Published August 2, 1962
It is Gladiolus time again and elaborate preparations are in the making for the annual Gladiolus and Flower show, the seventh annual in Watervliet. On Saturday and Sunday of next week, August 11 and 12 the Watervliet High School auditorium will be a riot of color when some of the choicest glads will be on exhibition and hundreds of people coming from near and far will be here to marvel at the beauty of this famous flower, one that is almost as romantic as the rose.
The gladiolus belongs to the iris family and gets its name from the Latin word gladiatus, meaning sword like. Legend has it that two brothers one day stood along the banks of the Nile and argued over a girl. On that day, centuries ago, the argument reached such a high pitch that each brother bared a sword and there was almost a duel. But it didn’t come to that for on second thought they decided that risking a life over a woman was not worthwhile, so they pitched their swords into the sandy soil and walked off, much to the wiser. And, according to the legend, the first Gladiolus came to life at that very point where the swords fell.
True, or false, we do know that the gladiolus has become one of the most satisfactory of flowers and is being grown more and more extensively each year, both commercially and in the home garden. Each year new and more beautiful varieties appear and more and more interest is being shown in its cultivation. My first recollection of gladioli grown in my mother’s garden, were a small red flower and no comparison to what we now find in greenhouses and gardens.
John Early, manager of the Florida Flower Association, composed of 50 gladiolus farms which spreads over 8,000 acres, has stated that it shipped $74 million worth of blooms in 1959, including many large shipments to California, which Early said just couldn’t come up to Florida in the production of gladioli. As a matter of fact, he said, that no other state has gladiolus farms like those found in Florida.
Early, a graduate of Penn State University, said that the superior gladiolus produced by Florida floral farmers are no accident. “Researchers, supported by the Association, are constantly trying to improve on current crops,” he said, “So far, we have devised ways of tricking nature into producing glads that are much more colorful than nature first intended. And we have found ways of producing blooms that hold up much longer than would be expected—say from five to seven days,” he declared.
“Once the flowers are harvested, they are bunched by workers toiling in highly sanitary surroundings,” Early explains. He said that most homemakers don’t know it, but the best way to add days of life to your gladiolus is to snap off the ends and plunge the stems in water that’s almost boiling hot. This dilates the water pipes inside the stems and that speeds the flow of water up to the petals, where it is the most needed.
Mr. Early is an easterner, but he has adopted the Southland, making his home in Bradenton, Florida. When he isn’t pushing gladiolus, he grows petunias around his home.
The petunia, too, is a very satisfactory flower and some years ago was made the official flower of Watervliet. It should be grown more extensively as it is so easily cultivated and so colorful.
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