed.
Start cutting the stalks with only one or two open flowers. The rest of the flowers should start opening after putting them in a vase.
If you cut the stalk diagonally and put them in a bucket, it will be good.
To re-use the corms, leave at least four leaves in the ground.
If you are making a bouquet for the vase, place the bucket with the flowers for few hours in a cool and dark place for better results.
You need to remove the fading flowers especially the lower ones and cut approximately 1 inch off the bottom of each stalk of flower for few days.
You can make a bunch out of it too.

A flower really does give a sense of happiness and pleasure Send flowers to Bhopal Now.

You could use the DIY listed above or just to get a hang of it you could order one from us right away. At Bloomsvilla we have a wonderful array of collection and you would for sure be delighted by the fresh blooms. No one delivers them as fresh as we do!