cold snap

I have a lot of beautiful Schriener's Gardens iris that are about to bloom here in Atlanta. Between now and Monday we will have below freezing temps at night. How can I save my blooms?
Help please-there are about fifty of them.

You can try covering them with tall buckets or garbage cans or boxes or heavy blankets draped over some sort of framing. If your temps don't drop below 28 degrees, your stalks may survive without damage even if left uncovered, but your best chance of preserving bloom is to cover them.

Actually, your BEST bet of preserving bloom is to cut the stalks with buds that are already showing color and blooming them in vases in your home. That way you'll be able to enjoy iris bloom no matter how cold it gets outside.

Laurie

I'm new to covering things myself and have been wondering about my iris also. Would putting a brown paper lunch bag over the buds save them? Or do you have to cover the entire plant? Thanks

You need to cover the entire plant all the way to the ground so that the warmth from the soil will hopefully prevent frost damage to the rest of the plant. Also, you do not want any part of the plant to touch whatever you use to cover it.

I have too many to cover them and agree with Laurie that the best thing is to cut the stalks for the ones that are getting ready to open, put them in vases with water and let them bloom inside the house. I'm enjoying several this way right now.

This message was edited Apr 6, 2007 6:19 AM

I wonder how this cold and freeze is going to affect the Median Iris Society convention in Nebraska this year? They were due to get started like May 8 and 9? They surely must have been seeing bloom stalks on their little ones! I hope they didn't freeze.

A friend of mine bought a couple of "freeze blankets" or "freeze cloths" from Lowe's this year. She covered her hibiscus with them and they worked great, she didn't lose ANY of hers and never took them in. They are light weight but definitely did the trick......Although we don't have the freezing temps as much and it's not quite as cold here, they worked great for her.

My dutch Iris are just beginning to bloom, will I loose these as well? I am just sick that we are getting this so late in the season!!! Have several TBI I will have to cut and bring in, do I need to do the same to the Dutch Iris? Will the cold 26-27 degrees kill those blooms as well?

Okay, somebody, just need a confirmation...LOL Do I go out and cut everything that is blooming and bring it in? getting down to 26 degrees here tonight...dutch iris, jonquils, TBI, all of them are blooming...HELP!!!!

I don't know about Dutch iris or jonquils, but I'd recommend cutting those TBs and bringing them in if the buds are showing color or they're already blooming.

Thanks, I did that, I didn't know if I should bring in the Dutch Iris is they were showing color as well...I have so many of the yellow ones, I love them....but I did cut all of the ones that were opening already....I will post a picture for all of you to see....I had to cut Ominous Stranger, and old Heirloom, and first bud on Frequent Flier and my first bud on Bravado as well as the purple heirloom I have and an noid pink....hated to cut those too!

I covered my irises but still lost all my blooms:(...will plants bloom again this spring?

Sadly, no, the irises will not bloom again this spring unless you have late bloomers whose stalks were not yet developed enough to be affected by the freeze. If you have rebloomers, it's also possible that they will bloom later this year.

After all chance of another frost is passed, fertilize your irises and water them once a week if you don't get rainfall. That will maximize your chances of rebloom if you are growing rebloomers.

I'm so sorry for all the loss of bloom that so many people around the country have suffered as a result of this latest cold front.

Laurie

we had dusting of snow here in Oklahoma plus three days of 26,and 28 °,
after weeks of 80°temps almost all my iris have boom stalks . I picked the ones showing color and brought them in vases . here is picture of CEE JAY.. IB
blooming in house .
wont know what i have lost till Monday when temps go up to 60 °then they will either survive or stalks will be limp and mushy . SOB !!!I
am getting to old to lose a entire bloom season

Thanks so much for the advice(I'm new to Irises, 3rd year)very sad to loose all my beautiful blooms. I do have a lot of rebloomers and late bloomers. I'm hoping for better luck w/ those. Thanks again Laurie. Mila

tazzy - I hope you have strong and non-mushy bloomstalks. Please let us know.

How did all your iris fare? It looks like we are going to get one last night of below freezing to get through here in NE Tn. I think the damage is already done though and have resigned myself to no bloom this season. I wonder if this means we could have an absolutely stupendous bloom season next year due to all that stored up energy.

Well I have hopes for my buds. I had one of my irises bud out today. There was snow on my iris but it didn't collect on my bud. It didn't get down to freezing, only stayed in the mid 30's so I have hopes for blooms yet. We will see.

Last week we had three evenings under 25 degrees-I wrapped the iris in black plastic and held the plastic down with rocks, leaving them that way over night, then opening the plastic during the day. Most everything made it but I made one big mistake-the buds need to be staked in such a way that the plastic doesn't tough the bud or the bud will freeze. Many people in the neighborhood used sheets-apparently this is safer but I didn't have enough. Most of my plants are blooming although many of the bud stalks are very dwarfed. I probably lost about 6 or 7 blooms and yes, I did bring anything coming into bloom inside. I feel really lucky that they are ok.