As small as ‘Atom’ and surprisingly close to blue, this cheery little glad always reminds us of a nest full of hungry baby birds. Winner of the gladiolus world’s highest honor, the All-America award, it blooms with vigor all across the country. Small-flowered, 3 feet, from Maine and our Ann Arbor micro-farms. Chart to compare.

Don’t like glads? We dare you to try wee, wildflowery ‘Boone’. Collected at an abandoned homestead in the Appalachians near Boone, NC, it has graceful, pint-sized, primulinus blooms of soft apricot, and it’s remarkably hardy – through zone 6 at least, and many of our zone-5 customers tell us it’s perennial for them, too. Like ‘Carolina Primrose’, it’s an early form of the “Maid of the Mist” glad (G. primulinus, now G. dalenii, from Victoria Falls to the US in 1908), and awesome. (See it on the cover of Fine Gardening!) 3 feet, zones 6(5?)-9bS/11WC, from Michigan. Chart to compare.

New! If you look with your imagination, it’s easy to see the blue skies and sandy beaches of the Caribbean in this well-named little glad. It’s not really blue, of course, but a lovely soft lavender highlighted with thumbprints of purple. Very limited supply, small-flowered, 3 feet tall, from Maine. Chart to compare.

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.

New! If this little glad were any bigger, its brilliant splashes of deep rose on white might be too much. But it’s one of the smallest-flowered glads we grow, and we never seem to get tired of its cheery brightness. Try it yourself and see what we mean! Very limited supply, 3 feet tall, from Maine. Chart to compare.

With misty, shimmering, soft lavender-pink petals, ‘Contentment’ is hauntingly beautiful. Lightly ruffled and strong-growing, it was once the world’s leading lavender glad, but today it’s all but lost. 4 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.

Small-flowered and informal, ‘Elvira’ is a perky soft pink with its lower petals splashed with ruby. It’s one of the Nanus group of petite, early-blooming, hardier-than-most glads, and perfect for summer’s simple, no-fuss bouquets. 2-3 feet, from Holland. 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.