Yesterday was simply lovely here in Iowa--65 degrees & sunny. Birds were singing, kids were yelling and I was playing in my flowerbeds. Well, crawling is more like it. I was busy trimming phlox, Siberians, peonies, coneflowers, asters & such as well as covering up any evergreen daylilies that were trying to peek out of the mulch. But the BIG job was uncovering & trimming old growth aoff my irses.
Before---
After: mulch pushed away, old growth trimmed & green exposed to the sun. The winter winds shift mulch & cover my irises. I need them uncovered in the spring so they can dry out properly instead of rotting under a pile of much in the spring rains. I leave the old blades out to help hold mulch in the beds all winter, but they need to be removed before it gets warm outside to prevent diseases.
you are now gardening my way
i crawl or scoot , cant get up and down to much .
it easier but we have goat heads here .
have got a rear end full of them scooting around .
Wanda:
You and I did the same thing this weekend! It was so nice in NJ that I went out and cleared away the iris beds, trimmed dead leaves, exposed rhizomes. Ground is very very wet. But I was thinking: if it suddenly gets colder, and freezing, will this cause any problem for the newly exposed little sprouts?
Laetitia
Ditto--I got very few of my perennials cut back in the fall and Sat was near 60 and lovely. I cut and cut and cut--but I did leave most leaves in place--there will be more once the oaks let go.....no point in doing it twice and should help a bit w/ some of the cooler temps that will come our way.
I was amazed to see the amount of teensy green growth on various plants--our temps have been in the 30's...since....well all year...and more clouds than sun. Wanda, looks like you have a similar situation--but in your warmer zone may green up sooner than we will.
When I left for work yesteday morning, the temp was 69 degrees. By the time I left work yesterday, the temp had dropped to 46 degrees. This morning, it was 28 degrees when I left for work. I have the itch to get out and do something in my gardens, but I am afraid to because of the drastic temp changes! So until I can actually do something myself, I will just have to be content with watching you all!
The only thing I uncovered was the iris. I kept everything else covered, just trimmed it. Iris don't seem to mind a bit of cold this late in winter. On the other hand, Spring rains come soon & the iris don't like to be buried under wet leaves & mulch. Could start rot.
The daffodils & spring bulbs just come right up thru everything anyway.
Wanda, you Iris Queen, you, I have a quick question. Some of my iris more than doubled this year and seem to be taking over my beds! Can I divide them now before they bloom without it hurting them for the season or do I have to wait until late summer?
If you take iris from the edge of the clumps, you will be okay. If you dig up the whole clump, seperate & re-plant, you will not get any blooms this year. About 6 weeks after blooming or by August is the best time to really dig your clumps up. Who wants to miss this spring's blooms?
Not me. Thanks for letting me know. I'll wait. :-)
It's chilly & I'm still uncovering beds. Time for a light fertilizer to all my beds too.
Wanda, what kind of fertilizer do you use? I have some Osmocote. Will that work? I thought irises don't care for much fert. except from some mulch.
Thanks, Carol
Wanda! You are the queen of the iris! Thanks for all the great info...I've learned so much about iris from you! Anahi/Beve
I use on a touch of fertilizer on all my beds--just general Miraclegro. Remember that my iris are in mixed beds that I rarely feed. Too much food & you will get lots of green, but few buds.
Ok, thanks.
I spent the whole weekend uncovering iris and covering daylilies. My daughter says this pic shows my best side....
Wanda i would recognize you any where ! LOL
l have lived in same house 18 years .
I don't think any neighbor has ever seen my face
I am always crawling , scooting or up side down in flowers .
Well, I DO have a face, but it was pretty dirty & scary yesterday.
In addition to cleaning iris & covering too eager daylilies, my DD boyfriend helped me remove 2 entrenched Forsythia bushes. Extra excitement was added by utility lines all around one of them. After 2 hours of hard digging, both huge bush roots are out by the street.
One is being replaced by lilies & Siberians. The other corner is going to hold a new RED arbor (with luck).
Wanda, those things can be beautiful but HUGE. My sister has a limited city lot and is thinking of digging her's up also. I guess it will be a job my son can get in on. We love to use his muscles. She doesn't have much sun area, but a very nice hosta garden.
I originally planted mine in the back corners of the yard to hide the big utility boxes & posts behind them. The forsythia just get bigger & wilder with time. One was blocking air & sight of alarge double pink rugosa (rose) shrub behind it . The other forsythia was in a corner would be perfect for a shady arbor. Amazing how much room one of those bushes frees up!
