In this first week of 2024 I want to take over the garden fence by focusing on a special couple honored this year for growing and showing gladiolus. Twice.
On Aug. 6 when we arrived at the Ohio State Fairgrounds, a banner hung over the display area. "Honoring Cliff and Doris Hartline, Hartline Farms" with white lettering on a light blue background hovered above visitors. Members of the Northwest Ohio Gladiolus Society, including the Hartlines, entered spikes and made floral designs using glads predominantly. The couple had carefully harvested from their farms and brought many buckets of spikes. Cliff even went to work on enormous designs.
Doris and Cliff Hartline grow and hybridize gladiolus. In that world they are well-known. The longer you watch them the more you realize they rise above a normal state of positive spirit.
In their midst you become a treasured friend. You are a recipient of their beloved glads one way or another. Those who take part in an annual auction can purchase Cliff's developed named cultivars or numbered seedlings. If you are headed to a gladiolus show, Cliff walks into his fields with you to cut whatever you think you need. Doris is right there at the shows giving you spikes out of the buckets, the ones not going on the show tables.
A year ago when struck with their "togetherness" this column held the results of the team strength demonstrated at the show at Lakeside.
This year my informal questioning was about the way they select cultivars to cross pollinate and then name them — together. Cliff quipped "Doris is ruthless. As for me, I end up with too many kids (glads)." Cliff admits the process is not perfect. The two look over virtues like ruffled edges, eye color, bi-color markings, size and the heritage of the two cultivars to make decisions. Seedlings are planted in sandy soil with mounding between rows. Long ago Cliff's pollination work led to as many as 1,500 a season; now it is more like 500. Only 8 to 10 continue growth the following season and eventually become an introduction.
This year they managed 28 crosses. Half of those will make it to consideration and may be marketed in a catalog. There are three rows, 350 feet long — all seedlings. He focuses but loses concentration when he is playing music, which may lead to mixing up planned steps. "But" he interjects, "this can result in what we call a 'sport.'"
Cliff loves to talk about "Showman's Delight" — an example of a cross which popped up with a variant color even though corms next to one another were the same. This was not a result of his getting mixed up.
The banner honoring Hartlines was in place a second time as the annual glad show opened at Lakeside, Aug. 21-22. Every artistic class was titled after several of Cliff's hybrids. "Scrumptious," "Great Expectations," "Red Reflections," "Unbelievable" and more invited exhibitors.
In the spike section Doris swept the awards. Doris' entry "Very Chic" triumphed over the field of spikes. They have been showing since 1982 beginning at the Seneca County Fair. That was when Doris was the designer, liked the few glads Cliff grew and begged for more.
Generous spirits and pride continue as the two work together promoting a love of not only growing gladiolus but sharing to watch what others can accomplish in designing.
Mary Lee Minor is a member of the Earth, Wind and Flowers Garden Club, an accredited master gardener, a flower show judge for the Ohio Association of Garden Clubs and a former sixth grade teacher.