Where have you planted your iris?

I thought that it might be fun to show each other our iris beds now - then when they are in flower - we'll do it again! I just put in two herbacious clematis to crawl through these iris. I do have a few more iris that are moving here though.

That looks really nice, Doss! I can't wait to see it in bloom. Here are some pictures of my two main iris beds. This is the one that I call the "iris-go-round" because it's kind of circular.

The next three pictures are of my really long bed.
It's about 50 feet long! (Please ignore my dead grass. We're doing a major overhaul to the backyard this year!)

Beginning~

Middle~

End~

I've got all kinds of others "tucked" into my flowerbeds with companion plants, but the pictures are really boring right now because everything's just about done blooming.

Fabulous you will have a great spring. Here's another patch of mine. The plants in the back are Sasanqua Camellias.

hey there! your iris are all so neatly marked!! You all are so organized!! I should get out there and mark mine before the names are gone to me.......some of them are a little shriveled, so i cannot see the real name......just part of it.....I really just think they are pretty! here is my new bed......not much to speak of, but it will be a beautiful display next spring!!

and from the other side, there were not enough rocks....so i will have to get more....

Well, irislovers. Those beds are very impressive! I look forward to a great show in spring.

Am I supposed to have trimmed back all the leaves, btw? I see I have some work to do in my measley little beds. Not to mention some labels to make!

Thanks for posting. t.

tabasco~

You don't have to trim back the leaves, unless they have leaf spot. Mine are trimmed back because I transplanted all of them to the new beds this summer.

If you want good markers, I get mine at a reasonable price from a guy on Ebay. His i.d. is nrb44. You can also email him at nrb44@evenlink.com. Tell him flower-frenzy sent you!

Scooby~

Nice iris beds. Looks like they'll have plenty of room to spread out! Mine are a bit too crowded, so I'll be making more room for them this fall and then transplanting again next summer

Cute doggie, too! He looks a bit too interested in your newly planted irises, though! Hopefully he's not a digger! LOL!

Dorothie: beautiful job of planting. Very impressive. I'll have to tidy mine up before taking photos!

I've just planted my irises weegy sent and transplanted my other irises under my crepe myrtles. I am in the process of edging with blue lily turf. I will now have my first bed just for irises. Thanks Weegy!

This message was edited Aug 18, 2005 9:01 PM

Great combo. The myrtles will bloom in the fall and the iris in the spring. Are they shrub myrtles? The other good thing is that if they are trees, the iris are easily picked up and moved when it gets too shady. Kudos! The edging will really make a difference too.

Thanks doss, I'm a beginner and that means alot to get a compliment. yep the myrtles are trees...babies.

You're welcome. Isn't it fun to discover what you can do? I've been gardening for over 30 years and I still feel like a beginner. It's the best thing about being a gardener and loving your garden. It looks as if you have a lot of room to play with too.

LOL. Those lines of iris tags remind me of a soldiers' cemetary.

Here's one little bed. Just removed a lot of irises and have to replant them ("where" is the problem), but moved in these seven to match the purple lupine next to them. One of the two sets is a rebloomer.

LOL. I call them my marker gardens. I can't remember the names of anything anymore - certainly not the names of cultivars. So almost everything has a marker. You should see the dahlia gardens in the winter.

My favorite plant - other than markers of course - are big rocks. Never have to feed or water them, never die, and they really dress things up.

Agreed: I love rocks and use a lot of big ones to mark where roots are so I don't break a wrist trying to dig there!

Pirl, that's lovely. Did you chisel that rock yourself? It sure looks like a frog. :-)

Yeah, doss, it does. I did not catch that the first time I looked at the picture, so had to go back and look again. Good eyes.

pirl--Is there a particular reason for cutting the irises into "points"?

Doss and gardengram: I'll have you know we've had that rock since 1988 and never once did I see a "frog" until you pointed it out, doss. Thanks for noticing. No sculpture on my part but now it looks very froggy to me!

Sure, gardengram, a very technical reason for the points: the way the scissors were pointed when I was doing it!!!!!!!! :-)) It doesn't matter to me if they're rounded or cut to a point but the fans were a pretty good size and I was saving the leaves for compost so that's how they ended up with points.

Edited for spelling!

This message was edited Aug 20, 2005 4:59 PM

I've heard that the big growers do that to the fans before they ship because it is more esthetically pleasing.

See that! And I always felt the rounded fan shape looked nicer. To each HER own.

Yep, I think so too, but when you are trimming hundreds and hundreds of them all day long, it's easier to trim a straight edge. When I helped Denise from Snowpeak, I used a large paper trimmer. Whack! whack! and you're done! ;-)

Me too! That's why I have points: just because it's easier.

Straight across is easy, too, but no one is mentioning that. Is that just too boring? Not so fancy as rounded or pointy? I'll bet the big growers do it just so everybody thinks there's some secret special reason for it.

I haven't trimmed my irises back, is this something I should do? I have 4 and they still have the long strap leaves on them. Duh I read in the previous that you don't have to unless you have leaf spot...what is leaf spot?

If I asked that question and got the response I'm giving you, I think I'd be furious: it's spots on the leaves. Beware of any iris borer damage. Any spots on the leaves (anywhere at all on them) could be the first sign. Dig them up and make sure the corm is strong and healthy NOT mushy, black or stinky. If it is you have to find that critter before he eats through the whole plant. Go at it with a knife and sterilize the knife with bleach after you cut off the infected parts. Just cut it like a potato in one fell swoop, not a little here and a little there: be brave! You have to get the borer out and kill him too! Cut the leaves back into any shape you please and try pressing down on the leaves (have the leaves lying flat on the driveway, a board, something strong) and you may hear him squish inside.

You can also dig through the earth where they're planted and if you find a really ugly grub about 1.5" long, white, that's your iris borer. Kill it! You must kill it - no choice here!

Did I help?

1gardengram, I agree straight is easier. But like I said, I was told the big growers think it is more esthetically pleasing to cut them to a point. Denise from Snowpeak did also say that the iris she replants in her field she cuts straight across.....because it's easier.

mgh - do they compost the leaves or destroy them?

Denise feeds them to her goats. :-) I'm not sure what the others do though.

Thanks Neil. I do appreciate things like that. Always good to know.

So in the cities you all live in, do they collect your yard waste for you? They do here and I put all kinds of weeds and junk in there....including iris leaves. The city then takes this and makes compost....then they sell it. Why would you buy compost with all that stuff in it? It's not safe is it?

Mendy, I don't buy or use composted material that's recycled by someone I don't know either.. Just not worth it. Iris leaf spot is NOT something you want in your garden in addition to quite a number of things. I've been fighting it now all year and I could just spit. OH, Chicken Manure!

LOLOLOL!!! Doss!! I agree, OH, Chicken Manure!!!

Hey, I heard that is great for irises...Chicken Manure that is not the icky recycled compost! Our town does that! Nice for getting the waste out of my yard but I don't want it back and mixed with someone elses problems. ewwwww.

Holy Moly, don't use chicken manure on your iris. The reason I said that is that mendy and I were having a conversation about how a couple of my iris have rotted and the only thing that's changed is that my soil amendments have chicken manure in them. I don't think Iris are very happy when they are spoiled with good dirt. :-) My daylilies like it a lot.

Ya know, I just remembered that I read somewhere here on DG that someone was getting a bunch of free compost from their city. I didn't comment on it.....don't know why. I think I'll go look through my watched threads and see if I can find it again.