Siberian Iris

My siberian iris has not bloomed since I got it three years ago. It has lush foliage, is planted in full sun (8 hrs. a day), lots of watering and good soil.

What to do? Never fertilized it. Maybe that's it. Also, if it hasn't bloomed yet does that mean it won't this season?

Thanks.

Can you provide a picture of it. It sounds like it needs to be divided, but it's unusual it wouldn't throw at least a few flowers for you.

Was it a pretty large clump when you got it? Some of the tetraploids just grow so quickly they need to be divided often.

It's unusual for a siberian not to bloom, especially one as well taken care of as yours has been.

I'm thinking since it hasn't bloomed in three years it probably will not this year, and it's probably about bloom time now for you. But throw some Miracle Gro at it, and give us a picture if you can.

I have spotted about 5 buds! Will send pic when they open. I do think I will divide it after it blooms. Is this the best time?

Yay! Can't wait to see the pic!

I would wait and divide them in early fall in your area. Divide up into about 6 fans per clump.

Did you end of fertilizing it?

When I moved into my house 2 years ago, there were large clumps of siberian iris. Only 3 or 4 blooms. So I dug and divided them that year. Last year, NO blooms. But this year, they are loaded! Just opening today! So, sawpalm, I just want to warn you that if you divided them, you may end up waiting another year to see blooms. But in my case, it was worth the wait.

Also, when I divided them, I gave clumps to friends. When nothing bloomed, I felt so bad. But they are also reporting that theirs are flowering this year. Yay!

the pics are coming soon. about a week after I started this post, my iris began to produce flower buds. Now they are almost ready to open (I counted about 20) so I will take photos asap.

A surprise~! Just after I posted my message about my siberian iris not blooming, the buds started to show. They are still blooming into the third week. I planted them three years ago and only had one bloom. I thought they would bloom earlier than the bearded iris but they are about a month behind.

Not bad, eh?

Here's a photo of the clump (about 30 blooms).

I think you have a very lovely clump of Japanese irises!

Yepper.

The form of the yellow signal is the giveaway. There should be a raised ridge all down the length of the leaves.

They are beautiful and stunning in a clump.

Just gorgeous! Love those JI's!

And to keep them blooming nicely like that, give them lots of fertilizer. I do Miracle Gro every two weeks. Japanese are very heavy feeders. And keep them weed free, because they don't like the competition, and, believe it or not, after next year, you will probably need to divide them, because you have a pretty good size clump going there.

Good job!

Appreciate all you comments and suggestions. I will fertilize today.

LOL - well, they are right! these are not siberian irises at all! And yes, the Japanese bloom around about now, about a month behind the tall bearded irises, sawpalm. And all my Japanese irises took 3 years to bloom from planting.

a bunch of us in the area love irises, sawpalm. You've got a fairly active american iris society group nearby, "eastern north carolina iris society", with members as far west as greensboro. another group, the charlotte iris society might be closer to you. you can go to www.irises.org, click on regions, then find region 4, and you'll see the north carolina groups. There should be contact information on there where you can ask about the best growing information for here in this area.

even better, the various groups hold sales of irises, a lot of which grew in our own gardens, and those are the best to grow here as they are most acclimated to our hot muggy climate!

Thanks bonjon...I put a story and photos about the iris farm here in Winston-Salem up on my blog, How I Love to Garden or kirbyplant.blogspot.com

i have iris that havent bloom in two year?what do i do?

Check amount of sun per day--need at least 1/2 day, more is better. How deep are they planted? Or do they need dividing?

plants get full sun and two inch in the ground.get new last year .so they dont need dividing. help please paid good money for this iris.have 22 iris plant and no buds.so sad.

One thing I do when I divide the Sib and JI in fall is trim foliage down to maybe 3" and then dump alot of steer manue on them as they are heavy feeders. About 3-4" thick, keeps the weeds down and feeds the roots all winter. Works on both coast lines.

D

Hi Dori,

What kind of irises are they, bearded or like siberian or Japanese? Makes a big difference in how you grow them.

bearded

If they were new last year, it's not surprising they haven't bloomed yet. Give them another year. But check and see if the rhizome (the fleshy part at the base of the leaves) is getting some sun. They need to be planted with the top of the rhizome above ground a little. And make sure there is no competiton around them, like weeds or aggressive flowers. Don't water them often, especially with the summer we have had here. They should do well for you next year.

What are the chances of growing LI here in Maine ?

Worth a try. Put them in the most sheltered place you can. They grow excellent for me, but they do not flower well.

That's what I was afraid of.....a DG member sent me some a few weeks ago to try so maybe I should stay away from ordering and stay with sibs.Who knows though they might surprise me.

Black Gamecock is the toughest LA.

Yes, if any will do well for you Black Gamecock will, as Lucy said. Mulch it really heavily.

You can grow Japanese, versicolor, virginicas, and many of the species crosses. If you want to see some lovely bearded irises, Boojum is doing her yearly thread on the other site. Some people have asked me where it is this year.

when is the best time to transplant bearded iris?

Depending on your area about 6 wks after they finish bloom--when they are dorment. We in New England start in July. We must have a good period of growth before winter. They can be dug & set aside while redoing a bed, but I would suggest doing it as soon as possible. Some areas like the southwest people prefer to pot them up (new plants coming in) because of the dry summers.