This small, graceful glad stunned us by surviving 22° below zero one winter here. Reliably perennial in zones 6-9S/11WC — and in much of zone 5, our customers tell us — it multiplies year after year without care, and grows true from seed. Collected at an old homesite in NC, it’s an early form of the “Maid of the Mist” glad (G. primulinus, now lumped into G. dalenii, first offered in the US by Thorburn in 1908), a kissing cousin of the equally wonderful ‘Boone’, and our Spring 2008 Bulb of the Year. 3 feet, from Michigan. Chart to compare.

You’ll never mistake ‘Dauntless’ for a modern, supermarket glad. We call it the Lauren Bacall of glads because its smooth, stylish, angular blooms recall an era of wide lapels and big, sexy hats. Pink with a dramatic splash of ruby in the throat, it’s also one of the oldest traditional glads we’ve ever offered. 4 feet, from Maine and Michigan. Chart to compare.

A very rosy, joyful purple, ‘Fidelio’ is named for Beethoven’s only opera, a hymn to loyalty, love, and freedom. Try a few combined with silvery Russian sage or tall artemisia – stunning! 4 feet, from Holland. Chart to compare.

Looking more like a cymbidium orchid from the wilds of Borneo than an ordinary glad from your own backyard, this tiny, ruffled beauty is a luscious peachy-orange that’s splashed with gold and richly speckled with cayenne pepper. Wow! Small-flowered, 3 feet, from Maine. Chart to compare.

No matter how hard we try, we can never seem to capture the soft, juicy spring green of this small-flowered glad in a photo — so you’re just going to have to grow it yourself to see how wonderful it is. Daintily ruffled and cute as a button, it always draws ooos and ahhs in the garden and makes every bouquet more interesting. 3-4 feet, proudly grown in our Ann Arbor micro-farms. Chart to compare.

From the decade that brought us paisley shirts, black-light posters, and Sergeant Pepper comes this weirdly wonderful glad of ruffled, lavender florets splashed with pale chartreuse. And you don’t have to be a hippie to enjoy it! 3-4 feet, from Michigan. Chart to compare.

Fragrance in glads is as rare as hen’s teeth. Although a few wild ones have it, breeding it into modern glads has proved difficult. In fact, ‘Lucky Star’ was the only fragrant seedling to come from many years of crosses made by New Zealander Joan Wright using garden glads and the even more fragrant Abyssinian glad. Its bold, angular good looks are a bonus, and night-flying hawk moths love it. 4 feet, from Maine and Michigan. Chart to compare.

This complex, exuberant glad is a soft, spring green blended with cream-to-gold and richly feathered at the throat with crimson. Wildly ruffled — like skirts swirling at a fiesta — ¡Olé! 4 feet, from Maine and the Goetz family's centennial farm in Riga, Michigan. Chart to compare.

This luscious coral glad is named for the popular household cleanser that dates back to Depression days. It’s the top blue-ribbon winning glad of all time and a personal favorite of our good customer and celebrated Atlanta garden designer, Ryan Gainey. 4 feet, Holland. Chart to compare.