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Order these spring-planted bulbs NOW for delivery in April.

Order for spring 2023 starting mid September!

All bulbs for spring 2024 are SOLD OUT.

‘Elvira’, 1956

WHY GROW GLADS? They make luscious, long-lasting cut-flowers. They add dramatic spikes of color to the garden. And they multiply and store so easily (but only if you feel like it!), you’ll soon have many more.

GLADIOLUS HISTORY — The first hybrid glads appeared in 1837, and Victorian gardeners — including Monet and Gertrude Jekyll — loved them. Unfortunately, virtually no glads from the 1800s survive today, and even glads from the 1940s are hard to find.

TIPS FOR SUCCESS — Whether you call them gladiolas, gladioli, or gladiolus, glads are easy to grow, doing best in full sun and well-drained soil. Learn more here.

Even Rarer Gladiolus — Every year we get a handful of spectacular bulbs that are so rare we offer them Web-Only. For an alert the moment they go on sale, subscribe to our free, monthly email newsletter.

Glads are easy, fun, and last forever in bouquets. We’ll send you 3 each of 4 of our favorite heirloom varieties, labeled, and great for your area. (Several possibilities are pictured.).

For more of each variety, order additional samplers. Gladiolus care.

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G. callianthus,
Abyssinian gladiolus     1888

A fragrant glad? Yes! And it’s so graceful and different that even glad-haters love it. Its exotic, late-blooming, ivory flowers with purple hearts dip and sway on sturdy, arching stems. Collected from the mountains of Ethiopia in 1844, it reached America by 1888 when it was featured as brand new in Garden and Forest magazine. Formerly Acidanthera, now Gladiolus callianthus ‘Murielae’, 3-4 feet, from Holland. Chart and care.

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G. nanus
Elvira gladiolus     1956

Small-flowered and informal, ‘Elvira’ is a perky soft pink with its lower petals splashed with ruby. It’s one of the Nanus group of petite, early-blooming, hardier-than-most glads, and perfect for summer’s simple, no-fuss bouquets. 2-3 feet, from Holland. Chart and care.

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Bright yet soft, the lemon yellow color of this full-sized glad is just right, carrying across the garden and lighting up bouquets. We’re fans of its classic, triangular shape, too, and the old-fashioned smoothness of its barely rippled petals. 4 feet, from Holland. Chart and care.

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A staff favorite, this ruffled, angular beauty almost vibrates with the intensity of its deep, saturated color. It’s also “amazingly healthy and prolific,” in the words of a top professional grower. 4 feet, from Holland. Chart and care.

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We’d never offered a bulb from the 1970s before, but when eight of our Maine-grown glads were lost to a brutally hot, dry summer, and two of our Dutch-grown heirlooms went commercially extinct, we knew it was time for ‘Priscilla’. White with ruffled, bright rose petal edges and a lemon-yellow throat, this is not only a gorgeous glad, it’s an unusually hardy and enduring glad – and an heirloom of the future! 4-5 feet, from Holland. Chart and care.

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Starface gladiolus     1960
Rarest

This just might be the most beautiful glad we’ve ever grown. Charmingly small-flowered, it has upper petals of dappled apricot and lower petals of pale yellow spiked with ruby. Victorian gardeners loved patterned glads like this, and we say it’s high time for a revival! 3 feet, from Maine. Chart and care.

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Red is the most iconic color for glads, rich, bold, and dramatic in the garden or bouquets. The elegantly smooth petals of this 1970s classic are a bright scarlet delicately brush-stroked with cream. It’s named for the Dutch trader whose autobiography is subtitled A Young Man’s Astounding Adventures in 19th-Century Equatorial Africa. 4-5 feet, from Holland. Chart and care.

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With its bold splashes of burgundy and white, this shell-pink beauty may remind you of exotic Miltonia orchids. It’s a traditional glad, larger than ‘Elvira’ but not too big, delicately ruffled, and like all glads it lasts and lasts in bouquets. 4 feet, from Holland. Chart and care.

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You’ll never mistake ‘Dauntless’ for a modern supermarket glad. We call it the Lauren Bacall of glads because its smooth, stylish, angular blooms recall an era of wide lapels and big, sexy hats. Pink with a dramatic splash of ruby in the throat, it’s also one of the oldest surviving traditional glads. 4 feet, from Maine. Last offered in 2024. If you’d like to be notified when it’s back in stock, click here to sign up for an email alert.

No matter how hard we try, we can never seem to capture the soft, juicy spring green of this small-flowered glad in a photo – so you’re just going to have to grow it yourself to see how wonderful it is. Daintily ruffled and cute as a button, it always draws ooos and ahhs in the garden and makes every bouquet more interesting. 3-4 feet, from Maine. Last offered in 2024. If you’d like to be notified when it’s back in stock, click here to sign up for an email alert.

Fragrance in glads is as rare as hen’s teeth. Although a few wild ones have it, breeding it into modern glads has proved difficult. In fact, ‘Lucky Star’ was the only fragrant seedling to come from many years of crosses made by New Zealander Joan Wright using garden glads and the even more fragrant Abyssinian glad. Its bold, angular good looks are a bonus, and night-flying hawk moths love it. 4 feet, from Maine. Last offered in 2024. If you’d like to be notified when it’s back in stock, click here to sign up for an email alert.

Named for a honey-voiced English tenor and pronounced “Peers”, this warm, summery flower is a harmonious orange blending to a golden throat (get it?) with a splash of strawberry. Excellent for adding some color or a little height to any garden. 4’, from Holland. Last offered in 2024. If you’d like to be notified when it’s back in stock, click here to sign up for an email alert.

WHY GROW GLADS? They make luscious, long-lasting cut-flowers. They add dramatic spikes of color to the garden. And they multiply and store so easily (if you feel like it; it’s NOT a moral imperative!), you’ll soon have many more.

SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL — More and more gardeners today are rediscovering the charms of species and small-flowered glads. In 2006, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden asked Scott to extol his favorites in an article titled “Glads for Glad-Haters.”

GLADIOLUS HISTORY — The first hybrid glads appeared in 1837, and Victorian gardeners — including Monet and Gertrude Jekyll — loved them. Unfortunately, virtually no glads from the 1800s survive today, and even glads from the 1930s are very hard to find.

GLADIOLUS ARCHIVES — For customer tips and raves, the stories behind the bulbs, links and books, history, news, and more, see our Gladiolus Newsletter Archives.

TIPS FOR SUCCESS — Glads are easy to grow, doing best in full sun and well-drained soil. They’re most often grown as annuals, but they’re perennial in zones 8 and warmer — and often return in zones 7, 6, and even 5, according to many of our customers. See our complete planting and care info here and learn more about overwintering glads in the garden here.

THRIPS are one of the few pests that bother glads. They’re almost invisible but they can be devastating. Learn more.