Glad Whatever
Judy Glattstein (Thu, 13 Aug 2015 17:45:28 PDT)

O.K. Call it what you will - sword lily, gladiolus, pluralize as
gladioli, "common speak" as gladiola - my whole reason for posting was
not to start a dialog on the proper name for more than one gladiolus. It
was to say "Isn't this a nice thing for the corn and soybean farmer to
do, raise a whole lot of these corms and donate the flowers for hospital
patients." Which apparently was so minor a thought as to be completely
overlooked.

In venery there are some wonderful collective nouns, in some instances
refined as to whether the group - geese in this instance - are in the
air (a skein or wedge), on the ground (a flock or gaggle), or on the
water (a plump of geese.) But I am not aware of any collective naming of
flowers.

Judy