Gladiolus Bulbs

Buy gladiolus bulbs online in Pakistan and choose your colour. Gladiolus corms send up the tallest flower spike in the garden — 90 to 120 cm of tightly ranked blooms opening from the bottom up over a fortnight. It is the cut flower of Pakistani weddings and shrine garlands for good reason: nothing else gives that much height and presence from a single corm, and a spike cut in bud will open steadily in the vase for two weeks.

Colours Available

Peach, white, white with a pink edge, orange, pink, yellow, red and purple — each sold separately, so you can plant a single colour block or mix your own.

Growing Guide for Pakistan

• Plant: September to November in the plains for winter and early spring flowering.
• Depth and spacing: 10–12 cm deep, 15 cm apart. The extra depth is what keeps a metre-tall spike upright.
• Stake at planting: Put the cane in when you plant, not later — pushing a cane in beside an established plant spears the corm.
• Flowers: January to March, about 90 to 100 days from planting.
• Succession planting: Plant a batch every two weeks through the season and you will have spikes to cut for three months instead of three weeks.
• Height and sun: 90–120 cm. Full sun, free-draining soil, steady moisture while the spike is forming.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Can I mix the colours? Yes — each colour is sold separately here, so you can order two or three shades and plant them together, or keep each colour in its own block.
• When do I cut the spike? When the lowest two or three florets have opened. The rest will open in the vase over the following ten to fourteen days.
• Do they really need staking? Yes, once the spike is heavy with buds. A metre-tall gladiolus will lean or snap in the first strong wind without support.
• How do I get flowers over a longer period? Plant in succession — a new batch every two weeks. All corms planted on one day will flower within the same fortnight.
• Will they come back next year? Lift the corms once the foliage has yellowed, dry them well and store them cool and airy. Each corm also produces small offsets you can grow on.
• Are these bulbs or seeds? These are living bulbs, corms or tubers — not seed. They flower in their first season, months sooner than the same plant grown from seed.
• How should I store them before planting? Somewhere cool, dry and dark with air around them. A paper bag in a cupboard is ideal; a sealed plastic bag is not, because trapped moisture causes rot.

New to bulbs? Read what to sow in September in Pakistan, or browse the full winter flowering collection.

Sourced and graded by hand in Lahore before shipping. The Garden by Chanan Din, serving Pakistani gardeners since 1932.