glad for gladiolus

i am a frustrated gardener. with spring just around the corner, it's time for green-thumbed people to buy their favorite bulbs and prep the soil for planting.

i spotted these gladiolus bulbs at the dollar store and decided to give my thumbs a chance at being green, and see if springtime would yield my gardening efforts with a "thumbs-up" sign for successful growth. each packet (which costs a dollar) contains 6 bulbs. i chose the red "oscar" and "mixed" variety, then threw in a box of wildflower seeds. total purchase was $3.21 with tax.

a major factor for my gladiolus decision was that they're "deer-proof," or at least that's what the packaging guarantees as you can see from the logo. here in our area, deer is the number one predator of our innocent flowering plants and vegetables.

when i inspected the bulbs, i saw that their bottoms had tiny white roots already sprouting. they look like garlic, don't they? i planted some of the bulbs in small pots and buried the rest at different parts of our front lawn garden. subconsciously, i was chanting, "please bloom....please bloom!"

i wonder, would the plural form for this flower be "gladiola"? haha. probably just "gladiolus flowers."