The "Hope Springs Eternal" Iris Bed

Iris are hardy souls....you should have loads of them this year! I have one called Ruffled Copper that spreads all over the place.

Your rizomes have been growing new roots and there should be some new side shoots.
All a good sigh.

Yes. I was worried for a bit about the amount of snow out there on them during the blizzard, but it didn't mash what green was on top and insulated them pretty well. My brother in law thinks that some of them are blue. We shall see.
Martha

Something to look forward to.

Oh yes. You can always use more iris in your garden and more Hosta.
Martha

Oh, yay! Good news! Here's hoping they bloom for you. It will be exciting to see what you get.

Karen

I will go out later today and take a picture of the bed. It seems to be doing great.
Martha

Yes do keep us uptodate, Martha.

I must be cruel to my iris plants in comparison. When I've used bonemeal in the past, they get dug up by unnamed critters (100lb size or smaller?). This spring, I'm intending to put out a 10-10-10 balanced fertilizer since they're next to peonies. Any problem there? The immortality iris plants in the coldest windiest spot don't look lively, hopefully that's just temporary.

I just sprinkle on some Miracle Gro, the kind for flowers & veggies....seems to work well......

Rosemary, talk to irisMA. she grows lots of irises, hyberdizes them too.

I have never put fertilizer on mine, and they do wonderfully. I have put on a mulch of composted cow manure, just a thin layer, as they don't like to be mulched. I'm sure that supplies some nutrients.

Karen

Before I put the peonies and iris to bed, I spread as much dehydrated manure as I can, also. When soil is as sandy as mine, the quest for stronger soil is endless, however. Hopefully this weekend I didn't overdo the additional plant compost in the area, since I know the rhizome should be at the surface. Today they looked much greener.

I live on a hill, so I don't worry so much about temporarily covering rhizomes as rain + gravity tend to take care of that. I put a light layer of compost or garden soil on every now and then especially in late fall if they look really bare. The beds in front also catch a bunch of oak leaves from the last drop and I leave those on till spring. I buried the ones in this new bed just under the surface and the top layer hasn't had time to wash off yet.
Martha

My problem is that my soil is not sandy enough for the bearded iris, so out doesn't drain well enough during long periods of wet weather. I have to add sand to my iris beds.

Karen

Yes, they hate clay soil...

Well, my soil is actually not clay at all, and drains well, but still, the bearded irises like an even better draining soil than what I have. I have quite fertile soil, and have never had trouble growing most plants. The bearded iris are the exceptions. They do alright, but not fantastic. Some do splendidly. The dwarf ones really do well, and so do the median ones. It's the TB ones that don't do as well. When I say they don't do well, I don't mean that I don't get nice blooms from them. What I mean is that they don't clump up well. I don't get really nice, big clumps like I've seen at iris farms. I went to an iris farm in Arizona once, and they had gorgeous, big clumps with lots of blooms. That's what I like to see.

Karen

Rejoice and be glad!!!! I have two, count them, two iris with buds in the HSEIB. All the plantings survived under their plastic through the winter and the snow and blizzard. I uncovered them to find them all still there on Easter weekend. I put bone meal on and waited and now two of them are going to bloom! YES!!
Martha

I noticed 2 of my TBI had buds.....I love iris, couldn't have a garden without them......

I have a clump of purple mini bearded iris blooming away right now, but no buds yet on anything else but these two. It's raining today so there may be some tomorrow!
Martha

I'm surprised some of my TBIs are budded already....

Scratch the former. Yesterday on May 9, I had no iris buds but today on May 10 I have a whole bunch all over the place. two more minis have bloomed I can't wait looks like it is going to be a great iris year.
Martha

My sdb's arew budded.Things are slow to bloom in the mini dwarfs department.So many of them are new this year.
Pix today if its light enough got much needed rain.

Sounds great, Martha! I have a lot of TBI's with buds, and all my DBI's are now in full bloom.

Karen

Horticultural Miracle Alert! I was out in the HSEIB Tuesday and I counted 11 buds!!!!!! Unbelievable!!!!!! In this picture, several are just emerging from the leaves, but they are there! I am so stoked!
Martha

Some of mine are budded, too.....iris are my favorite flowers & have been since I was toddling around my Grandma's garden as a child......

gardenmart, you should be.That garden has come a long way on a wing and a prayer.

Fantastic! Congrats!

Karen

Meanwhile, my dark purple TBI's out front hardly put any buds out at all this year. I have to get in and divvy them up.
Martha

talls bloom later in the season.

Yup, they do. Maybe they could use dividing, too. Here they start blooming in late May/early June.

Karen

I have lots of big plants that had flowers last year, but only 2-3 in the same patch this year. Division time.
Martha