Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: NGB Bulb of the Year 2022
Each year the National Garden Bureau chooses a bulb, an annual, a houseplant, a shrub, an edible and a perennial of the year. Plants are chosen because they are popular, easy-to-grow, widely adaptable, genetically diverse, and versatile.
For 2022, they chose Gladiolus for the bulb of the year. Glads are as American as apple pie! They are, however, actually native to Africa and other arid regions.
For those of us in cold climates, these summer blooming bulbs are planted in spring after the soil has become workable. They’re dug up each fall after their foliage has died back.
Their latin name, Gladius, means sword. Very appropriate for these plants with sword-like foliage which carry multiple blooms on each one. Their sometimes common name is Sword Lily.
There are several different types of gladiolus and you can learn more by clicking on the link. The grandifloras were the ones likely growing in your grandma and/or great grandmas garden. Below is a Gladioli nanus – they are shorter and usually have about 6 blooms per spike.
Some of the most popular are still the grandiflora varieties. ‘Costa’ grows about 4 ft. tall with ruffled light lavender flowers edged in a deeper purple.
Each grandiflora spike carries about 12 flowers. Glad blooms open from the bottom up and make excellent cut flowers. They are at every Farmers market in August!
‘Fun Time’ is described as flamboyant. The brilliant sunshine yellow centers are surrounded by the vibrant red at the edges of each petal.
