Gratuitous Domestic Posting (TM) - Outdoor Division

Image borrowed from Hawks Nursery.

In the next few days I'm going to have to stake up my gladiolas, which are just now starting to bloom.

I don't know why I planted them, I really don't. There's plenty of other bright color in the garden, but glads are somehow too garish, too over the top. It's as if the rest of the flowers are holding a nice afternoon garden party and the glads are the guests who show up not having got the message that the vicars and tarts fancy-dress has been cancelled.

Dee Cee is right on the borderline in terms of gladiolus winter survival. Anywhere north of here the bulbs have to be treated as annuals, dug up and stored every fall to avoid the cold. Anywhere south and they'll make it all the way through the winter. Here, it's a year to year coin-toss. I didn't bother to dig mine up last fall because I was rayther hoping the cold would finish them off for me. However, we had a relatively short and mild winter, so they came back. This year, I suppose I'll have to dig them out.