A Dumb Bulb Question

More like a dumb question about bulbs ....
When you stager your bulb planting (2 week intervals) to achieve a continuous bloom.
Does that technique carry though in the following years.
Clear as mud?
In other words if I plant my gladiolas at two week intervals, next year and the following years will they bloom continually or do they all sort of catch up with each other and bloom all at once?
Dove

Dove-

I think they will "catch up." I planted a whole bunch of glads last fall (hardy kind obvioulsy) and they are already coming up. But oddly enough, they came up somewhat staggered and some bloomed earlier. The fact that they started blooming in early April in the first place was strange to me! Anyway, I am going to plant a few more right now and hope I get more blooms in the summer. I really don't know what the deal is with bulbs. I had daffs and hyacinth from last year that all came back this year, but not at the same time. Even in the same beds they came up in a stagger. Really odd. Maybe it was our freaky wet mild summer and then our freaky mild winter!

Jamie

By staggering planting times, it is like starting them at different times. The blooms are staggered because each bulb starts growing later, hence blooms later. You can also plant at different depths to get this effect. If you leave them in the ground, next year they will technically all get 'started' at the same time. The only way to change that is by using different planting depths. The soil warms from the top down as it is effected by sunlight and rain. The bulbs planted deeper will not 'start' coming up as quickly as the ones closer to the top.

So Jamie, what you're saying is "Maybe - Maybe not" ? *L*
I'm new to understanding bulbs, one reason is for years I haven't lived in any one place long enough to see a second season. (Navy wife) I was forever starting over with each new home.
I never knew you were suppose to let the foliage die back to ensure next years bloom until I read it here on Dave's.
Cheers
Dove

Ahhh...
Planting depths. Great. I like that idea because it sounds as if your bulbs will be staggered heights as well.. true?
Next question, how deep is too deep?
Thanks
Dove

Yep Dove- that's what I was saying... maybe, maybe not. Ha! Bulbs are always freaky for me though. I never thought about staggering the depths Chele- good idea!

Nothing is a dumb question because that is how we learn. I think that is a very logical question.

What I found interesting the year I planted glads was that the different colors all bloomed together! First all the light blue, then the lavender, then the dark purple. There was hardly any overlap, so I guess I achieved the same extended bloom season that way. Don't know if that is unusual or not!

OK... plants are weird.
How do they know what color they are *L*
Actually I think it's cool, did the same thing happen the following year?

I bought a pink and white collection of bulbs several years ago. Probably never do that again The first year of bloom they more or less bloomed together, and every year since the early types bloom then the otheres etc. Here is a photo I took this morning of what is supposed to be my pink & white corner. The crocus have long been gone. The Dutch iris are showing leaves but will be some time before any bloom. Well i guess they are pretty anyway, just not what they were supposed to do according to ad. ?DonnaS

Well Donna, it's still very pretty, even if it didn't do what it was supposed to! :)

Jamie

Yes indeed... and I bet it smells pretty too.

Donna, what a cheerful spring corner. Don't the bulbs give us a lift after wintertime?

Gladiolus are the only bulb I've done the 'staggered planting' thing with. These are my experiences . . .

If I 'stagger plant' a bunch of glads of the same kind , I get the desired effect the first year, and the second they more or less bloom together.

If I 'stagger plant' a bunch of glads of different types - different heights, different bloom times (most glad packages say how many days from 'start' to bloom) - then I get the desired effect the first year, and the next year each type blooms together.

Since some types bloom in as little as 60 days and some take as long as 100 days, you can get a pretty good spread just by planting lots of different ones. Plus, I think some types start earlier, while others wait for warmer weather.

I never thought of planting different depths. My philosophy with glads is "plant 'em deep and stake 'em early". They work their way up over the years and are sturdier if planted deeper. But that sounds like a good idea.

Hope that helps.

Cheri'

Cheri,
That's my problem with glads, as they get heavy with bloom they lean.
Because the stock is stout, they don't arch and look graceful, they just look goofy.
:-(
Last year I tried planting them between my lavender hoping that would hold them up. It was slightly sucessful.
This year I planted them all in large planters, I planted them deep and left a good 6in from top of the soil to the top of the planter. I hope that will give them enough side support to keep them from leaning. So far it's looking good.

I have to dig glads every fall here anyway,and replant them all at once sometimes and typically stagger them because of planting as time allows. But I think thats the secret. I know if I was in your zone I probably would'nt bother digging them, but I believe getting them started at intervals each growing season is the key. It's a great excuse to just buy a few every year to ensure some later blooms though.

It was my first gardening year in my new house, and I was kinda ignorant. I pulled them up, and figured the garage would be warm enough over the winter - of course it wasn't and I lost them so I wasn't able to repeat the experiment the next year. :-(

The next year it was all annuals, but I think it came out pretty nicely. Hmmm, maybe time to try them again...

dovey,
Even better than just letting the sides of the planter support the glads, when the plants are about 8 or so inches tall, you can mound more dirt around them, at least a few inches. It's like they are planted even deeper!

I use one strong stake for like 4 or 5 plants (planted around the stake). I've read that people will put a sturdy stake at each end of a row of glads and weave twine back and forth from stake to stake, in and out of the plants. You want to give them support, but they still need some room to move. Otherwise, they might break. =(

Zarebeth
If I were in your zone, I would grow 'em as annuals. Not the expensive named ones, but the un-named ones are cheap enough. And beautiful enough. =)

Cheri'

Thank you! *goes off to buy some Gladiolus corms*...

Thank You dovey for starting this thread i needed info on them also.
Thank you all for the info,... i have learned a few new things about glads that i needed to know.
I think i need to dig them this year and plant them deeper next year.
I only put them 4 in deep,...I didnt have a clue about them leaning as they grow.
moms never do i should have asked her about how deep her's are.
How deep do you think i should plant them in a raised bed?
It is 12" deep should i go all the way to the bottom of it?
Thanks
:}
rh

RH,
I think 12 inches may be a bit too deep. I think 6 inches is about as deep as you want to go. Then like sundry said, when the plants are about 8 inches tall mound some more siol aroud them for added support.

Happy Gardening
Dovey

From
http://www.solutions.uiuc.edu/directory.cfm?series=4&cat=78&Parents=0|66

Cheri',
My problem with staking is I don't like the way it looks...
Which is why I keep trying other things to hold up the tall stocks.
(not too successfully I might add)
How do you hide the twine so that it doesn't detract from the beauty of the glads in bloom?

I don't use twine. Lately I use strips of old panty hose - they blend in. And my stakes aren't very tall. Just about 24 inches above the ground. So the whole mess is hidden in the foliage. I'll have maybe 5 planted around a stake (this year my stakes are pretty!) each one is loosely tied to the stake in two different places as they grow. As they grow taller than the stakes, I have been known to tie them to each other if they need more support. And these are planted more than 6 inches deep, with more dirt piled around the bottom. So there is at least 8 to 10 inches of dirt holding them up.

Plus, it's all at the very back of a deep bed. Asiatic and Easter Lilies are in front of most of 'em.

Another way to do it is with a tomato cage, but that's gonna look ugly until the glads fill in and hide it. Maybe if you painted it green . . . or surrounded it with Lavender or something to hide the cage.

Cheri'

I only plant glads to have cut flowers in the house. If you cut a glad stalk when the very top flower is open just 1/8" to 1/4", all the flowers down the stalk will bloom in a vase, AND the plant will not flop because you have cut the weight out of it.