Yes I'm making a pride flag in the community garden

September 18, 2024 11:19 AM

I want 2 each of gladiolus bulbs in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, fuschia, and purple.

I don't want a mix pack because I want to be relatively certain that the bulbs will be planted in rainbow order.

I don't want to have to buy a sack of 10+ bulbs but 5 would be OK (I will find a place for the others.)

I am aware that blue is hard, so I can go with a bluish purple, or I'm open to suggestions for something blue that blooms in late August with the glads in zone 3, or advice about forcing glads earlier to match the existing blue delphinium that blooms in July (glads don't event start until the delphinium quits.)

Must ship to anywhere in the U.S. (I will re-ship to Alaska if necessary.) Ideally, I want to purchase these right now so they ship without freezing en route, but I can also wait until early May to ship.

And lastly, I would love to purchase from a place that someone else has already had a good experience with, or a few places if that's what I have to do. All price points considered.

posted by blnkfrnk to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

I don't think you can order them individually from retailers, but if you know someone, or have a public garden that plants tulips annually, you can see if they would pass a few on to you of the colors they have. Most public gardens plant in clusters, so they may have theirs sorted out by color. Another source would be flower sellers at farmer's markets. They plant in colored rows typically, so again, they would know which colors their bulbs are for. Most local farmers are willing to sell a few bulbs if it's not something proprietary.
posted by drossdragon at 2:29 PM on September 18

Response by poster: Tulips are easy-- I'm looking for gladiolus.

And, yeah, I don't see a lot of those available locally. I can definitely buy them in packs of 100 per color, but not in smaller quantities that I know of...maybe I'm looking at a bulb-share situation with my neighbors.
posted by blnkfrnk at 2:56 PM on September 18

My answer would be "phone up a bricks-and-mortar seller and see what they can do for you". It's lean times all round and I think they'll want to make the sale, as long as you're OK with paying a bit more than you would for a mixed pack of the same number.

Have you tried Glad-A-Way? They sell by colour category and I'm guessing they'd ship to you. (I don't have personal experience with them so I don't know, but it's worth an ask.)
posted by Pallas Athena at 3:23 PM on September 18 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I’ve had great luck with Brent & Becky’s
posted by carterk at 3:44 PM on September 18

(Put a few very blue bachelors button plants in the blue stripe? Tall thin stems, sparse foliage, they might blend well from a distance.)
posted by clew at 4:36 PM on September 18

Also remember that the present-day Pride flag 🏳️‍🌈 generally uses six colours (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple) so that should make things easier. If your choices are limited, using blue-purple and red-purple flowers for the bottom two stripes should provide enough contrast to produce the desired effect. Good luck, hope it works out.
posted by hangashore at 7:59 AM on September 19

Best answer: Ideally, I want to purchase these right now so they ship without freezing en route, but I can also wait until early May to ship.

I don't really have any good options- just info: Glads are spring planted bulbs, so many places are not going to have them in stock until some time in 2025, so you may have more success checking around in Jan-Feb. The only place I've seen that sells bulbs in fewer than groups of 5 is Old House Gardens, and they specialize in rarities- which is not what you're after. (I have ordered from them, and they are exceptionally great.) I've only ever bought from K Von Bourgondion for a client years ago- they have a huge selection of colors, but only in large packs. I think this is going to be the largest sticking point- the corms are small, and it's just more economical for mail order to sell in packs. The only other option I can think of is if you happen to have a garden store that sells spring bulbs open-stock next year, and you can buy as many or as few as you like. These places are hard to find where I live these days, and possibly harder for you.

There are a few pale yellow-green glads- I've grown them myself. No true blues though, regardless of photos that show up on the internet, so you'll have to make do with a blue-violet. Also be aware that different varieties bloom at slightly different times and all the colors may not be visible at the same time.
posted by oneirodynia at 6:58 PM on September 19