Photo courtesy anneheathen/Flickr

Before we moved to Virginia, I had never heard of a gladiola making it through the winter.  When we looked at our home, the owner (a retired Horticultural professor from VT) had all of these gorgeous glads blooming and I talked to him about them, asking if he had to dig them up every fall.  He told me he had never dug them up and they came back reliably every year.

Sure enough, I’ve left them in the ground, and they come back each summer.  These, incidentally, are not the short gladiolas that you may have seen in catalogs listed as ” hardy glads” – no, these are the big 3 foot tall spikes, in a huge variety of colors – pink, white, peach, yellow and combos.  Absolutely beautiful.

So, I went online to do some research, and I’m finding sites with people claiming that their glads overwinter too, but no one seems to have any definitive explanation for this.  There are a bunch of theories, but gardening books do say that they aren’t hardy north of zone 8.

Some folks theorize it’s the heirloom varieties that are making it through the winter, hypothesizing that they are adapting to the climate and becoming more hardy.  Some others think the winters just aren’t as cold as they used to be.  Still another site I saw says that it depends on the amount of sunlight your glad gets; if it’s in full sun virtually all day, it grows stronger and healthier and can, therefore, make it through the winter easier.

Anyone have any other information, or care to share your own experiences?  From my perspective, I love these gladiolas, and I’m very glad I don’t have to go to the work of digging them up every year.  I do absolutely nothing to these flowers except enjoy them.  They get no supplemental watering, require no staking, nothing.

And, if you have gladiolas of your own and dig them every fall, you may want to experiment.  Maybe you, too, can get by with no work and gorgeous glads!

It was 23 degrees this morning when I walked my son to his bus stop.  I know I have become spoiled and it’s only the beginning of March, but I am READY FOR SPRING!

Signs are starting to pop up around our yard.  We have one snowdrop that has been blooming for the past three weeks, but other than that and one lone yellow crocus, nothing else is blooming yet.  There’s plenty up out of the ground, so it won’t be long now.

For the first time ever, I’ve had not one, but two, rosemary plants make it through the winter.  I didn’t take any rosemary inside this fall – just sort of forgot about it – so I’m really pleased to see the two plants survive.  Looks like some snapdragons made it through, too.

The tulip cutting bed I planted is starting to show life.  About a third of the bulbs are up and starting to grow, and the hardware cloth does look like it did the trick in keeping the squirrels out.  No signs it’s been tampered with at all.  I’ve got my fingers crossed, because I am really looking forward to cutting some bouquets of tulips for the house.  (See my blog posting on my tulip cutting garden for more info on this.)

The bird activity has picked up quite a bit lately too.  Yesterday, we watched three bluebirds eating from our inkberry bushes.  We had a great up-close view of them enjoying dinner.  If you couldn’t feel the temperature and just listened to the singing, you’d swear spring was here already.

I am itching to get outside and do some cleanup to prepare for planting.  Now if only the temperature would cooperate . . . did you hear there’s a 70% chance of snow on Wednesday?? Ugh.

There it is.  Isn’t it gorgeous?

Four blooms, all open.   I waited until this evening to post so that it would be fully open.  I’ve been watching the last two blooms all day.

Doppler Carol: 9 plants!  I know you don’t have flower stalks, but mentally, I’m picturing them all blooming and it’s beautiful!

Two of the four blooms are almost open.  It won’t be long now.

Your postings are inspiring me…to feel guilty again about ditching my bulb after the blooms are dead!

I’ve never heard of anyone treating one of these, or a paperwhite, as a houseplant and successfully getting it to bloom again.  I thought a cooling period was necessary for a rebloom.

Someone emailed me asking for directions, so here’s what my gardening books say about keeping an amaryllis bulb and getting it to bloom in later years:

Cut the old flowers from the stem, and after the stem starts to sag, cut the stem back to the top of the bulb.  Continue to water and fertilize it for at least 5-6 months, allowing the leaves to develop and grow.  In early fall, when the leaves start to yellow, cut the leaves back to about 2″ from the top of the bulb and remove the bulb from the soil.  Clean the bulb and place it in a 40-50 degree F dark place, like the crisper of your refrigerator for at least 6 weeks.  (Don’t store bulbs in a refrigerator that contains apples, as this will sterlize the bulbs!)  After 6 weeks, plant the bulbs and in 8 weeks or so they should bloom again.

Arrgghh!  Too much work!  I’d rather just enjoy the flowers, then get rid of the bulb and look forward to next year’s Christmas present!

Plus, I don’t think there’s EVER a time our refrigerator doesn’t contain apples!

Day 2 of Amaryllis Bloom Watch.

We can now see there are going to be 4 flowers from this bulb.

Amaryllis are one of the easiest bulbs to force to bloom.  If my memory is correct, I have always planted my bulbs in potting soil, but this year, my son gave me a kit with stones, where the bulb is placed on the stones in a clear vase, and the roots are visible below in the water.  I think this version has been the easiest yet.

These bulbs couldn’t be easier to grow.  All you have to do is place the bulb in the medium up to its neck, put it in a location that’s around 68-70 degrees F with direct light, and keep the water no higher than the base of the bulb.

Heat is necessary for the development of the stem, but be careful you don’t give too much heat.  I put my bulb last year into a south facing window with very strong light, and couldn’t get it to flower at all.  Research showed me it was just too much heat.

We’re on Amaryllis Watch here.

My son gave me a bulb for Christmas, as he’s done for the past couple of years, and the flower is getting ready to bloom.

This is a favorite gift of mine.  It’s wonderful to have a lovely flower in the middle of winter, and the flower itself lasts a long time. Also, kids love it because once it starts growing, it grows really fast.  You can literally see changes within the space of a single day.

I know that there are instructions for keeping your amaryllis bulbs and forcing them to bloom again in subsequent years, but I don’t do that.  There was a point in my life when I still felt guilty about throwing plants like amaryllis and poinsettia away after blooming, because it is possible to get them to rebloom, if you’re willing to put some effort into the whole thing.  Years ago, someone told me to treat them like cut flowers that last a long time; after they’re no longer pretty, chuck them into your compost pile without guilt.  You enjoyed them, but it doesn’t mean you have to go through all of the work to keep them alive year to year.

I like that idea, so I now throw these types of plants away after they finish blooming, and I feel no guilt at all.  One nice thing about having a compost pile is the knowledge that whatever you’re (correctly) throwing in there helps to make the compost pile better.  So, the flower feeds my soul and then the plant feeds my compost pile.

And, since I’ve been able to count on my son for a new bulb every year, I’m still getting to enjoy a blooming amaryllis each winter!

I took advantage of the warm weather to do something I’ve been wanting to do for years, and that’s to put in a tulip cutting garden.

Those of you who live in areas where there are critters know the problem with trying to grow tulips – apparently, the bulbs are very tasty treats!

I’ve tried the trick of interplanting them with daffodils – which rodents won’t touch – but have found you pretty much have to completely surround the tulip bulb with daffodil bulbs to keep them safe.  Let too much space go between the tulip and the daffodil, and the rodent just picks his way through the bulb minefield and snacks on the tulips.

But, this year, I am hoping to actually grow some for my enjoyment, and have dedicated one of my raised beds that I know I won’t need until late spring to growing tulips.  I’ve planted the bulbs and fastened hardware cloth over the top to keep the little pests out.  With any luck, I’ll have tulips to cut and enjoy next spring.

Now, I can already envision the local squirrels and chipmunks banding together to plan a raid on this bed of good eats, so I’ll let you know if I come out some morning to find the hardware cloth ripped away (I’m picturing squirrels with crowbars) and bulb carnage everywhere.

Otherwise, I hope to post a picture of my very own tulips next spring.

BTW, my neighbor has some gorgeous, old (non-hybridized) tulips that bloom reliably every year.  His are interplanted with other stuff the rodents don’t like, so no doubt he’s wondering what my problem is.  I’ve been vicariously enjoying his tulips ever since we moved here!