The ones the deer ate last year but got left in have produced two bright orange stems to date. The new ones planted later have not got buds yet. The strange thing is I never bought any orange ones.
At what stage do you pick gladioli for the vase, @Eustace? I have some long-awaited ones coming out - "Murmansk" planted last season but they were blind last year. The weather is far too foul to enjoy them though and the wind is knocking them about. If I picked them now, would the unopened buds up the stem ever open?
I inexplicably succumbed to a discount gladdie offer too and planted 3 per deep pot. I didn’t bother staking them, just slung some string around the bunch when then fell over. Not the ideal support method, admittedly but I wasn’t very supportive in the first place. These are Espresso:
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
@WAMS they start at the bottom and work their way up - like antirrhinums. The supermarkets sell them with no open buds so I'd pick them as soon as they swell a bit.
@WAMS, this is one I cut for the vase yesterday. Ideally, I would have picked it at least 2 or 3 days earlier when the flower at the bottom has just opened. I think yours is right for cutting, the blooms at the top will open in the vase.
Oxford. The City of Dreaming Spires.
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils (roses). Taking a bit of liberty with Wordsworth
The plant that keeps on giving! The rain broke the stems so I've put them in a vase . They look like they might last a while. Definitely going to grow some next year - but not orange ones . I'm no longer going to be snobby about them. Dame Edna knew a good thing when she saw it
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If I picked them now, would the unopened buds up the stem ever open?
I think yours is right for cutting, the blooms at the top will open in the vase.
The rain broke the stems so I've put them in a vase . They look like they might last a while. Definitely going to grow some next year - but not orange ones . I'm no longer going to be snobby about them. Dame Edna knew a good thing when she saw it