I am a Failure at Siberian Iris

I am so bummed out. Last year I planted sooooo many Siberian Iris. I think my total was about 57 finially as I kept ordering and planting from different sources. As the summer went into fall, more and more of them would die. By late fall I would say less than a third of what I bought was still there. Now I have to see what comes up but I am very depressed. I got wonderful quality plants and I made sure they never dried out. I am an experienced gardener but this was sure a failure for me. I don't know what to do. I would like to try again but don't want to throw my money away. I just love the looks of the siberians and I know they would look great blooming in my garden. Plus I even like the look of the folliage when they are done.

I am just venting. I don't know what I am going to do. I thought maybe if I fessed up here some of you could cheer me on and maybe even have some helpful advice. Honestly I have been gardening most of my life so its not as if I don't know how to take care of a plant :-((

Rita,

I know one place where you got your irises from, and it's a very good company.

Number 1, contact them and see about replacements.

Number 2, order in the fall. I tried to explain this to someone else and I don't know if I was successful. If you're buying from a colder place than you are, buy in the spring. The irises are all set to go into bloom mode, and buying them from a colder place just hurrys that along, and does not normally hurt them. If you buy them from a place equal or warmer than you, but in the fall, as planting them in the spring sets them back and confuses them.

I've heard a lot of people that have not had good luck with spring planting siberians, and I personally think that is the reason. They are easy to grow. I would suggest you try buying some in the fall.

Does that make sense to you?

But see what the company you bought so many from will do for you. They are really good people.

This quoted from the 2010 Ensata catalog:

"If you have experienced losses of newly planted healthy Siberians, it may be due to a difference in soil pH from where the plants came from. Our Midwest soil is pH 6.5 and we have high losses of very healthy Siberians coming from pH 5.5 soils of New England and Oregon. To bypass the problem, we pot up the new arrivals in potting mix until new roots form, then plant them in the garden and they take off and grow with vigor. (use rain water when possible)."

This paragraph appears to be a new addition to this year's catalog as it wasn't in the 2009 one.

Very interesting. I have the Ensata catalogue, but I haven't read it yet. I think that is a new announcement. Certainly worth a try.



I think, however, Dee did try potting hers up, and still had quite heavy losses. She can tell more about that. I do not have luck at all with growing sibs in pots.

This message was edited Mar 7, 2010 10:57 PM

I can almost grow anything in pots. I will only buy JI and Sibs in fall again as I have much better luck with them.

I pot them, put them down on the landscape cloth, bury pot and plant in sawdust until spring and usually do not loose any in FALL but will never get them in spring again.

D

Dee, so do you then plant them out in the garden/field in the spring after they spend the winter in the pots? You never directly plant them in the ground in the fall? I need to reduce my losses! I have never lost a potted one I got from you and they are thriving today. Can't say that about others that I purchased bareroot.

Yes Connie come spring I plant out in the field..but the potted ones do very well for the most part for me, this year, more lose than ever before but did not get enough sawdust down before my surgery and after too wet to put down and then the big freeze in Dec. But many are starting to come up I saw Fri.

D

Well maybe your losses won't be as bad as you thought, Dee. And my Fourfold Pink that I thought I lost has finally showed up. Just 2 or 3 leaves but it is enough to get it going again. I'm happy!

I got another Catalog today, this one from Ensata. Just look at the pictures and drool.

I am now thinking about getting afew in the spring to pot up and just doing an order for fall. I really do hate, just hate, to pot things up. Of course I hate having my new plants die alot worse.

The PH thing is interesting and I would never have thought I Had to pot them up unless it was suggested. I just thought the Siberian Iris were easy. After all, once they get established they are as hardy as can be!

I wonder if it would help to just mix some potting soil in with your native soil and then directly plant the sibs. I don't think I have ever lost a siberian exept what I bought from White Flower Farm, then they refused to replace and I never ordered from them again. This was more than 10 years ago.

It makes a big difference on the size you get too Rita. But I know you paid double and got double size fans so that should not have been a problem. If you're only getting three fans or so, I find them hard to keep alive.

I only paid double and got double orders from Ensata. I also got really big divisions from Dee even though I didn't go for double orders there. . I have to see when they start growing again this spring but last fall, both those were all alive. The ones I got from Joe Pie Weeds were really small. I didn't realize how small they would be as I had never ordered Sibs before. Only mostly afew fans. They just kept dieing all summer long.

Please contact Joe Pye Weeds Garden, then Rita, and see what you can work out. They are wonderful people.

Rita, when I moved into this house 5 years ago, I planted irises. As well as I can remember, it was in the fall. Come spring, I could barely remember where I planted them, as there was no sign of iris life. I figured I did not know much abut what I was doing, and they were gone. About 2 or 3 years ago, the irises started to grow leaves but no blooms. The following year, I actually got blooms. Ever since, we're getting HUGE blooms, several per plant, siberians japanese and dutch bearded.

If it is al all encouraging, try to be patient. As well as I can tell, they've got minds of their own. Have you ever planted peonies? These guys just don't want to be bothered. They want cold winters, and they don't want to be planted deep.

All my irises have taken a long time to get to full bloom, whether bulbs or rhizomes. If it's any consolation, tulips and crocuses are popping through, but the reticulated dwarf irises which often bloom through the snow in late February must have gone into hiding (temporarily I hope). I took this photo on 3/12/09. The bloom is on a 4 inch stem. It almost sits on the ground.

By the way, make certain they get enough sunlight.

I am really surprised to learn that yours that dissapeared for a year returned. Didn't think that was possible. No peonies here, I hate them, sorry.

I am waiting for things to wake up, I know it is too early for the Sibs. I know because the old ones been here forever have not even started any new green growth yet.

This thread is very interesting to me. The title is as if I started it myself. I have the same issues with Jap's as Sib's as newyorkrita. I have, in the past purchased alot, planted them, only to see them never again. However, I did buy ALOT this past fall (just can't give up, huh?) and have them all in pots because I was gonna try something different. Of course, my climate is different, but I am a little concerned because I didn't make a huge attempt to insulate them thru the winter with sawdust as mentioned above. They do have leaves piled up around them somewhat. I am now seeing some peeking thru - thank goodness... but guess my question is, should they ALL be coming up if they are gonna make it ?

I would think that the Japanese would be different from the Siberian Iris. They have more of a tuber for a root than the Siberians do. I will have to go look and see if the one and only Japanese Iris I planted last year, which grew very well all summer, is comming up this spring.

It's still early, n2birds. They will come up at different times.

Japanese and siberian all come from rhizomes, Rita, just like bearded irises. Did you see if yours was coming up?

I have never seen Japanese or siberian not come up one year, and then come up the next.

It's raining today all day so I have not been out in the garden to check on anything. The rain is going to be heavy all weekend so will have to wait at least until Monday if not later. It is so early here that it probably might not be up yet no matter what, my Siberians are not growing yet, not even the 40 year old ones that have been here forever.

Mine are still under three foot of snow. But it's going.

RIta, I'm sorry to hear you've lost so many...hopefully some will still come up!

I potted mine when they arrived, only because I hadn't made their bed yet, and then planted them in fall. That would be amazing if I actually did something right!!

I only had a dozen or so, though. I'm glad I read this. I'd just as soon order in spring & pot them so they're ready when I am!

I think I will order afew this spring and pot them. I am really bummed out over the ones that died last year.

Won't hurt to try, Rita, but I strongly recommend you buy them in late summer/ early fall. Siberians can be tricky in pots, especially some of the newer ones. Also, you do know you will probably have more success with tetraploid siberians?

No, I didn't think about the dip/tet thing. But the ones from Ensada were all or mostly tets and did really well while those little dips didn't. Don't worry though, I am not going to buy lots like I did last spring and will try ordering and planting in the fall.

I just like the Sibs so much, I am not about to totally give up.

Good, don't give up.

The tetraploids in siberians are normally much more vigorous than the diploids.

That's good to know. Also, when you only order 10 or so at a time it's easy to keep up with them! I can't imagine why I had success. I did lose one. I think it was Devils Dream.

I'm sure you had success as you are a good gardener, and I'm sure Rita's failed just because sometimes they do. Because she is obviously a very experienced gardener also.

That's the part that drove me crazy. I really do have a green thumb and have been gardening forever! When the fist two of the Siberian Iris dried up and died last year, I didn't like it but didn't get too upset because as an experienced gardener I know that plants sometimes die. But they just continued to die off all summer. I didn't even fess up to it here on the forum as I was so baffled about it.

Hey, good news for me. I see green shoots coming up on some of the new Sibs that were still around last fall so that means they came thru the winter.

Woohoo! I hope you have lots more than expected!!

Well, I hoped that the ones that were still here by fall would be ok and come up in the spring but after all the ones that died over the summer, I figgured you never know. Lots of them are in my front yard all in the area were the big tree fell over the weekend so things are a mess there with tree roots pulled out of the ground. Some are even covered with soil that was from the uprooted roots.

My guy is coming tomorrow to cut up the leftover tree trunk and dig out the roots so that we can fix up the soil and everything in that area. It will actrually be better, more sun and more room now.

"your guy"....wish I had one of those!! LOL

Ha! I do most gardenwork myself. I do have a guy that does my hardscape and things that are too heavy for me to do or that I don't have the tools to do or can't do. I have to pay him, it's not free :-))

they never are one way or the other.

D

My "yard guy" is like a bull in a china shop, so I cannot have him come until the tulips get a bit taller and are more visible. Otherwise he steps on tender shoots

Despite the unusually miserable winter, the crocuses are in bloom, and so are the dwarf irises and grape hyacinth. Everything else is poking through, including some of the peonies. And the tree peonies and clematis are showing this year's growth.

Does anyone know if I can move irises right now? They re large, bearded irises. They are by the foundation of the house, and they have started growing. They don't bloom because they are overshadowed by the later growth in front of them. I don't know what the previous owner was thinking. Last year (spring I think) we took out a piece of the Japanese irises because they were too crowed to bloom. Not only did they bloom, but we were surprised to find that we got beautiful blooms where my prince left the pieces we cut out.

If you move them now, they may not bloom for you this year, but if they aren't blooming anyway, moving them to a nice sunny spot can only do good for them. Good luck!

Sue

I had this big tree fall down and while it did not fall on any of the Siberian Iris I had in the area yesterdays cutting up of the tree trunk and digging out the broken roots made a big mess of the iris garden. Today I was out there on my hands and knees with a cutivator and trowel digging and brushing dirt off the buried Sibs. I was happy to find many of them. So while most are still there some of a partial row is totally gone. That would be were they dug to get to the tree roots that went straight down so that they could have accress to cut that root with the chain saw and lift out what was left of the stump.

So now I am going to have top find my lists and see whats missing from that area so I can replace them.

The front yard Sibs that all still there are all doing good. New growth coming on all of them. Of course, afew are totally missing as they got dug up and obviously tossed out with the removal of the fallen tree and treetunk. Was not me that dug and tossed them but they're gone. This will work out well in the end as those will all get more light and there will be room for more Sibs to be planted. I hope I get some blooms. I intend to reorder the missing ones and I am sure I will get some others while I am at it too.

So ok, this planting of the Siberians had lots of failures but at least some success. Am focusing on my sucesses now instead of the failures.

Meantime the one spuria and one Japanese Iris I bought last year to try are both growing so those made it thru the winter also.