Gladioli

[Mulchkin]

I know Gladioli are like Marmite, but I'm firmly in the "love" camp

I've created a perennial border in our front garden and I need something tall to go at the back, so I'm planning to go with some Gladioli. The only thing is I'm sure I read that you need to dig them up and overwinter them out of the ground - but when I do a google search I can only find posts and advice from people in areas of the US who have long, cold winters.

Can we get away with keeping them in the ground in the UK in general? I live in East Anglia, so definitely not the coldest place in the UK (but cold enough last year!!!). Not sure I can face digging up and replanting each year, if it comes to that I'll go for something a bit less fussy

[bearded bloke]

It still seems to be recommended to dig them up in the UK,having said that I set mine 8"-10" deep in good free draining well composted soil & plan to leave them in & put a thick layer of straw on them after they die back.The other alternative would be to plant near the bottom of at least 8" pots & sink the pots in the ground for the growing season,filling the resulting hole with an empty pot of the same size over winter,leaving the hole ready for use the following season.
The corms should be removed from the pot then stored in a dry & frost free environment

[Snadger]

Just dug about half of mine up today. I grow them every year in a different spot. I normally get a couple of packs of mixed from Aldi each year for a couple of quid.
One lot are finished flowering but the second lot are still flowering.

Even if they do survive the winter they never seem to flourish the following year so I reckon its best to dig em up each year.

[Florence Fennel]

I have some that have been in the garden for years and have flowered each time without lifting. I must have been incredibly lucky, but my luck ran out this year because although they have appeared, they haven't flowered. That's not much help is it? Maybe try hollyhocks, or delphiniums?

[Aberdeenplotter]

I don't do flowers as a rule - can't eat them but I do grow some sweet peas and also some glads as they are tremendous value when they are in flower. My glads are planted alongthe length of my polytunnel and I never lift them. They even survived our arctic type winter last year but of course it may have been the insulationg properties of the snow that helped them survive. The snow kept sliding off the tunnel and there was a substantial heap along the tunnel over the glads for some time. So if you are going to leave them in the ground and you won't have that much snow to protect from the frosts, mulch them with a good depth of soil or compost from the compost bin

[stella]

Every one has some of these in their garden in Italy and they never dig them up despite freezing cold and 6ft of snow.

[Mulchkin]

Thanks for the advice everyone, on balance I think that I'll give them a go in the spring and bury them very deep and then mulch them really well over winter - worth a try at least! It's a relief to know that it is (in theory!) possible. If it fails I'll take your advice Florence and stick with delphs

[Florence Fennel]

I'd recommend them Mulchkin they last ages even as a cut flower. If you nip off the trailing buds to a fair sized one, the flowers will open to the top. I used to wire a few up with green stems opposite and carnations and greenery to make lovely decorations for the back of wedding cars.

[roitelet]

You could plant Crocisima as an alternative to Glads. I find Delphs get eaten by the slugs so I've given up on them now.

[Mulchkin]

Hmmm..maybe I'll try both then and see which I prefer

Roitelet, to my shame I actually bought a crocisima from our local garden centre a few months ago and I thought it was lovely with stunning reddy -orange flowers. Sadly the leaves have gone yellow and I'm about to dig it up. Not sure what went wrong, I have a few antirrhinums planted around it and they are fine so I don't think it was lack of water or a soil problem unless they have very different needs?