Gladiolus are well known and long lasting cutflowers. Although they have been stereotyped as "funeral flowers", they are very versatile and can be used in many other settings. Besides the large flowered glads commonly sold as cutflowers, small flowered cultivars have been bred with all of the colors and patterns found in large flowered varieties. The summer flowering hybrids come in almost all possible colors except for true green and true blue. In addition to self colored varieties, a number of different color patterns exist, ranging from subtle shading to bold contrasting patterns of two or more colors.

However, there is much more to the genus gladiolus than the common summer flowering hybrids. In fact, the majority of gladiolus species are winter blooming and native to the mild climate regions of South Africa (more information and pictures of species). In addition to the great diversity of colors and sizes found in the common hybrid gladiolus or "grandiflora" glads, there are several other hybrid types including the so called "winter hardy" glads which are otherwise known as nanus or butterfly hybrids. There are also over 100 different species of gladiolus, most of which are native to Sub-Saharan Africa and are particularly concentrated in the Cape region of South Africa. Gladiolus are grown throughout the world from Canada to Australia. In the U.S., glads can be grown in different regions at different times providing a nearly year-round supply of cutflowers for florists. Glads for summer markets are grown in the Northern and central parts of the U.S. While flowers for winter are grown from the same varieties in Florida and California.