What's the best way to plant for a good show?

I'm confused on how to plant irises so that I can keep up with the named ones and still have a pretty display of colors. Not that I have many, but the ones I have ended up being planted sort of in a circle with the rizones pointing at each other. The next "batch" I buy, (I'm looking for historic & inexpensive) I'd like to plant a color "wave" so that they sort of flow in a line very similar to what I saw in one of Wanda's pictures. Can a few of you Iris Lover's give me your technique?

Deborah♥

I don't know Deborah, I plant a chaos of colors. You do need to take care to make sure that the tall ones are at the back. I keep track of them by using markers. Plant them with the rhizomes going in the same direction in a V pattern so that they alternate. I think that Wanda's gardens have taken some time to evolve. It will be so interesting to see what she says.

What a good question.

Deborah and doss, I put in a big iris bed this fall ( my first), and wondered if either of you can tell me what I can plant alongside to hide the foliage once it dies back. They're in full sun. Thanks

Twink...one bed of my Irises are in the middle of some daylilies. Another bed of Irises are on a mound with Verbena bonariensis planted in and around the bound on both sides. It's an imature bed so I haven't seen anything bloom yet. Got these ideas from the pictures of some mature gardens from posters on the daylily forum and this iris forum. Wandasflowers is one in particular lady who comes to mind with goreous plantings of daylilies and iris combinations. Look through posts and locate her pictures.
Looking forward to seeing you at the ru in May.

Deborah♥

twinklingstar - how about dahlias to hide the foliage of the irises?

I plant dahlias behind some of them, sasanqua camellias, and plant them among daylilies, lilies, miniature roses, etc in the perennial garden. And I'm trying to let clematis Rooguchi scramble among them but just started last year and clematis grow very slowly. We'll see. Nasturciums are another idea.

Great ideas. I'll look through some of the pictures on DG.

Here's an iris bed after it's flowered with the daylilies in bloom. The border of little shrubs keeps the chaos in check. If you do this of course you won't have a ton of iris in one spot. I am going to try and put more iris in this bed that bloom at the same time. Timing with iris is a lot.

Doss,
Your flower bed is magnificent. So is the brickwork around it. Did you do it or did you hire an expert mason? It is so attractive. It will be interesting to see if you can get iris that bloom all at the same time there. That is rather a challenge since each blooms a little differently according to where it is planted. Or at least I think so. Or are they triggered by length of day? Interesting problem. I love it when you send pictures of your iris beds. They are so visually intriguing.

The bricks are concrete pavers, and yes I hired a professional. You should have heard the concrete saws screaming for hours making all of those curvy cuts.

The iris bloom depending on their nature being early, midseason or late so I just goofed and put in iris that didn't bloom at the same time. But it does extend the season some.

Love your border, Doss. What's the name of the purple flowers in the background? I suppose your clematis grows on the metal trellis. That's a wonderful focal point!

Visit Doss's journal at DG.

Pirl
#1 fan

There are roses and clematis on the structures. Some well-meaning clean up guy cut down the clematis so I don't know if they will come back. :-( He also trimmed the roses so I'll need to begin over.

The purple flowers are Statice. They are great but not hardy below 32 degrees so you probably will have to grow them as annuals. I'm not sure that these have made it though the cold snap here but they are worth starting again. They bloom all winter here.

Wonderful diary, Doss! Enjoyed the visit. Lots of natural-looking plantings up against the layered rock wall. ☺

Glad that you liked it. I love the rock wall too. I can't say that I came up with the idea - but it makes gardening very easy. Everything looks good against it.