How to Start Gladiolus Indoors for Early Flowering

If you’re anything like me, you spend at least a portion of the winter dreaming of the glory of the coming summer’s garden. I plan and plot, but most of the actual work won’t start until the spring.

But there are a few gardening tasks that I can begin during the winter months to get a jump on the growing season.

It gives me that gardening fix I crave, and it helps me to prepare my upcoming magical summer garden. Starting gladiolus corms early is one of those tasks that I look forward to.

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As late winter rolls around, I start planting so I can enjoy the colorful gladiolus flowers earlier than if I planted them directly outdoors.

This guide will give you the knowledge you need to start your corms and move them to the garden when the timing is right.

Here’s what we’ll go over with that goal in mind:

To be clear, gladiolus have corms, not bulbs. But many gardeners refer to them as “bulbs,” so we’ll being using the terms interchangeably in this guide.

Spring can’t come early enough, as far as I’m concerned. So let’s not wait one minute more!

Prepare the Corms

Four to six weeks before the last predicted frost date in your area, prepare the corms.

Whether you purchase new bulbs to plant or you’re restarting some that you lifted in the fall and kept in storage, you need to prepare them for planting.

Some retailers won’t carry gladiolus during the off season but others have them in stock, so if you’re buying new, it pays to shop around.

‘Impressive’

Dutch Grown, for example, carries a fantastic range, from the multi-hued pink, fuchsia, and pale salmon ‘Impressive’ to

flowers plants soil gardening watering Kristine Lofgren Netherlands