I bought some glads from Pinetree for the first time this past year. The price isn't great compared to the bulk suppliers, but it's okay for small amounts. Selection is pretty darned good. I was pleased that the corms were healthy and a reasonable size, so they bloomed well, but the big drawback for me was that they sent them late, around late May, thereby missing my first two plantings altogether. I called them at least twice to ask for them sooner, and they were polite, but they aren't that flexible. They send them on their own schedule, period. I had ordered them by February at the absolute latest. You aren't in an ultra-cold, ultra-short summer climate like I am, so planting that late probably wouldn't a problem for you.

My favorite glads source has been AMG, for great prices and big healthy corms, but selection is limited and you have to get a 50-corm minimum of each variety you order. Noweta is pretty good too, but in order to get the good commercial price, you have to get 50 of each color also. I think both AMG and Noweta offer mixes also, so you could get 50 of a mix for more variety. Noweta offers smaller amounts for home growers but the selection and price suffer.

You can often pick up bags of glads fairly cheap in the spring from Home Depot or Costco. With Costco, I've found that the color/variety on the bag sometimes isn't the color/variety that's actually in the bag, but they're all useful, so what the heck. You can't really see through their bags, but I've found them to be healthy and blooming-sized. Home Depot is likely to have bigger bags of mixed colors, at the same price or cheaper than Internet/mail order sources. The bags are usually net, so you can inspect the bulbs. With any bulbs, I don't wait until they sell at late-season, clearance prices, as the bulbs can be quite dried out and less vigorous by then.

I like full-sized glads for making big, full bouquets (a bouquet consisting entirely of 2-3 colors of glads is stunning, throw in some lilies and it's magnificent), but for folks who prefer smaller bouquets, the big guys may be too big. Border or Butterfly glads are better for smaller bouquets. I grow a few of those also. There isn't nearly the selection in those that the big ones have. The drawback with the big guys is that they sometimes fall over if they get much rain or just from their own weight if allowed to bloom out much. I generally cut when only one or two florets are open, so they don't develop so much weight on the stem and don't have a lot of surface area to hold rain. Some folks stake or otherwise support them. I don't, and have grown them in a constantly-windy field successfully for years We don't get much rain in the time frame that most of them bloom in, though. If you want to grow them in your garden for show rather than cutting, staking might be a good idea.

Jeanne

Thanks Jeanne.....we have a reputable nursery that I will go pick glad bulbs from in the spring. We don't have a Costco anywhere near us.....I appreciate the info because I didn't know anything about glads. :0) Phyl

You're welcome.
I love glads. They're easy to grow and get bigger every year, even here where I have to dig them up every fall and replant every spring. They do want good soil and drainage and regular water and full sun. Give them those things, and boy, are they rewarding! The worst drawbacks are that deer and gophers and voles all seem to like them. I lost at least 1/3 (of about 2500) of my corms this last year to gophers and maybe voles (deer are kept out by a fence). But that's okay, I stopped paying attention because I knew I was going to close my flower business and had no use for 2500 corms anyway! Before that, I poisoned or trapped every burrowing critter who came near.

Since you are in another zone 5, you might want to dig yours up every fall and replant in the spring. Some home gardeners here don't do that, but they risk losing them if we happen to get a cold snap with no snow cover. So they gamble and wait to see what comes up. I'm a little more controlling in my garden and want to KNOW what's going to be back, so I don't gamble with the glads corms. Besides, they're easy to dig up. In the fall, the soil is still somewhat loose from when I planted them in the spring, and they aren't planted very deeply.

Thrips are a potentially serious problem for you. Talk with other local gardeners, contact a garden club, anything to tell you if thrips get bad there. They really love glads and can ruin entire crops. I'm lucky to be in a climate with very cold nights, which they don't like (that's one of the very few advantages to this climate).

Here's a little hint: green glads go with EVERYTHING! The best, greenest green I've grown (many are really a slightly greenish yellow) is Green Star.

Other favorites of mine are Blackjack, New Parfait, Blue Lagoon, Black Walnut, Priscilla, Cherry Splash, Columbine, and all whites (which also go with everything).

Jeanne

Jeanne,
I appreciate especially the specific names of your favs...at least gives me something to think about. I do remember you mentioning last year a glad called Atom, red with a white picotee edge......not sure where you got it, but will also look into it.
I remember also you liking the lily Triumphator....that one and Silk Road, for some reason, don't do a thing for me....do you think my mind would change if I saw/smelled them in person?
BTW, out of businees? Sorry, out of the loop here, are you glad you are done with it? I'm sure you will still enjoy your flowers, probably even moreso? :0) Phyl

I got Atom from Select Seeds the first time. The next time, it might have been AMG. Cheaper, but 50-bulb minimum per variety.

As for Triumphator - I don't know a gardener of any sort who doesn't fall in love with it instantly, when they see and/or smell it in person. I can't tell you how many people came from way across the market (that lily is striking enough and large enough to be seen and smelled from a distance) just to ask me the name of that flower, so they could grow it. The drawback to Triumphator has turned out to be its hardiness, at least in this climate. It bloom after the Asiatics, before the Orientals, but only half made it through a zone 5 winter (albeit in a raised bed, which causes stronger temperature fluctuations). It is also more disease-prone and more aphid-prone than any other lily I've grown. Since it has more aphids than any others, it also always has more yellowjacket wasps buzzing around it to eat the aphids and possibly the nectar. It's still worthwhile for me to have a few because I love them, but I don't count on getting a second season of bloom from them. Photos don't show how freaking HUGE these flowers are, either. The size varies, but they're all BIG. There is also quite a lot of variation in the shade of red in the center, ranging from magenta to very pale pink. I had one that was entirely white. Shape of the flower varies from very flat and rounded to trumpet-shaped. Perhaps by now the breeders have stabilized the variations better. They are all very, very fragrant, the most fragrant lilies I've ever smelled.

I haven't grown Silk Road, although a neighbor has. The photos don't do it justice, in that the texture of the petals looks like silk satin in real life. The flowers are bigger than photos convey. My neighbor's are quite a solid bright pink color, although the photos tend to look two-toned, probably from refraction of light on the petals. I don't like them enough to be willing to pay the prices I've seen so far, although a lot of people really love them.

I closed down my business, for good, at the end of the season this year. I'm VERY glad about it - it's like a giant weight off my shoulders. I still have a cutting garden, but it's MUCH smaller, just for me and to take to work. I hope I'll enjoy my flowers more with the pressure off. I'm already enjoying my life more with some actual spare time, a lot less work, a little more money (I'm working at my well-paid, easier other job more) and a lot less pressure.

Jeanne