Hey, my Dutch Iris are coming up all over the place.

I have been wanting to plant Dutch Iris now for afew years since I first learned about them on this forum. Believe it or not, before that I never heard of them. So last fall planted alround 700 of them in the garden. Nothing like going overboad, ha-ha. From nothing to lots and lots of them.

So I didn't know what to expect but I have them coming up all over. At least two inches of top growth on all and manny taller. So that is good and I should have lots of bloom this spring. Of course I am not sure exactly when they bloom but I will find out.

From what I have read the tricky thing is whether they will come back in future years but I just had to try.

Very exciting news...I am anticipating some wonderful photos of your gardens when they bloom. I planted some this year and am hovering over the sprouts waiting for the big splash of spring color I hope they'll give.

What with all the bulbs I planted in the fall of Dutch Iris, Tulips and Daffodils I am really looking forward to the spring show. And I planted hundreds of each. Plus I had had daffs around the yard but never added as many in one year as I did last fall.

I am planning to take lots of pictures when they bloom.

Newyorkrita, you go big or go home like I did last fall. My Dutch irises came up not long after they were planted last year, made it through our crazy Winter, and is doing fine now. The ones planted in Fall 2009 also came up last fall and has done fine as well. You should add up the number of bulbs you planted last fall, I do believe you are a member of the kilobulb club;0).

Actually, I did see that post about that kilobulb club and I know I definately qualify for the bulbs I put in last fall. I put in those Dutch iris and over 500 tulips and as many daffodils so I really went crazy last fall.

Funny thing is, even with all those bulbs there are spots in the yard could use bulbs but still don't have them yet. I hope to add more this fall.

The daffs do well and come up year after year but tulips usually get scarcer and scarcer around here. But I planted those tulips deep and will hope for the best. Usually after three springs I have to plant more tulips again, three year cycles with the third year being sparce is the cycle around here.

I am hoping for the best with the Dutch Iris. I know that this far north, some people do well with them while others have them die out after that first spring bloom. But I have wanted them for so long that I couldn't resist, I have to try. So I am planning to get some more this fall though not as many as I did and plant them more spots in the garden. Then if the originals don't come up next spring, I will at least have some. Plus I would then know they need to be replaced each year. But I am hoping not.

They really aren't that expensive but would be a pain to have to plant new ones to replace the old ones each fall. Time will tell. I do love, love, love the flowers of Dutch Iris so I guess I am not going to give up.

Please post lots of pictures when they're blooming. Looking forward to seeing them. I have tons of bulbs about to bloom this week, but I'm going on vacation tomorrow and may miss the show. We're also supposed to get frost tonight. Hope it doesn't affect the blooms. My neighbors will at least get to see the results of all my hard work from last fall.

Oh, I intend to take lots of pictures and am so looking forward to the show. I hope you don't miss all your bulbs blooming. It would be such a shame to miss the blooms after all the planting work.

Rita that is great. I have not seen you post anywhere and was wondering if all was ok. Glad I saw this.

Hi Stephanie- I had had computer problems so couldn't post until I had my hard drive replaced. I am happy to be back on the forums.

In tulips the Darwin Hybrids are the most perennial for me. I have many clumps that are over 10 years old and are pretty each spring. They are planted in 2 roses gardens and bloom after I prune the roses but before the roses leaf out so they provide great spring color. The roses are watered with overhead sprinkling so the tulips probably receive more water through out the summer than they need but stilll do alright. So far the Deer have left them alone. Knock on wood. My Mother has clumps of dutch iris which are also over 10 years old and doing fine.

Most of the tulips I planted are the Darwin types. I did plant some early flowering tulips and some other kinds too that I just couldn't resist. I have tulips and daffodils (and lilies) in my rose beds also. They all work really well together.

Not much has changed with the Dutch Iris since I first posted this thread. They don't seem any taller to me when I look at them, or any greener either.

Those Dutch Iris sure were in a hurray to get out of the ground this spring. Since then they have greened up and are a nice dark green but haven't grown. They look like they are just sitting there. I bet it needs to warm up before they do anything. Its cold this week. In fact we had a dusting of snow on the ground this morning.

If it makes you feel any better, we are in the 70's today and have been warm all weekend...still no blooms on mine, either.

Here's a Dutch iris bloom with Thalia. It's the first iris to bloom in 2011.

Hurray for those Dutch Iris.

I have iris envy but ya gotta love the Hibiscus, some flowers are dinner plate size.

new beauty yesterday...anyone know a name?

Anyone use the bulb planted that you step on?
I have broken 2 short ones with my hard clay :(

Any of those round bulb planters I have tried have always been too short. Don't make a deep enough hole. But you don't need any bulb planters for Dutch Iris, they are small bulbs and easy to plant. Look like onion sets to me.

have you tried the bulb auger that attaches to a drill? just bought one for the tool and garden flag swap and myself.....haven't tried it yet but it looks like it would do well in clay! It's pretty heavy duty....found it at Lowe's....less than $15. It would make about a 2" diameter hole.

I always ment to get an auger to try but I never have. I planted my bulbs last year with a trowel thats long and skinny I bought from AM Leonards last summer.

I'm anxious to try mine.....will have a few bulbs to plant soon and will use the auger! Will see how it does.

hmm the auger sounds like less work. I love power tools.

I wish the auger would work in our red clay soil, I planted over 3000 bulbs last fall by hand, 1 by 1. I did try it last year, attached to the drill as instructed, what a joke. I'm sure it will work well for for y'all with better soil. Annette

how do the bulbs perform in that kind of hard clay soil? I planted some daffs in poor soil, hard, clay, rooty from a dead tree we cut down. And a propane tank. They came up every year, never bloomed, always looked scrawny. Finally moved them last fall, waiting to see if they bloom this year, I doubt, because they were so small and scrawny, probably take a couple years to recoup. They were nice fat bulbs when I planted them.

I have planted dutch iris several times and they usually don't even come up. Maybe I am planting them too shallow? I just assumed they weren't very cold hardy.

When did you plant the Dutch Iris? I tried planting them in the spring and that never worked out. So I planted them last fall like they are supposted to be planted.

The step-on bulb planter with the 3-foot handle is strictly mediocre. It did not do the job of the hand held planter with a serrated-type base. The hand-held one is also larger diameter with a better angle. You can feel if you've hit a stone or root, etc. It worked so great and was used with such enthusiasm that I can attribute arthritis in my right hand to the beautiful bulb planter.

The new 2-foot augur has been a wonderful asset to the garden tools. Works well with the electric plug-in drill. It's easy enough to make the hole bigger with a second pass of the augur.

Rita, these dutch irises (as well as the dark ensatas nearby) are from May 21, 2010. Since you're probably across the sound from me, I'd expect yours to come up around the same time, give or take 1-2 weeks. Don't remember when I put in the dutch iris bulbs, but last summer was their first bloom. They were probably planted fall of 2009. I'm counting on a profusion of blooms this spring. (The ensatas were not bulbs; they were plants.)

Hi Cathy- I figgure I am about accross the sound from you. I am in Nassau Country and right up on the North Shore. In fact I can see the water from my front picture window. Not that my property is on the water, just near it.

I am glad to read reports of Dutch Iris sucess, that is them coming back year after year. That is what I am hoping for. That means I can add more, not have to replace ones that died out. So Cathy, that means your Dutch Iris are up already too?

I think so. This picture is from yesterday. They grow a bit differently from the tall bearded plants where the fans are much more pronounced early on. If it were not for dated photos, I'd never remember anything, so I keep taking pictures.

I planted mine in the fall, they were dry bulbs, not potted. They died :(

Give them a little time. Mine were also dry bulbs.

Cathy- I couldn't see any Dutch Iris growing in that picture. The folliage is fine, doesn't take up much space. Kind of skinny and tall.

oh, that was 8 years or so ago when I planted them. Back when I put in the flower bed next to my patio.

Rita, you're referring to the new growth this year? You may be right. Just cannot always remember. It's definitely not the TBs. They're from rhizomes and come up flat in "fans."

In Costco this afternoon I picked up 100 DI bulbs and according to the bag, they are for spring planting. You can see that they have already started sprouting, so they need to go in soon. You're right, they're easy, small bulbs. Do you have any in containers?

No, I don't put them in containers, only in the ground. I have always had bad luck with Spring planted Dutch Iris, that is many of them just never came up and even if they did then no bloom. But then I planted those spring ones much later than now. So I gave up on that and will be planting in the fall from now on.

I know what Tall Bearded Iris look like because I have those also. I could see that your fans were bearded iris. I do believe the Dutch Iris should be up for you by now. If not, they may not have returned this spring.

If it wasn't such a miserable rainey day, I would take closeup pictures of the Dutch Iris folliage. I will as soon as the weather clears although that might not be by tomorrow.

Mine were up early, as soon as our snow cover melted here, there they were having started growing under the snow. It has been cool so they are growing very slowely but nice and green now with the sunlight reaching them.

I found this not great picture of the Dutch Iris taken near the beginning of the month.

I've got so many different types of iris and add more when possible. In that garden other than the bee balm and peonies, it's all lilies and irises once the spring bulbs/blooms die off. At the back of it (furthest from the street) in a heavily composted area, we add yellow cherry tomatoes hidden behind trellises.

Right now besides the dwarf irises in bloom and some iris growth, We've got lots of tulip leaves but so far no buds. Containers can be funny. We've got 35-gallon containers on our back deck, an area that gets a fine amount of sun. The crocus plants are up just like in the front garden, but unlike the front garden where the crocus blooms open every day, nothing has opened so far (but I did not check today because of the nasty weather).

However, the container with the lily bulbs just takes off, and most of those bulbs have multiplied. There are other window boxes spread around where I add lilies and provide them as gifts. Those lilies never disappoint unless they can't drain.

When the spring bulbs die down, we cover the bulbs well and plant tomatoes and cucumbers on top just for fun.

It will be interesting to see which Dutch Irises bloom. Only photos keep the best records.

Just saw your photo. Love your silhouette. Are the DIs in the front, closest to you?

Yes, and there are more daylilies there than one can see in the picture.