Help question about Iris's

I have a load of iris fixing to bloom. My problem is I planted about 8 colors 3 years ago, now all they are so far is blue ones. Can they all become one color?

I also have day Lilies comming up in the middle of them and I did not plant them there. Can you tell I've only been planting flowers for a few years?


Lavina

No, they can't all become one color. However if the blue is a very vigorous cultivar and the others you planted are slower growing, the blue can overtake and crowd the other colors out of the bed if you planted them too closely.

Keep a close eye on your irises and tie a plastic ribbon around each stalk that blooms. Write the color of the bloom on the ribbon with a paint marker (NOT a Sharpie which will fade very quickly). If your irises are crowded, you can dig them after bloom is finished and separate the clumps for replanting. If more than just the blue ones bloom, the ribbons will make it much easier to identify the different clumps when you dig.

Sounds like your garden is FULL of surprises!

Laurie

Laurie, what kind of a plastic ribbon do you use? Is it the kind they use to tie up plants?

To be honest, I don't have the sort of problem Lavina is experiencing with her irises, so I don't need to tag my irises. I have used plastic ribbon, however, to mark my fences for visibility for my horses. I buy the ribbon at a local army navy surplus store, though I suppose any hardware store would carry it. I'm not sure exactly what it's called.

Alternately, Lavina could simply write the color of each stalk on a single, central leaf on the corresponding leaf fan.

Laurie

I have plenty of plastic ribbon we put on the electric fence,thanks for the idea. I just hop more show up as I planted them over 3 feet appart so they are not crowded yet.
Hubby thinks I'm having early bloomers that are all blue and the others are just slow to bloom.

Lavina

That's very possible, Lavina. There are early, midseason, and late irises, so more of your colors may very well still show up this bloom season.

Laurie

The plastic ribbon is a good idea. I don't have any, but I have a ton of yarn. I was thinking I could tie a strand of yarn around them and write on a leaf with a paint pen. I will probably do the same thing with daylilies as I have a bunch that need to be divided this year and by the time they are through blooming, I can't figure out which one is which. You think you will remember, but you won't. I also have a lot of those plastic thingies that you can hold things together with, where you run one end through the eye on the other end, pull it as tight as you need it to be and they last forever. I have about every color in the rainbow of those. I'm thinking maybe I'll try some of each of the ways to mark them and see how it comes out.

Yarn can be a problem because birds will tend to steal it off of the plants to use in their nests.

Writing on the leaves with a paint pen will work as long as you follow several rules: 1) use a paint marker, NOT a Sharpie, 2) write toward the bottom of ONE leaf only in the center of the fan - writing across two or more leaves won't work because the fans separate as they age and will pull the letters apart - outer leaves die first, so don't write on them - leaves die from the tips downward, so write as close to the bottom of the leaf as possible 3) don't expect writing on leaves to remain legible indefinitely - eventually the leaves may die off or be chewed off by insects or wildlife - get the plants dug and divided while you can still read the writing on the leaves.

You are right about the birds. I should have thought of that since I put yarn out for them to use. Duh!!!

Love the ideas ladies but later today I may try to post a picture of the iris's they are all a lavendar purple shade.No blue at all.LOL Boy am I getting surprises. I have never posted a picture but am gonna look up the directions and try if I can figure out how to find them.
I have lots of yarn as I crochet and do plastic crafts also.

Lavina