Mulch or not Mulch

I was told that you do not mulch around Irises. Is this true. I only have a few and don't want to lose what I have.

Sami

The advisability of mulching depends on several factors:

1) What type of irises are you asking about? The beardless irises should be mulched to help retain soil moisture and keep the soil cool. Beardeds, however, are likely to rot in soil that stays consistently moist, so mulch may cause problems for them.

2) What type of soil do you have? If you have a free draining, sandy soil, mulch may help prevent drought conditions. If you garden on clay, mulch may hold too much moisture in the soil for beardeds.

3) How much rainfall do you typically get? If you live in an arid region, mulch may be beneficial for the reason stated in #2 above. If you live in an area with ample rainfall, mulch could be deadly for beardeds.

If you are asking about beardeds and you really want to mulch, just be careful to keep the mulch pushed well back away from the rhizomes. You want the rzs to stay as dry as possible.

Laurie

In my beds, my TB, and other bearded, iris are mixed in with all sorts of perennials. I mulch all my beds, however, I keep the mulch pushed back from all the bearded iris to prevent rot. I mulch around the siberians.

As you can see I mulch pretty heavy around all my plants including Iris.
Do I get rot, Sure but Very little and usually only those know to be rot prone in the first place.
However I keep the pH high about 7.8 with lime and added sand and this seems to be doing the trick.
Anita

Thanks everyone for the infomation.
I am not sure what kind of Irises I have. We have been having a dry spell. As for my soil it drains very well. I have a couple of Irises getting ready to open up and will take a picture and see if you can tell me what kind they are. Someone gave them to me and did not tell me the name.

Sami