Emerging foliage pics, please?

I just moved into a new house. The previous owner says I have irises. She didn't tell me where they are, but I would love to track them down. Does anyone have some pictures of some newly emerging spring irises to help my hunt? There's stuff EVERYWHERE in here, but I really love irises. I don't want to mess with them, or miss their emergence!

Thanks,

Kris

hi, Kris. The "Transplanting Iris" thread in this forum has a great picture of an iris plant in bloom with lots of foliage. tall bearded iris have flat, blade shaped leaves that grow in multiples and are called a "fan" because that's what they look like. The leaves die back in the winter and grow new ones in the spring. The flowers come up out of the middle of the fan. up there in Windsor, they would still be kind of short right now. If you heard you had Siberian type iris, those leaves are also flat and blade shaped but are much thinner and more delicate. These leaves would also be very short at this time. You may be able to see the root or rhizome at the base of the leaves of your tall bearded iris if some of the topsoil has washed away. The tall bearded iris do not get planted very deep. the rhizomes are thick and look like a sausage. Also, check the plant database for additional pictures. Good luck with your garden. I went to the botanic garden in Hamilton once. They have great iris there. you might want to check them out.
Martha from Massachusetts

Thanks, Martha, that's great. The tall thin and elegant leaves I thought might be irises are not. The previous homeowner just warned me that it's an indigenous grass he planted around the pond and has spent some time trying to get rid of because it's really invasive, so I'm going to have to work at that. I'll be out tracking down my irises as soon as it stops raining!

Tall & thin & flat foliage? Could it be Siberian iris? They bloom in May here.

Well, that's what I was hoping, yes, but he seems to think it's grasses....I'm willing to give it a while longer to see before I start ripping. It would be great to see a lot of irises in there.

Things are going to have to start warming up before I know for sure, though.

My butterfly bush is still showing no signs of life. I tried some of the branches. I don't see green, but they're pliable. I don't know if it should have been cut down (like a rosebush) or not. My partner at work says that's what she did and got nice results last year. I'm a little concerned about it. One of my three serviceberries isn't doing a thing, yet, either. A few buds, but nothing emerging yet. The other two are almost finished blooming. I know the "late bloomer" is younger than the other two, so I'm hoping that's it.

I'm so tired I can't even see straight, so I'm going to bed, but I have a couple days off coming up and I'm planning to get my hands dirty and have something interesting to report!

Kris

Kris, Butterfly bush can take a pretty severe heading. It depends on it's health at the end of last season. I don't prune perennials until they show new growth though. Some people do it differently. I cut mine back after every bloom cycle. It may be different in a lower zone.

As far as when your plants will come alive, I'm a zone 6 ignoramus.