A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum Gladiolus & Bulbs in General

I have a 100 ft frontage and would like to make it a showcase for passersby to enjoy. Being close to an elementary school, children walk on the sidewalk as do those who walk, run, take dogs for walk etc. This property slopes upwards towards the house. I need your comments and definitely your guidance on my plans.

Bought 5 days ago:
1. 5-7ft Tall: Burpee Hollyhock seeds - Country romance mix
2. 4Ft Tall: 50 bulbs - Gladiolus - Mixed
3. 30" Tall: Burpee Columbine - William Guinness
4. 24" Tall: Burpee Columbine - Blue Star
5. 12" Tall: Burpee Wild Flax - Saphyr

Need to buy plenty of Lavender to mix in the above. Ornamental grasses in between to space out the above plants.

What say you?

Question: Gladiolus probably will not be productive this year. However is there something I can do to speed up this process? Also can I plant the bulbs in the vege trays until I dig up the holes in the ground?

Thanks
Asha

why not? most of the time i put in bulbs that are "current" they come up and bloom no problem.

the glads will need to be staked if they are to stay upright. i have mine next to a fence, so they're protected from the wind and they still tend to fall over so i always tie them up.

they may or may not bloom this year - they will, at least, put up some greenery and the bulb will be fed for blooming next year.

what part of jersey? if north, you're definitely going to have to pull the glads up for the winter. even in so. jersey...i've been lucky and haven't lost my glads (i'm supposed to pull them up, too). i put a ton of mulch on them for the winter though.

you might want to put in some bearded iris and a few yucca, too.

Hollyhocks and glads are full sun but your columbine like shade and since they don't come up at the same time your going to have to plant some perennial bushes to provide cover for the columbine.

Also children love to pick flowers which is going to mean damage to your flowers unless you put up some kind of fence where they can't get to them.

Hollyhocks are biennial which means the first year you get foliage and the second year you get the flowers and the third year you get nothing. So my suggestion for the Hollyhocks is to plant half this year and half next year. And since they are the tallest and you want your space to be viewed from the street plant them closest to the house, then the glads.

The best way to stake the glads that I've found is to put four flower stakes at each corner of their space and then make a grid with twine. The glads grow up within the grid and it keeps them upright without damaging roots by trying to stake them once they have sprouted.

Lavendar is hard to grow for me. I hope you have better luck with it.

The bulbs can be kept in a dark cool place until you are ready to plant them. If they begin putting up stocks then I would plant them asap.



Make sure you get a type of ornamental grass that will grow in the amount of sun you get in that area. And becareful some can be very aggressive and you don't want it to kill off your columbine.

If you are going to put in the columbine try to put them on the north side of a bush that is everygreen.

Thank you everyone so very much. This is most helpful. When I get this going I will report back. If I fall flat, then give me time to recover.

tk - what was happening to the lavender? Just a heads up!