Calling all iris pros

When planting your iris, how do you plot them out besides by height? My list of "must haves" just keeps growing and growing. Thanks to all for sharing your pictures, and please keep them coming!

Annie

I plant them in mixed perennial beds with contrasting colors so each one stands out.

Well Annie, I plant them "just about anywhere" and then wonder...why did I do that :) LOL... how is that for a strategy.

i find two inches of bare space and in she goes . im a sick puppy !

Wandasflowers- Beautiful pictures as always and please keep them coming, although I love looking at them I enjoy your daylily pic also. So keep them coming!

Charlotta- At the moment, I have all the iris and daylily potted up that I have received this year because we've been seriously thinking of moving back to Iowa to be closer to family. Another reason is that DH let a freind borrow the tiller, and he didn't return it before they went on vacation.

I sure wish we would get some rain that others are getting. It just seems to go around us.

Annie

Tazzy, I've been there and did that!

Annie

I also planted everything wherever I could find room.

However, this year the iris in my beds were overtaking and shading the daylilies and other perennials, so I decided they had to be moved. Plus, earlier this year I had some that got rotten because of the moisture. They don't like it real moist, and the daylilies and other perennials wanted moisture. The iris were just unhappy in with the rest of them, and the other perennials were unhappy because the iris was in with them.

So, Friday when I got home from work, they got kicked out of their bed. I started digging iris and spent the entire weekend washing, trimming, and packaging them. You should have seen the look on DH's face when he drove in the yard Friday evening and I had the front flower beds all dug up and piles of iris all over the lawn. LOL

I kept a start of each to plant in a bed with only other iris in it. I think they will be much happier that way.

When I replant my iris in another bed, I'll put the taller ones to the back, but also try to make sure I don't put 3 purples together for example, but try to intermix them much like Wandasflowers said she does.

I agree on mixing the colors. When I first started, I planted all pinks in one place all reds in another, and so forth. Little did I realize how close in appearance those colors are and talk about CONFUSION setting in, that was a nightmare. I remodeled the garden and mixed up the colors in complimentary and/or contrasting sets and now it's so easy to tell the irises apart. Of course, nearly 10 years of irising will help with that problem too.

Roni

I solved the confusion problem--if I need a sign to see the difference, it's out of here. Too many beautiful ones I want without filling my beds with 6 pinks whose only difference is the beard color!

Joan, you're right---wind flow & dryness is the key to healthy iris. After alot of rot & problems last year due to a wet & cool summer, I've been raising all my clumps 3-4 inches on mounds. This not only keeps them dry, but I can mulch everything else in the bed to conserve moisture without endangering my precious iris. I also keep all the dwarfs in my long front rows. Throughout the summer, I remove yellowing or spotted leaves as I deadhead my daylilies & other perennials. I give them space & they give me blooms.

I'm probably going to catch it for being obsessive/compulsive...but I have kind of a different way of arranging my iris beds.

One of my iris beds is just that, completey full of ONLY irises. In that bed, I try to compliment each iris by placing ones next to it that either echo the colors of the beards, or a shading in the falls, standards, etc. Or, sometimes I put two sharply contrasting ones together, like an orange and a deep purple...or a blue and a white.

The other beds are full of irises and other perrenials, so I try to pick companion plants that will compliment the shades of the irises planted next to them. Irises tend to drown a lot of flowers out, but peonies are great because most of them have an equally commanding presence. A lot of my companion plants aren't necessarily blooming at the same time, but provide interesting foliage. I like the whispy foliage of 'Zagreb' coreopsis and the silvery foliage of French Lavender.

One other thing that has worked well for me is planting my irises in front of an evergreen hedge. I like Ceanothus, or California Lilac, because it blooms with a ton of fuzzy, periwinkle flowers at exactly the same time. Here's a link to one of my pictures. The iris pictured is 'Silverado' with a backdrop of Ceanothus.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=1494821

Anyway, it's a lot of work, but very rewarding. Hope I've given you some good ideas.

flowerfrenzy--wow! looks like there are as many ways to grow the iris as there are colors to enjoy!

Same mixed perennial bed as above in July.

East house mixed bed in early June2005.

East house bed July 2005.

This message was edited Jul 26, 2005 3:04 PM

Is there ONE place where you can find alot of iris info regarding height etc.?

Curious....how close does everyone plant companion plants to the iris? I always worry about the companion plants drowing out the iris or crowding the iris keeping air from circulating around the iris.

I do a couple of things to make sure plants don't get crowded out by each other.

1. I don't plant anything in my beds with words in the description that would indicate it is invasive. Words like robust and vigorous send up red flags for me. I learned this the hard way. I am still digging out stokes aster seedlings that keep popping up 3 years after I dug up the mother plant!

2. I do like to grow things close together, because it cuts down on weeding, which I REALLY hate! However, I tend to plant things at least 24 inches apart when they are starting. Then, when they start to push in on each other too much, I dig parts of them out and re-plant them in other parts of my garden.

This message was edited Jul 26, 2005 2:43 PM

Great Ideas and tips everyone! Please keep the pictures and ideas coming because it is my main source for winding down when I get home.

Thanks,
Annie

This message was edited Jul 27, 2005 12:11 AM

Yeah me, too. I get home at midnight and I am learning so much.

flowerfrenzy, I too avaid invasive plants unless i have a spot where I can "corral" them.
Soapwort is pretty & the butterflies love it, but I had to banish it to a back corner--it send out shoots 2 feet away! Obedient plant???HELP! Lambs Ear tends to sprawl, but it's easy to cut back stems that want to spread to far. its the plants that re-seed or use undergraound runners that drive me crazy.

If I have deep beds of iris, I try to use vertical companion plants like phlox, lilies, and such or short plants like chives & dwarf asters.

I keep at least 12 inches free around a clump and thin the leaves so it will "breathe" well.
I also plant the iris on a mound to raise them up for drainage.

If I'm planting tall mums, asters, tall daylilies, tall yarrow & such, I restrict the iris to the shorter 2 front rows for better air flow. The big perennials are planted 18 inches apart, but they tend to fan out to a wider area and overlap the other large plants.

It's a little trickier, but gives me the variety of foliage & long season blooms I desire.

Besides, all the Master Gardeners keep telling me that Tall Bearded iris don't grow well in this area, so I must be mistaken about the whole thing.

i am just beginning to embark on the world of the iris. i have 3 acres and a welcome spot for such a wonderful plant

Ahh... the addiction begins :)

Yep, she's hooked.

The only problem with additctions, is how to keep up when you have several of them. You have to admit it is a good addiction, and the finished product is well worth the wait.

Annie

But Annie....all of my addictions are good....

Iris...daylilies...waterlilies...hosta... but its those pesky bills like electricity, food, etc that keep getting in the way :)

Yeah, I agree that raised mounds are probably best for irises. I am also planting some beds with daylilies down in the valleys between the iris hills. Then I will just let a hose run in the daylily irrigation canal, and avoid the iris.

Iris, daylilies, lilies and everything else I need to bloom when my favorite collections are out of commission...

Wanda you've got gorgeous snaps. What flavor are they? Rocket?

Always Rocket. 30-36 inches tall most years in a variety of colors. About 1/2 of them winter over....

I HAVE to have zinnias & sanpdragons in my beds. Zinnias because that was what my Grandma taught me to grow as my first flower. Snapdragons because Daddy would always make the little "mouth" on each bloom "talk" to me when I sat on his lap.

Gosh, Wanda, is there anything you don't grow to perfection? I grow dahlias because my daddy did.

Dahlias give me lots of green & tiny flowers. Delphinums fall over & get wimpy in my beds. Tea roses catch everything. Too lazy to spray, feed or amend my soil.

It's not me, It's Iowa with the best farmland in the world. Cold winters, plenty of rain, hot/dry summers. I just stick it in the ground & pull it out if it does badly.

I didn't get my big zinnias in on time this year, too distracted by phtotgraphing my daylilies & cleaning up iris clumps. I miss their color as the daylilies fade out. Only about 20-30 still blooming, but lots of other perennials. just miss the zinnias.

I started with sand and crabgrass with a little clump of mint growing in it. Thought I had the mint all pulled out, but when we tilled to make the first "real" flower bed, mint came up everywhere. I have found out that it adds good enzymes to the soil, so leave it alone until it just is absolutely in my way and then I pull it out, but it doesn't seem too insulted. It just comes up someplace else. But I've amended and amended and amended. I'm too lazy to do a compost pile so I just bury my compost directly under the plants and keep turning my fall mulch every spring. Now I have the kind of soil my dad taught me was "that good black stuff you just know feels right in your hand". But no matter what, this southern humidity keeps some things from doing well, no matter what you do. I wasted too much money learning, 'cause I was too stubborn to ask. One of my granddaughters is home from college in the summers and loves zinnias for cutting, so I plant them for her, but they are at their best when she's back in school, wouldn't you know? I love my dahlias and have decided to add more, as well as more miniature roses. I gave up on the big tea roses, like you. Too much money keeping them going, and then they died anyway. Guy around the corner from me has the most beautiful roses you can imagine!

This dahlia is Firebird and I do everything wrong, but it's happy anyway.

This message was edited Aug 8, 2005 11:44 AM

Wow! Gorgeous dahlia!

Wandasflowers, very well said! I'm from Iowa, and will some day go back. It's the best place on this God's green earth to live, and Isn't it funny that some people think all we can grow is corn and beans!

LOL

Annie>>>>> heading out to dig in the dirt. I'm taking advantage of not working 12 hrs.

Gardengram, beautiful dalhia. I've never grew them, because I guess you might say I'm a little lazy when it comes to having to dig things up.

Annie

Digging things up? I leave glads in the ground from year to year, well mulched. They last about 3-4 years before a hard winter gets them. Tired of digging cannas--too long to bloom wimpy again this year. This last group can just rot this winter in the ground!

The first year I had dahlias I dug them up and did everything by the book, except for this Firebird that I forgot about. The next year it popped up and did much better than the ones I had been so careful with. So the next year I left all of them in the ground and covered them with several layers of newspaper and about a foot of pinestraw/leaf mulch on top of that. Except the Firebird, which I again ignored, except for the pinestraw/leaf mulch my whole garden gets. It still does better than just about anything else. All of the dahlias that I left in the ground came back and did beautifully except one. This picture is of Mary, which was left over winter. So I am through digging. I may live to eat those words, but for now........ I don't dig up my cannas, either. Don't even mulch them but I do leave the foliage until spring. They sort of self-mulch. Sure are ugly during the winter, though.

Cannas turn to mush in an Iowa winter except for some I know grow in the corner joint of two brick walls that face South. It's a garden I landscaped for charity. It's always 3 weeks ahead of mine & EVERYTHING over winters without digging.

Wanda do you think it's the bricks holding the heat for them?

Wanda, your garden is amazing. I love rocket snaps but don't like to keep buying them each year as bedding plants. So if it comes up as "volunteers" then I have them, if not I don't. This year I had only 1 volunteer a pink one like your picture above. Guess, I'll have to buy more next spring. (I can't do seeds the seedling always get too spindly -- never have been able to do seeds. Maybe someday I'll learn but that's another bug to avoid being caught by. LOL)

Roni