Mulch iris?

I just put a very light mulch on Bearded, Japanese, and Siberian iris. I did not cover the very base of them.
Is this the right thing to do? If so, I have another bed I can mulch too.

Also I have a frustrating pond which has a level dropping rapidly. The problem is that the pond gets completely full and is over the LA and J. iris I planted on the bank. Only one bloomed this year although
I have several large clumps. Should I did them up and put them in a drier place (with water crystals dug
in the soil at the bottom?)



This message was edited Sep 9, 2009 10:23 AM

Hi Gloria,

I'll answer your questions on the Japanese and siberians and let someone else answer the bearded.

Put a heavy mulch, up to about 4 inches around them, and push it right up to their sides, but not over the top of them (the crowns). What are you mulching with?

And as far as the irises in the pond, they can be in standing water EXCEPT in the winter. They can't have their crowns freeze. However, the problem with them being that close to the pond is you're probably not fertilizing them, as I bet you have fish or frogs you don't want to hurt. Japanese and Louisianas are very, and I mean very, heavy feeders. For them to bloom well you need to give them lots of fertilizer. I do 10-10-10 twice a year, and Miracle Gro every two weeks, plus cow manure. You cannot over fertilize them. I would suspect you are not getting blooms for that reason, and not because they are too wet.

If I were you, I would dig up the large clumps now, and divide them into four sections. Plant them in an area away from the pond, and amend the planting hole with peat, and manure. I would not use water crystals. Mulch them heavily, water them in with Miracle Gro, and keep them well watered right up to ground freeze. Make sure they are in a sunny or mostly sunny location.

I bet you'll see blooms next year if you do the above.

Someone will be along to help you with the question about the bearded irises.

Bearded do not mulch unless you have something like pine boughs.

D

Thanks irisloverdee and pollyk, I have some digging to do and removing of mulch from German
Bearded iris. I really appreciate the help.

Thank you so much! I just went down to the pond and slid down a bank on what I hope is autumn clematis, not poison ivy. I dug about 14 clumps of LA and J. iris. On the other side
of the pond, I younger clumps. I am afraid to slide down that bank because it is very difficult
to get back up. I have about 10+ young clumps there, but I will wait for my neighbor to come
in the next few days so she can be there is I get stuck.

While I was down there, first thing I was stung by a horsefly (I think) and put mud on it. I was not going to negotiate that bank again once I was down there! I put mud on it and it eased the pain. Now I have baking soda on it.

Quite an adventure for a reckless 67 year old woman don't you think? It does make me feel more competent.

Now, should I fertilizer all my J, S, and LA iris? I have not fertilized them all year or last year.
We should not get a serious frost until the latter part of Oct.

I may still buy 50 seeds from an outstanding collection in Japan- we will seeJapanese iris seeds from hardyplants.com, but I have three seed pods of J. iris from my own.

You be careful, Miss Gloria. I can just picture you getting stuck in the pond for days until someone comes to your rescue.

Amend the planting holes as best you can with manure and peat, and then water them with Miracle Gro right after planting and every two weeks thereafter until ground freeze.