I've not had much luck with gladiolus here. I'm wondering if I plant them too late. Most Texas gardening advice suggests planting gladiolus corms in succession during April and May, but I almost think they'd do better planted even earlier. Glads are not tender here, and don't need to be "dug and stored' as they do in other parts of the U.S. Unfortunately, most bulb sellers don't start shipping their gladiolus bulbs till April, which doesn't give me a chance to try planting them earlier. Last year I planted six different kinds of gladiolus corms in April, and most of them just became a big bunch of floppy, ragged leaves with no flowers.

The Byzantine gladiolus, however, is another kind of glad.