Gladiolus Byzantine: planting and care in open ground, photo

Gladiolus Byzantine requires compliance with planting rules and appropriate care. The flower is a flowerbed decoration. Thanks to bright colors and different shades, you can create a flower garden of incredible beauty in your own area.

When planting and caring for Byzantine gladiolus, you must follow the recommendations of specialists. The plant stands out for its unusual appearance and attracts everyone's attention in the flowerbed.

Description of the variety

Gladiolus Byzantine has a height of up to 60 cm. The flowers are large and wide. Petals can be of different shades. There are specimens with a white line in the center. The variety is winter-hardy and is planted in all regions of Russia.

Flowers look great both in single plantings and are in perfect harmony with other plants. Gladioli are used to create perennial borders. Plants can be propagated in several ways; they can be grown in 1 plot for no more than 3 years.

Description of the plant

Graceful representatives of the Byzantinus family rarely grow above 60 cm. In some gardens you can find giants whose height reaches 120 cm. The stem of this elegant beauty is decorated with a row of 10-20 crimson, funnel-shaped, large flowers. Exquisite gramophones are decorated with white touches.

Elegant flowers alternate with narrow purple buds and are collected in groups of 5-8 pieces. The pointed leaves of the Mediterranean guest are collected in a fancy fan. The length of each sword-shaped leaf reaches 35 cm. The width of the leaf plate does not exceed 1 cm.

Preparing the bulbs

It is necessary to prepare the bulbs for planting a month before planting. For this purpose, they need to be cleared of scales. Only healthy specimens without defects are allowed for sowing. If there are bulbs with some damage, they can be treated. The affected area is treated with brilliant green.

To protect the tubers from infection by fungal diseases, they need to be soaked in a foundation solution for an hour. You can also use potassium permanganate, the processing time is approximately 2 hours.

Next, the bulbs need to be placed in a warm place, they should germinate. In this case, the surface must be dry.

Diseases of Byzantine gladioli

Byzantine is susceptible to fungal diseases, which primarily affect tubers. This type of disease most often develops when the place for the flower garden is incorrectly chosen, improper planting techniques, or poor neighborhood.

Factors influencing the appearance of fungus:

thickened planting;
adverse weather conditions;
oversaturation of the soil with aggressive fertilizers;
excess salts in the soil;
replenishment with nitrogen fertilizers during flowering.

When choosing types of fertilizers for gladioli, you should not give preference to any one type. For example, feeding only nitrogen fertilizers during flowering of gladioli can stimulate the development of fungus in the root tissues. With an excess of nitrogen in the soil, the quality of the corms also decreases. Therefore, it is better to use complex compositions for flowers.

Please note: along with nitrogen fertilizers, you need to give copper fertilizers, which even out the imbalance. And it’s better not to experiment with phosphorus fertilizers at all; thin plant tissues may not survive such aggressive feeding.

Soil preparation

Growing Byzantine gladiolus requires a lot of effort. In general, the culture is unpretentious. However, the soil for planting must be prepared according to all the rules.

It is best to choose sandy loam soil rich in humus for planting. You need to prepare the soil in the fall. It is definitely worth adding humus and lime.

Please note that fresh manure cannot be used. Otherwise, the flowering will not be as lush as usual, and the bulbs will not be able to be stored for a long time.

In spring, the soil must be dug up, leveled, and mineral fertilizers applied. Immediately before planting, the soil must be mixed with wood ash.

Features of the variety

This variety can be found in Turkey and other meadows of the Mediterranean (Syria and Iran). Suitable for cultivation in Siberia, where the climate is quite suitable.

Gladiolus Byzantine has a stem that can reach up to 150 cm in length. In addition, the flowers growing on it can be 6 cm wide. They are purple-crimson, and along the central vein there is a white stripe.

Planting gladioli

When planting flowers, you need to pay attention to the planting depth. Depending on the composition of the soil, you need to choose the depth. If the soil is light, the seeds can be planted 10 cm deep into the ground. If the flowerbed is located on loamy soil, the planting depth should not exceed 3 cm. After planting the tubers, they should be sprinkled with peat.

Planting work must be done in the fall. Early October is the best option.

In spring, gladioli can be planted in those regions where winters are very cold. In this case, planting work should be carried out in May. As soon as flowering has passed, the gladioli need to be dug up and stored.

Growing gladioli in the country

Gladiolus is as capricious as it is beautiful. In order for it to please with its beauty, it requires enough skill, patience and knowledge from the gardener. Especially if gladiolus is grown in unfavorable conditions for it, for example, in the north of the country.

Preparing for landing

The plant begins to be prepared for planting in the fall. It is then that the corms are dug out of the soil for storage. It is better to store gladioli bulbs in the cellar, where the temperature is suitable. Gladiolus is a perennial plant, but is often grown as an annual crop. Proper storage of planting material is the key to successful cultivation of gladioli.

20-25 days before planting, you need to review the corms and sort them. It is recommended to remove the scales that protect the bulbs during storage when planting. If the tubers show signs of damage by any diseases, these bulbs should be discarded immediately. If the damage is very small, they are cut off, and the cut areas are treated with a solution of potassium permanganate or brilliant green.

If the diameter of the tuber is more than 8 cm, you must carefully cut it so as not to touch the sprouts. Old tubers are prone to degeneration, and this manipulation will help rejuvenate the planting material.

When purchasing bulbs, you need to pay attention to the size of the bottom. The smaller it is, the younger the material. The mother tuber must be cleaned from the children, separating them very carefully so as not to damage the surface of the tuber. Children can also be used as planting material.

Germination of tubers

After the tubers have been cleared of scales, they are transferred to boxes. Place on a windowsill or other bright and dry place. The main task is to get good sprouts without roots. Before planting, it is worth treating the bulbs with chemical compounds. This can be a Decis solution or a Fufanon solution; they will help protect against various diseases, for example, whiteflies or thrips. The tubers are pickled for about half an hour. If you soak them for 20 minutes in a solution of Fundazol or potassium permanganate, you can protect the plant from fungal and bacterial infections.

Preparing the landing site

The landing site must be selected carefully. If you plant gladiolus in the shade, there is a chance that it will not bloom at all or the flowers will appear much later. The plant loves good lighting, well-loose soil rich in nutrients.

The area where the plants will be planted must be well ventilated, otherwise the gladiolus may get sick. But access to plantings from strong gusts of wind must be avoided; the wind can interfere with normal flowering and break flower stalks.

For healthy growth and long-lasting flowering of gladioli, the best options are:

Sandy loam soils.
Chernozems.
Loams.

If the soil is clayey, gladiolus should be planted at a shallow depth. It is not recommended to use the same area for two years in a row. The soil needs about 3-4 years to rest. Crop rotation is mandatory. Gladioli should not be planted after phlox or asters; all of these plants are susceptible to the same diseases that can be transmitted to each other. Excellent predecessors will be onions, garlic, strawberries.

In the fall, when digging up the area where the fence will be planted, mineral fertilizers are added to the soil. Per square meter, take 20 g of potassium sulfate and 50 g of superphosphate. A large amount of humus is also used to fertilize the soil, but it is applied in the spring.

Planting gladioli

For good development of gladiolus, it is necessary to correctly determine the timing of planting. In cold regions, planting is carried out, depending on the weather, in mid-April or in the first half of May. At this time, even if there are slight frosts on the soil, they will not be able to harm the plant. Disembarkation is carried out in the following order:

Sand is poured into the prepared bed.
A corm is placed on the sand.
Sprinkle with a layer of sand.
Water with a weak warm solution of potassium permanganate.
Sprinkled with a layer of soil.

The planting depth depends on the size of the bulbs and the condition of the soil. If the soil is heavy, the bulbs are buried 6-10 cm. In light soils they are planted deeper - up to 15-20 cm. Very large tubers are placed at a depth of 9 cm. A gap of 20 cm is left between plants, about 30 cm between rows.

In warm areas, gardeners practice planting gladioli before winter. But this method requires even more attention and care for the plant. Corms are planted in the fall, which means that it is necessary to provide good wintering and shelter for the winter so that the optimal temperature is maintained.

Care measures

Planting and caring for Byzantine gladiolus in open ground is a rather labor-intensive process. Only by following the recommendations of experienced flower growers will you be able to get excellent results.

Predecessors. The best precursors for flowers are the following crops: onions, garlic, strawberries, cucumbers.
Watering. Plants need to be watered once a week. In summer, the amount of watering can be doubled.
Loosening. After watering, the soil must be loosened.
Weeding. Plants have a negative attitude towards weeds. Therefore, weeding must be carried out in a timely manner.
Feeding. After the formation of 2 leaves, the flowers need to be fed.

Please note that at the beginning of autumn, the bulbs should be dug up, washed, treated for pests, dried, and stored for further storage.

Features of plant care

Gladioli are demanding to care for. They need to be fed and tied to a support in time. The tall plant can hardly support its own weight and often breaks.

Watering rules

Before the flowering period, it is enough to water gladioli 2 times a week. Flowering plants need to be moistened as the soil dries. The seedlings are watered abundantly because the roots of the plants go deep into the soil. If there is insufficient watering, the leaves and buds of the plant wither.

Loosening and weeding

The soil under gladioli must be loosened and weeded after each watering. The procedure must be done regularly, otherwise the tall beauties will fade ahead of time.

Fertilizer application

When applying fertilizing, do not get carried away with nitrogen fertilizers. Excess organic matter can lead to green, leafy growth and poor flowering. In addition, excess nitrogen can provoke an outbreak of fungal diseases. If such fertilizing is nevertheless introduced, then the nutrition is supplemented with preparations containing copper. Fertilizers with a high phosphorus content should be used with caution. Experienced gardeners recommend using a mixture of 10 g of ammonium nitrate and the same amount of potassium salt. To achieve a good result, it is advisable to apply complex fertilizer to the soil.

Feed gladioli 3 times:

When 3-4 leaves appear on the plant.
There are 5-6 leaves in phase.
Before flowering.

It is better to apply fertilizer in the form of an aqueous solution. This way the seedlings will better absorb nutrients.

Methods of controlling diseases and pests

The worst enemies of gladioli are thrips. Small pests are dangerous to plants at any time of the year. During the growing season, thrips destroy the buds, and in winter they attack the bulbs. As a result, the tubers lose their elasticity and dry out. Insecticides are used to combat diseases. Karbofos or Fitoverm effectively control pests.

In order to avoid troubles, you need to take care of protecting planting material in advance. To do this, the corms are soaked in an insecticide solution. The same planting agent is sprayed during the growing season. For lasting results, the procedure is performed twice a month. Final processing is done before digging up the bulbs. Often the plant is affected by bacterial scab. In this case, 3% iron sulfate will come to the rescue. Most often, gladioli are affected by fusarium. Fungicides will help get rid of the fungus.

Reviews

Svetlana, 35 years old: “I bought a Byzantine gladiolus last year. I planted the bulbs in October, and in the spring the flowerbed began to sparkle with bright colors. The plants pleased us with their flowering for a long time. Gladiolus harmonizes perfectly with roses. The flower arrangements turned out to be incredibly beautiful.”

Nadezhda, 48 years old: “I’m indifferent to gladioli. However, the Byzantine variety caught my attention. The flowers are luxurious, bright, colorful. Now I can’t stop looking at my flowerbed.”

Gladiolus Byzantine is a real find for gardeners. The plant attracts everyone's attention and looks amazing in the flowerbed. With a little patience and time, you can have a stunning flower garden. Even a beginner can master the growing technology and be able to grow beautiful flowers on his own plot.

The legend of the Byzantine gladiolus

The name "gladiolus" comes from an ancient legend that originated in BC. At that time, two Thracians, Sevtus and Teres, were captured by the troops of the Roman Empire. Young boys were assigned to be gladiators. And one day Sevta and Teresa were set to fight against each other. But the young men became friends during their imprisonment and decided not to carry out the order. Instead of fighting in the arena, Sevt and Teres stuck their swords into the ground and embraced.

Because of this offense, both young men were executed. And the blades of the young gladiators took root and eventually turned into a beautiful flower, called gladiolus.

Thanks to the legend described, these flowers are today perceived as a symbol of friendship and fidelity.

How to care for gladioli

Gladioli do not require exotic and unique care - they need standard procedures: watering, loosening, hilling, fertilizing, preventing infections and pests. Care should begin from the moment the first green shoots appear in the flowerbed.

Watering

Remember that gladioli need abundant periodic water treatments:

An approximate watering schedule is every 5-6 days.
After watering, make sure that the substrate in the flowerbed is moistened to a depth of 2-3 cm.
The right time for a water procedure is a cloudy day or evening after sunset.
The period of most frequent watering is after the development of 3-4 true leaves. It is at this time that the plant forms inflorescences.

How to feed gladioli

Gladioli are plants that do not require fertilizers. For full development, it is enough to plant them in a fertile substrate that is not depleted of precursors.

But if you want to get giant inflorescences and abundant flowering, then you need to try a little. I refer to a simple fertilizer schedule:

May June. Ammonium nitrate, nitrogen and potassium compounds.
July. Nitroammophoska, complex preparations (potassium + nitrogen + phosphorus).
August. Potassium and phosphate fertilizers.

There is another graph:

End of May: herbal infusion diluted in water 1:10.
Early June: complex mineral fertilizer.
End of July: ash extract.

To ensure that the food is well absorbed, I apply fertilizer after watering.

Loosening, hilling and weeding

I’ll tell you about three more important procedures that gardeners often forget about:

Loosening. I loosen gladioli after every watering and heavy rain. In order not to touch the onions, I process only the row spacing.
Hilling. As the plant develops, I hill it up - I rake the substrate to the base with a hoe. I do this so that the onion does not become exposed.
Weeding. From time to time I remove weeds from the flowerbed - I carefully dig up especially harmful ones with a shovel to remove them along with the roots. The shoots not only spoil the aesthetic appearance of the flowerbed, but also shade the gladioli and take away their nutrition and moisture.

Garter

And the last procedure necessary in caring for gladioli is gartering. These plants have thick stems, dense leaves, but also heavy inflorescences. Growing to a decent height, they can easily break off in a strong gust of wind.

The simplest garter: install a pin near each plant, to which you tie the gladiolus as it grows by the main stem. It is better to use a bandage or scraps of natural fabric.

Another way is a special mesh. In the corners, along the perimeter of the clubs, they dig in supports-pins, and stretch a plastic light mesh with wide cells over the flowers. A new gladiolus stem is passed into each hole. Such a support will reliably protect the flowers from breakage in drafts.

Varieties of gladioli

Byzantine gladiolus is characterized by the presence of attractive purple flowers. In addition, this is a mid-season flower and has low stems.

Gladiolus Muriel is distinguished by the presence of double-colored flowers. At the same time, the core is usually dark, and the remaining petals are white.

Gladiolus Maya Plisetskaya has an interesting appearance, characterized by the presence of voluminous inflorescences of a soft yellow hue, which are densely covered with a peduncle.

Gladiolus Oscar is distinguished by its rather large, bright red flowers, as if covered with velvet.

Gladiolus Amber Baltic is a variety that produces flowers of a rich, peach hue, softly turning into a red hue, closer to the center of the flower.

Gladiolus Black Velvet has flowers that are not completely black, but of a dark shade, closer to a dark red or violet shade.

In addition to the varieties listed above, gardeners also breed species such as Malika, Letty Sad, Mlada, Svetofor, Priscilla, etc.

5.Reproduction of gladiolus

Most often, gladioli are propagated by vegetative methods - using daughter bulbs or dividing large bulbs. They resort to seed propagation much less often. Despite the fact that it is not very difficult to grow gladiolus from seeds, however, varietal plants when propagated by seed may not inherit all the attractiveness of their parents.

For that. It will take about 3 to 4 years for the first buds to appear on bushes grown from seeds.

5.1. Reproduction by children

The easiest and most accessible method of propagation is to separate the daughter bulbs. Every year, after digging and collecting plants around the mother bulb, you can notice several daughter bulbs at once. Such children are separated and dried before storing, along with the mother bulbs.

5.2.Dividing the bulbs

With age (more than 5 - 7 years), plants bloom less readily - they form stunted shoots with few buds - such bulbs must be rejuvenated by division or used simply to produce children.

Bulbs that are 3-4 years old or more often form several growth buds in the upper part - such corms can be divided into parts before planting.

Cut the bulbs with a sharply sharpened and sterilized knife so that each part retains its own growth bud. The cut areas are dusted with coal powder or wood ash for drying and disinfection.

The bulbs, divided into parts, are planted in the garden and watered very carefully at first - excess moisture will quickly cause rot to appear on the unhealed surface.

5.3.Growing from seeds

Seed propagation is often used by breeders to develop new varieties. Seeds are sown in early spring in well-drained soil, consisting of 2/3 garden soil and 1/3 leaf humus or peat, with plenty of sand. Germination occurs within a few weeks.

Planting children

Gladiolus, planted using children, is recommended to be planted in the fall. The optimal time is early November. Cold will have a beneficial effect on the plant. Thanks to stratification, the shell of the baby will crack, and the seedlings will get stronger and gain vitality. You can also clean the children manually - lightly squeeze until a characteristic crackling sound is heard, and pry off the film with your fingernail.

Children can also be planted in holes or trenches. The optimal depth is determined by the same method as for bulbs. Approximately it is 3-5 cm. Gladiolus should be planted by children at a distance of 5 cm, each row is placed at a width of 15 cm.

Diseases and pests

Diseases in gladioli can occur either on their own due to the owner’s carelessness, or due to the spread of infection from other crops. Common diseases: botrytis, rust, septoria and fusarium. All of them are of a fungal nature, which they begin to fight even during the period of treating the bulbs with foundationazole.

The preparation "Horus" and "Falcon" are used at the stage before flowering of the plant when there are 3 formed leaves.
“Balazo”, “Agrovertin”, “Aktara”, “Konfidor-maxim” are used against insect pests such as bulb mites and thrips. Only regular examination will help prevent serious illness. Attentive attention to gladioli will certainly be rewarded with its unique lush flowering.

Preparing the site and planting material

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Preparing the site

Growing gladioli is not difficult if you do everything gradually and correctly. The place for planting needs a bright, sunny place. It is better to choose loamy or sandy loam soil with neutral acidity. Preparation of the site for planting begins in the fall. It is dug up and organic fertilizers are added (per square meter 10 kg of humus or compost and up to a kilogram of wood ash).

Important! Gladioli can grow in one place for up to 2 years, and then the place for growing them needs to be changed.

Corms also need preparation, otherwise they will not grow well. 3-4 weeks before planting, it is necessary to clear them of the top husk and check for diseases. If there is a small affected area on the bulb, simply cut it out with a sharp knife and treat the cut area with an antiseptic. If the damage is significant, then the onion should be thrown away.

To make the bulbs grow faster, they are laid out on the windowsill, where the temperature reaches +25 degrees. After about 25-30 days, when tubercles appear on the corm, they can be used for planting. But before this procedure, it is worth treating them with a light pink solution of potassium permanganate.

When to dig up gladioli

Gladiolus babies photo bulbs
To dig up the bulbs and then send them for storage until next year, you need to be sure that they are ripe. Therefore, take into account the timing: they dig up the bulbs in September-October, in warm, dry weather. At least a month is needed for the bulb, free from the peduncle, to accumulate the necessary juices in order to safely survive the winter. But it’s better to give even more time, up to 45 days.

When digging up gladioli, remember that they produce babies, and try not to damage them. The sides of an old corm can be literally covered with small “babies”, which we, of course, want to grow and plant in the spring.

Selecting the soil

For hot regions, it is not recommended to plant corms in a high bed. In hot weather, gladiolus bulbs will not have enough moisture. But it is not recommended to plant gladioli in damp places.

Since the bulbs are susceptible to diseases. The roots of corms in moist soil quickly rot. A few expert tips will help you choose a suitable place to plant corms.

Choose a sunny location to plant the bulbs.
The soil must be fertile.
If the soil is highly acidic, dilute it with chalk or quicklime.

Gladioli bulbs are demanding of sunlight. Therefore, we choose an area for planting corms that is not shaded and without wind.

Expert opinion Anton Markin

The soil must be fertile. To do this, when digging up an area for planting corms, it is advisable to add peat or humus. If the soil is highly acidic, chalk or lime is added to it. Apply according to the calculation: 300 grams of quicklime or chalk per 1 square meter of soil.

Damp and oxidized soils are not suitable for planting bulbs. On such soils, corms grow slowly. The buds are not big. The plant changes color from bright colors to duller ones.

This occurs if gladiolus bulbs are planted in heavy soils. Gladioli grow well in soils consisting of loam mixed with sand. River sand is added to the soil to create drainage. This will prevent the roots of the corms from rotting.