Irises: Soulja's 1st Iris Slideshow, 1 by Soulja

Soulja wrote:
YaY!!! my friend Becky is here! Now it's a real party.

All the irises have a different smell, some mild, some stronger. I have one that smells lemony, or citrusy I'd say, some are spicy, others are sweeter. The iris fragrance is like nothing I've smelled before. Totally intoxicating. Heck I didn't even realize they smelled good! ((bonus!)) My new friend robcorreia started a thread called, fragrant irises. check that out.

The tall beardeds get up to 46" tall, though there are dwarf bearded, intermediate bearded, and border bearded as well. I stuck mostly with tall and a couple intermediates. I have about 6 dwarfs though that are cute. Others here have amazing dwarf collections though which come out earlier and only get 6 - 12".

I'm really excited about my irises. that's no joke, maybe almost as excited as you are about your Morning Glories! I'm lurking on your thread daily and you are really workin' that vine down there. I just planted all my vines from yours, karen and Jackie's seeds in good spots where they compliment the clematis, or just grow where brand new (pruned) clematis are. I got your favorite Brazilian in a good spot and it's taking off.

just regular old top soil was dumped into the bed where all the sand & lime were but they like good drainage so your sandy soil should be good, and I just amend it with lots of compost and manure around the bases of the rhizomes where the bulbs are and I give em a spring and fall feeding of iris fertilizer from Cooley's. Just make sure you mound up the rhizomes so they're up on a little hill and exposed to the sun and not sitting in water because they can rot. Too much water is the irises main enemy I think. That's it. Have fun Becky. you know how.

BEST BET ( smells great and reblooms!)