Dave and Jean Kollasch, growers and hybridizers of gladiolus flowers, add fresh blooms to the stand on their property at 3911 Pioneer Road in Verona.

Dave and Jean Kollasch pick a variety of gladioli from the garden on their 3-acre property in Verona.

Jean Kollasch retrieves cash from the money box in her flower stand in Verona. A note in the box lets customers know this is their last year of selling gladioli.

A sign made by the grandchildren of Dave and Jean Kollasch points passersby to the gladiolus stand on their property in Verona.

Jean and Dave Kollasch explain their flower bulb storage system at their home in Verona.

Dave and Jean Kollasch, growers and hybridizers of gladioli, pick a variety of blooms from the garden on their property in Verona.

Dave and Jean Kollasch have hybridized and registered 51 unique varieties of gladioli. Here, a bumble bee pollinates Jean Kollasch’s Tiny Bubbles in the couple's garden in Verona. 

Jean Kollasch points to a seed pod on a stem of gladiolus as an insect crawls up it.

Business and local economy reporter

Business and local economy reporter

Dave and Jean Kollasch, growers and hybridizers of gladiolus flowers, add fresh blooms to the stand on their property at 3911 Pioneer Road in Verona.

Jean Kollasch points to a seed pod on a stem of gladiolus as an insect crawls up it.

After 50 years of breeding and 15 years of selling gladioli at their Verona home, Dave and Jean Kollasch of The Glad Garden are preparing to pack up their roadside stand for the last time. 

“It’s been a good run,” said Dave Kollasch, 83, who’s loved the lanky flowers ever since watching his mother raise them on their farm in northern Iowa. He brought them as “courting flowers” when he was wooing Jean, now 76, his wife of 55 years. 

Dave, who spent his career working on computers, began growing gladioli on a friend’s property while finishing college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. When he and Jean bought a house in Verona in 1972, he started making plans to turn much of their 3-acre lot into a massive gladiolus garden. 

Dave and Jean Kollasch pick a variety of gladioli from the garden on their 3-acre property in Verona.

Over the next five decades, the couple would plant around 120 varieties. Among them are 51 unique varieties Dave hybridized, in some cases by pollinating the plants himself and in other cases by selecting from the many different offspring that emerge when bees or other pollinators visit the plants themselves. They went on to compete at state and county fairs, Dave for growing the best spikes and Jean for arranging the most creative floral designs.

The pair specialize in developing miniature varieties, which produce smaller flowers on shorter spikes, making them easier to place in arrangement than their larger and often-unwieldy cousins. They register each hybrid by giving it an original name and shipping bulbs to a cataloger — currently Honker Flats in northwest Minnesota — who breeds and markets them for sale. Among the varieties they’ve registered are the pastel-colored Thumbprint, the rose-tipped Upsidazy and the unusually small Tiny Bubbles.

Dave and Jean Kollasch have hybridized and registered 51 unique varieties of gladioli. Here, a bumble bee pollinates Jean Kollasch’s Tiny Bubbles in the couple's garden in Verona. 

It’s a lengthy process, with the first blooms coming three years after pollination. “It’s addicting because when they're starting to bloom and haven’t bloomed before, you want to get up in the morning and get out there and see what’s blooming today,” Dave said. 

“Look at this one!” Jean calls out again and again as she shows off one favorite after another. 

Dave and Jean Kollasch, growers and hybridizers of gladioli, pick a variety of blooms from the garden on their property in Verona.

Early on, the pair sold flowers at the nascent Dane County Farmers’ Market, but it proved too much work for the young working parents. 

About 15 years ago, they began setting up a self-serve flower stand in their front yard at 3911 Pioneer Road in Verona, from late July through early September. They’d fill a few buckets with gladiolus spikes and set out a box where customers could leave their payment and, if they wanted, a note for the gardeners. Since then, they think, they’ve raised their prices only once. Flowers today are $1 each or six for $5.

A sign made by the grandchildren of Dave and Jean Kollasch points passersby to the gladiolus stand on their property in Verona.

The stand relies exclusively on word-of-mouth and a few colorful yard signs the couple’s grandkids painted years ago. But that seems to be enough, drawing both local customers and those visiting from places like Iowa and Michigan. Some pass through just once. Others visit every week. 

If Dave or Jean look out from their window and spot someone perusing the blooms, they’ll offer to give them a tour of the gardens in their golf cart. Many customers share stories about the gladioli their own grandparents used to grow. 

Sometimes Jean drops off free flowers for Meals On Wheels, so volunteers can offer seniors some fresh blooms with their meals. Recently, she took a bunch to a local retirement home so residents could create their own arrangements.

“It's our little mini business. We don't make any money on it because we expend more, but it gives a lot of joy to a lot of people,” Jean said. 

Bulbs looking for a good home

When the season ends next month, Dave and Jean will take down the stand for the last time. After the first frost, they’ll dig up the bulbs as they do every year — Dave digging, Jean snapping the stems — though they might leave some in the ground this time. The harvested bulbs, sorted and cleaned, will spend the winter in the dozens of wooden drawers that line the wall of the custom-built bulb storage area under the couple’s house. Protected but not heated, it provides just the temperature and humidity the bulbs need for the winter. 

Jean and Dave Kollasch explain their flower bulb storage system at their home in Verona.

In a typical year, the couple would begin planting in mid-May, planting around six rows a day for about three weeks. But after years of discussing their second retirement, they’ve agreed that they’re just too old to keep that up.

“It’s not nearly as much fun dancing with the tiller anymore,” said Dave, who now needs a nap most afternoons.

They’d like to have more time for biking and traveling, while they’re still healthy enough. “We’ve got things we want to do — before we can’t,” Jean said. 

Eventually, they’ll likely move to a retirement community, but if they’re still at the house next spring, they plan to plant just a fraction of their bulbs — if they can decide which. “When you’ve got 100 varieties, which varieties are you gonna grow?” Jean said. 

Jean Kollasch retrieves cash from the money box in her flower stand in Verona. A note in the box lets customers know this is their last year of selling gladioli.

They’ve put a note inside the money box in the stand letting customers know it’s their last year. They’ll miss the visits, and they know customers will miss them.

“There’s gonna be a lot of disappointed people,” Dave said. 

“I don't know another place that has glads like this,” Jean said.

They’re currently looking to pass on their inventory of corms (tiny bulbs) to other would-be gladiolus growers, but with fewer young people excited about the flowers, they know it might not be easy to find someone.

“We’d welcome people to voice an interest in becoming new parents,” Jean said with a laugh, adding that they’re happy to pass them along even to people who aren’t up for the work of digging the bulbs up in the fall. 

“When we identify somebody that's got (sunny) land that might be interested in growing, we'll send them a box of corms.”

What are the most important values driving your work?

Jean: Sharing our enjoyment of glads. That's really what it's about.

How are you creating the kind of community that you want to live in?

Dave: Having those cut flowers available to others to enjoy. We both worked. We’ve saved a little money, so it’s not the money we need.

Jean: It’s spreading joy. It’s touching other people when they stop and we converse with them, and spreading goodwill.

What advice do you have for other would-be entrepreneurs?

Dave: Do what you love.

Jean: And be willing to work hard at it. Most people wouldn't. They’d give it up because you do have to work hard at it.

Dave: If you don't like what you're doing, you’re not gonna do it well or do it long.

Jean: And have a good friend to do it with.

Jean: No, we're not hiring, but we're seeking people who would be willing to come and assist. 

Dave: Who would be willing to take over on their own land.

Jean: To take bulbs or even to help with harvest. We could pay them, but we're not long-term hiring.

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Dave and Jean Kollasch have grown and hybridized gladioli at the their home in Verona for 50 years. They currently grow about 120 varieties, i…

Dave and Jean Kollasch have grown and hybridized gladioli at the their home in Verona for 50 years. They currently grow about 120 varieties, i…

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