Here are a couple of mine...
Anyone have glads?
This is actually the first year I've had good luck with them. One sent up a stalk last year and barely bloomed. This year, I think I may get three stalks, and the good thing is they're really blooming nicely. This one fell over in the garden, so I cut it and stuck it in a vase that was really too short. But it looks nice anyway.
The first year we moved here I planted like 13 or 14 Glad bulbs. Maybe half came up. Of those, only half bloomed. The next year only one stalk came up, and bloomed a little. Next year--nothing.
A couple years ago I planted Orchid Glad bulbs. They all came up and have returned bigger and better every year. They bloom towards the end of summer into the fall when everything else is winding down.
Here's one after a rain.
It's funny that you and I both haven't had good luck with them and I read lots of places that "gladiolus are easy to grow," etc. I think they mean other places. ;-)
Actually, I've had decent luck growing, just not with the blooms. But I do have another red one coming up. I had to pick the purple one above since then as it flopped over this morning. I'm not sure if you can leave them in the garden all the way through the blooming cycle without tying them to something. The weight of the blooms seems to want to fold them over.
I grew quite a few in California when we lived there. They just had to be in the shade.
Here the heat and sun are much fiercer......they just don't come to this party.