mulching iris with sand?

I have learned so much about iris from this forum (in fact EVERYTHING I know about iris lol!) I have read many times the credo "do not mulch bearded iris" and I understand about bark mulches encouraging rot . I planted a lot of iris this fall and I'm wondering if I can spread sand box sand in between and around the iris? For purely esthetic reasons (my dirt is SO ugly) and to maybe discourage the weeds which are already starting to sneak in. aarugh. What do you think? Do you leave your soil bare around your iris?

sand will let weeds in my yard is all sand
you can mulch between rows with cypress or pine bark just not around the iris plant

I leave the soil bare around my irises. Weeding is kind of a pain, but it's worth it when they start blooming! You may try applying a pre-emergent after a good weeding. Just don't sprinkle it directly onto the rhizomes.

I put bark on my ground around my iris but not next to the rhizomes. It works pretty well. You do have to replace it. I don't think that the sand would be a problem if you don't have clay. If you do you can easily end up with cement.

Thanks everybody. I started spreading pine bark mulch around the plants but not touchhing the rhizomes. It sure looks a lot better!

Just check to make sure than the rains don't cause the bark to "migrate" over to your rhizomes. I had this happen once and it caused rot.

i hill up my iris so mulch can not float to close to plant

Me too, Tazzy. It's a good idea for drainage as well as mulch creeping over.