Iris question

A couple years ago I bought a "Grab bag" of Iris at a local nursery. There were three colors, yellow, white and puple/blue. The 1st and 2nd year they bloomed I had all three colors. This year I had no white, hardly any yellow, as most of them were purple. Do all Iris cross pollinate like that or are these just "cheap" iris I ended up with.

Okay, if this is a stupid question just forgive me :P

Interesting question to which I don't have an answer. What I do know is that when iris get over crowded, they don't bloom nearly as well. Perhaps, you just need to do some thinning out of the iris. It is possible that whatever variety of purple you have tolerates a higher level of crowding than the white and yellow. Anyone else have an idea?

LimeyLisa Kay

hmmm, I can tell you that yellow swamp iris will 'squeeze out' purple swamp iris, to the point that people swear that their purple iris turned yellow. Maybe that is what is happening.

In your case, maybe the purple iris is more aggresive than the others and has crowded them out.

Cheri'

I'll divide them and plant individual and see if they will bloom the original colors ... haha, wishful thinking anyway :) Really don't matter since they are still pretty. I'm putting my new ones in the ground and didn't want the same thing to happen.
Thanks LimeyLisa and Cheri'!!!!!!

It could happen!

When I dug and divided my swamp iris, I found purple rhizomes (they don't look the same at all, easy to tell apart) that were healthy, but hadn't bloomed. No doubt because the aggressive yellows were taking too much of the nutrients available.

Good luck.
Cheri'

Are they German Bearded irises? I've dug up old beds(undisturbed for 10 years!) of German Bearded irise that were barely blooming. The roots were surrounded by landscaping cloth and increased by layering on top of each other a foot deep! All the roots i took out plus the ones replanted there have bloomed well in the ensuing years. Did you space the tubers well when you originally planted them?

Well, I thought I had placed them far enough apart ... I don't really know what type they are, but they are the tall ones. I'll have to take a pic of them when they bloom this spring for identification :)

Are the blades more than 2 foot tall??? Siberian & Japanese iris are tall and have different planting needs than German Bearded.

Their blades are about 15"-18" tall when mature. I wish I knew more about them. So much for buying grab bags :)

Sounds like German Bearded. They could be overcrowded or planted too deep. Does this foliage/flower look right?

Looks like these :) I know they are over crowded and they could be a little too deep. I haven't had the time to separate. I was worried about my new ones (pinks and yellows) all turning purple. Thanks Wanda!!

I had over 80 seperate colors bloom this year in my gardens--lots more next year. Biggest culprit of no blooms is planted too deep. Your root should be barely covered with soil. I dig a 6 x 12 inches deep circle and plant the roots evenly around the perimeter. They grow together to form a clump. I space them with other perennials so I constantly have blooms in my beds.

You can still dig them correct the problem if they're overcrowded or too deep in your area. When they bloom in the spring, mark the colors & move again in August.

As to color changing, I have some that were mixed in my Mom's beds for 40 years & still are blooming true.

Wanda that is a beautiful pic, glad I can talk to you here now that i subscribed. I have some irises that I got from my MIL about two years ago that I will have to take pics of in spring so I can identify too. Cant wait to see all the colors. Kinda funny, I never worried about identifying before I came here as long as i knew if it was a lily,iris, black eyed susan or a weed.lol

What a lovely garden ... you can come landscape for me anytime!!

I'm always moving things around in my house beds, trying to get the balance I want. This is the same bed with iris blooming in the spring. I added more border beds in the back yard this year plus widened older ones. I LOVE iris & I want more colors!!! Addictive, huh?

I'm addicted too ... lol ... except I want every plant I see :) Your garden is just so lovely ... I will send you some of the yellow this spring after they bloom, when I know which is which and some purple of course.

I'm waiting to see 200+ iris colors bloom this spring in the new beds + some 30 +lovely "surprise" heritage irises sent to me by DG gardeners all over the nation. Guess I'd better start early stocking up on film...

I moved many of the purples in the bed shown to add pink , orange & bi-color irises for color variation. This Spring, it will look totally different...

Hi all, I've just received bulbs to plant irises based on this site they seem to take some work. This site is also very informative. Since there seems to be questions on overcrowding how far apart should I plant them? Thanks, Denise

tomden, what type of iris do you have?

If it's the bearded ones (iris germanica) I usually plant one per square foot. Close enough that there isn't a lot of bare space. I dig and divide every other year.
It's not that much work, since they are right near the surface. Not like digging gladiolus! And it gives me an opportunity to add stuff to the soil they are growing in.

Irises are pretty easy to grow.

I'm sure others will have better advice. I've never grown a whole lot at one time since I don't have a lot of space.

Cheri'

Thanks sundry, They're miniature Irises violet purple, (Iris reticulata) I'm in zone 5 so they claim they should bloom pretty hardy here. Denise P.S. Will these need to be separated every year too?

Iris reticulata can be planted closer, like 3 per sq. ft. Much smaller iris ... =)

I haven't grown them yet, so I don't know how fast they reproduce.

If planted 3 per sq. ft. I'd expect to divide after two or three years. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

Cheri'

This guide may be helpful to you. I plant about 10 to 12 iris reticulata in a square foot. Because the blooms are so small and close to the ground planting a cluster of them together has much more visual impact. Some of them have lovely scents too - you just have to get down on your hands and knees to smell them!

http://www.tulsamastergardeners.org/blackbox/bulbspce.htm

good link! Thanx.

Cheri'

Thankyou! Denise