Dave and Jean Kollasch have been growing and hybridizing gladioli at their home in Verona for 50 years. They currently grow about 120 varieties, including 51 that they have hybridized and registered themselves. They specialize in developing miniature varieties, which produce smaller flowers on shorter spikes, making them easier to arrange in arrangements than their larger and often unwieldy cousins.
For about 15 years, they have sold their flowers at a self-service stand in their yard, attracting locals and out-of-towners throughout the July-September season.
But they’ve put a note inside the cash box at the stand, letting customers know it’s their last year. Dave is 83 and Jean is 76, and they would like to have more time to bike and travel while they are still healthy enough. They will miss the visits and they know the customers will miss them.
“There’s going to be a lot of disappointed people,” Dave said.
“I don’t know another country that has such joys,” said Jean.
A sign made by the grandchildren of Dave and Jean Kollasch directs passersby to the gladioli stand on their property in Verona.
Dave and Jean Kollasch, growers and hybridizers of gladioli, select a variety of flowers from the garden on their property in Verona.
A bunch of freshly picked gladiolus lies on a chair in the Glad Garden in Verona.
About 120 types of gladioli are grown in the Glad Garden in Verona.
A tag marks the Teexie variety of gladiola at the Happy Garden in Verona. The variety is named for the nickname that Jean Kollasch’s grandfather used to call her when she was little.
Dave and Jean Kollasch have hybridized and registered 51 unique varieties of gladioli. Here, a pollinator bee pollinates Jean Kollasch’s Little Bubbles in the couple’s garden in Verona.
Jean Kollasch shows a seed tail on a gladiolus stem as an insect crawls up.
Jean Kollasch holds a gladiolus bulb while describing the hybridization process.
Dave and Jean Kollasch pick a variety of gladioli from the garden on their 3-acre property in Verona.
Dave and Jean Kollasch, growers and hybridizers of gladiola flowers, add fresh flowers to the stand on their property at 3911 Pioneer Road in Verona.
Jean and Dave Kollasch explain their flower bulb storage system at their home in Verona.
The names of different gladiola hybrids are written on a shelf for storing flower bulbs in the Glad Garden in Verona.
Jean Kollasch reads the label on a variety of gladiolus in her garden in Verona.
Jean Kollasch selects a stem of the lemon meringue gladiola variety from her garden in Verona.
A stained glass window, made by Dave and Jean Kollasch, depicts a gladiolus in their home in Verona.
Turkey Tracks is a vibrant red variety of gladiola that grows in the Glad Garden in Verona.
Dried gladiolus stems and seed pods are labeled and stored for future propagation at the Glad Garden in Verona.
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