Irises: Iris Order : Spring Hill vs Schreiners, 1 by bonjon

bonjon wrote:
those "yams" are called rhizomes. in bearded irises, they are on-the-ground stems and must breath, so we don't bury them fully. Like a yam, they are also a food storage system. once an iris blooms, it spends all it's acquired energy to clone itself, growing "increases" all along it's rhizome. since the rhizomes tend to be somewhat pie wedge shaped, the increases form a rounded clump. when the babies, the "increases" are large enough, they will bloom, then go about making their own babies. from the "nose" of the rhizome, the iris sort of grows backwards, toward the fan area, and new babies form there, at the base of the fan, first. but they will form all along the rhizome.

the bloomstalk comes from the center of the fan at bloomtime, so anything that damages the fan too much sets the plant back, but oldgardenrose is right, even without a green fan, it's possible for the iris to grow. I doubt those from SH will bloom this spring. I'd bet $$ that the Schreiners's will! given decent culture, they're almost certain to. I doubt very much these were dug in June, but they probably stopped digging first of September, so these have been out of the ground a while.

photo of a bit of Schreiners display garden 2007

I'm so sorry! had my ENCIS meeting yesterday, and I'm always having fun if I'm talking irises! you can tell me to shut up now......