Doesn't happen. All the other colors died. The white ones survived. Steve in Baltimore County.

A number of common bulbous or tuberous plants can change flower color over time. Generally this is restricted to those types that are very heavily hybridized, often to create unusual colors - bearded iris, tulips and Gladiolus x hortulanus (grandiflora hybrids) are those that are most often discussed. Sometimes it is a reaction to stress but most often it is a case of unstable genetics, with the bulbs reverting to the dominant color genes, in much the same way as variegated foliage plants will sometimes revert to solid green foliage. It depends a lot on the parentage of the hybrid glad as to what might be the dominant color gene, but in many cases you will see a gradual fading of color to a more uniform pale pink, lavender or salmon color or often pale yellow, as these tend to be the most common species colors. Changing all to pure white is a bit of a stretch :-) And bicolors tend to be some of the first to lose their distinct coloration

Doesn't happen. The other colors succumb to common disease The white ones survive. Steve in Baltimore County.

Doesn't happen. Some of the bulbs succumb to common bulb or c
orm diseases, some survive. Steve in Baltimore County.(
Dr. Bing, Cornell University)

are you saying that the individual bulb changes? Not that the divisions of that bulb change....but that the DNA of the bulb changes?
Tell me how it does that?

Lindac,

Sports (somatic mutations) occur all the time - lots of rose and camellia varieties, for example, come from a single branch on a bush which is suddenly different from the rest. Bulbs are no exception to this.

Oscarthecat & Gardengal,

Since the original poster did not specify whether the glads started out as a mixture or not, it doesn't seem to me that one can tell (how much of) which process would be at work here. Somatic mutations occur, but different bulbs also vary in their hardiness/persistence. After all, that's how any hypothetical mutant would come to predominate once it appeared.

Step 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
It was not then nor is it now my intention to turn this forum into a battleground. I humbly apologize. Steve in Baltimore County.

Never happens. Steve in Baltimore County.

My grandmother was a great gladioli grower and always said they reverted to white. She always lifted, dried and stored the bulbs each year, checking for ' good' bulbs and discarding the split, diseased or weak ones. I used to help her. I planted a small number of variegated orange and deep red and also some pale green glads a couple of years ago and all have turned white apart from one variegated head. We have sandy alkaline soil so wondering if that's the problem. No frost's so I don't lift my bulbs.

I live in the lower part of New Zealand's North Island with temperatures ranging between 1-25°C. Wet winter, dry summers.

I live in Texas and the same thing has happened to me! I’ve never had more than one or two white stalks and now I have 4 in one cluster and no colors! (Yet…)

This is intriguing. I've never heard this before or seen it, but I can imagine something going wrong with non-stable hybrids.

This makes no sense.