Why not plant spring bulbs betwen the new iris?

I remember last year I was thinking about putting bulb lilies between some iris and was asking about it. Finially was conviced it was a bad idea and didn't do it. That because lilies had a tendency to wander some, that is not always come up straight from were they are planted. Then the bulbs multiply too so I abandonded that idea.

This year I have just finished with that backyard 3 row wide iris bed, I have spring bulbs ordered and plan to be putting them around by the daylilies next to there. But I see all that room. I can't see why I shouldn't plant some daffs, tulips, crocus or dutch iris there in between the iris. The bloom time is way earlier. Well, Dutch Iris might bloom just before the TB. But the others much earlier. Maybe crocus have too much folliage after they bloom. I know it can get large and raggedy from having them in other places. But tulips and daffs don't have that much folliage to die down. And they come up were planted, not wander over.

I can see were big clumps would be a bad idea. But simply afew bulbs between each iris space? And then if they clump up I can divide the bulbs. I have never had a problem with tulips clumping up. They die out in afew years and you have to get new ones anyway.

So before I think too hard on what bulbs to plant there I figgure I would ask and see why I shouldn't do it. After all the bulbs can be easily moved if they end up eventually too close to the iris. And I just hate the idea that all that space is there for just one bloom period when bulbs could add so much and die down before summer so you didn't even know they are under there.

Plus tulips don't like lots of watering so they at least go with iris really well.

I have had a problem with daffs. The foliage goes rampant after they bloom and my daffs seen to multiply like rats! LOL
The foliage gets heavy and lays over the iris (keeping them to wet in spring). Happy Thursday BIF's!

I have daffs & tulips between my first two rows of iris. They have always worked fine but now, after 5 years, the iris are growing together. I doubt if you could dig them out after a couple of years as they have to be planted so deep around the iris. DH doesn't care for them and we talked about removing them this year; I figured I would have to dig up all my iris to get them! DH is a neatnick and feels if I have iris, they should be iris; not anything else, but I think they're great. They start earlier as you say and so we get flowers for a longer time. The daffs have never gotten too big for me there. I say "go for it".

I tried this once, and it was hard to keep the iris weeded. What I do is plant bulbs at the perimeter of my iris bed. Then when they are dying down I dig them up and hold them over the summer in the garage till replanting in the fall. It is a lot easier for me to dig and replant because my gardens have superweeds- quack grass, etc. I usually enlarge the iris bed every year where I plan to plant the tulips and daf's. So this works well in several ways.

If you plant the bulbs; a hint. Plant early tulips, not late ones as the earlier iris will be coming out before the late tulips are gone.

Good idea. I'm not stuck on tulips, it was only one of the bulbs or combo of bulbs I am considering. The main thing is that I want to use the space to give me more than just the iris bloom and give me eary color. In the spring I just can't wait for someting to bloom LOL!

Ok, I ordered an early tulip mix and some early daffoldils. Plus lots of Dutch Iris. All from Scheepers.

http://www.johnscheepers.com/

Going to put dutch iris between the iris in each row. Then put some tulips and daffs between the rows. I intend to go lightly with the spring bulbs to keep it less crowded. Then I will also plant the rest of the bulbs all around the iris bed.

Bet you'll like it. Send us a picture in the spring!

I planted tulips in several of my beds, in front of the SDB's. Great idea, right?

The tulips bloomed and then the SDB's bloomed but you couldn't see the SDB's!

Next time I will plant behind the SDB's.

Also, I tend to lose a lot of tulips. When I dig the iris out of the bed, I usually don't get all the tulips out, forget they are there or forget to plant them again. Some get churned up and around by the tiller and end up in strange places. But I still plant them.

Every year, I've planned on putting in a marker by the spring bulbs so I know where they are when I dig iris but somehow it never gets done.....