Why no blooms this year ?

I planted a pretty good sized bed of iris that were given to me last year. They did give me a modest showing of blooms last year even after being transplanted.


This year I am totally perplexed. I did not get even a single bloom this spring.

We did have the hard freeze for a couple days in April after they started showing foliage.

Could that be it ? That puzzles me though, because I see lots of others who have had lovely blooms that are close to the same zone as me, and they had a late freeze but still got lovely blooms.

I have been anxiously watching for buds to form. But now I am beginning to think the time for them to bloom is getting late and it will not happen this year. How long does their bloom season last ?

Anyone else have this happen ? I am new to growing iris, so don't know what to expect for sure. Maybe they needed to be fed ? If so, what to feed ? Maybe the late freeze ?
Maybe a combination of both ?

They weren't named or 'special', just the ordinary violet ones. If this is all there is, I'm about ready to dig them up and plant something else. Should I be more patient ?

They do get sun all day. Oh,........ and they are also in several places around the yard too, so the location dosen't seem to be it, I wouldn't think.

Thanks for any help, I'm fairly discouraged. Peggie K :(

Yes, we had the hard freeze here to after the leaves were up nicely. It got down to 15 deg. They had quite a die-back although all the leaves weren't lost on some of them. I don't know if I'll get any bloom at all this year. It looks doubtful. But make sure that your rhizomes aren't too deep. They should show above the ground.

I wouldn't give up on them so soon. Yours might be mid or late season and there's maybe an earlier blooming variety.If you just put them in last year and they bloomed, I would think that they're not overcrowed.

Thank you. I needed that bit of encouragement. I thought I may have done something wrong.

Now that I think about it, it was later in the spring when I planted them, and they still bloomed......... so maybe they are a later blooming type. I hope so. I didn't realize some bloomed earlier or later. I just started seeing everyone elses and thought something must be wrong with mine.

Woodspirit1, I will check to see if the rhizomes have gotten covered up too deeply. Didn't think of that either. I was careful to make sure they were showing when I planted them......... but I suppose dirt could have washed over them since then. I sure hope you get some blooms. If the freeze bit back the blooms on yours, maybe it did on mine too. I hope not, but I guess we will have to wait and see.

Thank you both for your helpful , and encouraging replies. Now I can watch to see with a little more confidence. :))

Yes, dirt can get washed over them. Once when darius was visiting, she asked why I planted my irises with no rhizome showing. since that was the way I planted them, I realized that they can get covered up and that will inhibit bloom.

PeggieK,

Something else to think about is, if you just planted them last year and even though they bloomed, they may need to establish a real good root system. Since irises are long lived that may be the case. I would wait until next year before making any decisions on whether or not toss them.

I agree. I wouldn't give up on them until at least next year. I had some iris I planted in mid to late 2005 and they bloomed for the first time this year. I guess they needed a little time to settle in. But boy were they worth the wait!

Ours had the deep freeze also. However, one dwarf purple is blooming now and has another bud. A couple of the large ones LOOK like buds are coming, and others just have green leaves with some frost damage. I would, for sure, let them go this and another year to see what is going on. Good luck. Karen S

I cut back the frost damage, in some cases all the way to the ground. IF they come black and bloom this year, I will be surprised.

An iris rhizome stores energy for the blooms. It only blooms ONCE and then has babies & dies. The new babies can take 1-3 years to get big enough to bloom. If you get alot of blooms one year, you usually don't get many the next year.

The hard freeze we had in April froze most of my dwarf buds and damaged many of my TB iris leaves. Many blooming stalks just rotted & fell off. Nasty. Other iris have buds up and readyiong to bloom. I know it won't be as good as last year, but I will get some blooms.

Wandasflowers, thanks for sharing that lovely picture.


I checked my rhizomes, and sure enough, they were covered with dirt. The original rhizomes of some were not in very good shape, but there were lots and lots of new shoots with roots that had developed from them. Those were what had come up and made the foliage. They were so young, I guess they weren't able to make blooms yet.

I dug up everything and seperated the old mushy rhizomes from the new shoots and started all over again. Maybe next spring will be better. I guess they need a little more attention to keep the dirt from washing over them this time. Also, I'm not sure, but the freezes we had after they came up may have hurt them.

Thanks for your help. Now, let's try this again !!! Maybe I can get it right this time. I'm thankful that rhizomes are so forgiving and hearty. LOL

Peggie,

A lot of the iris had damage from the late cold spell. When the leaves died back, some of that moisture seems to have gone down to the rhizome. Some of the growers here have been digging up the rhizomes, spooning out the mush, treating with antibacterial soap, and then replanting. They've been having good results with that as long as they are diligent about getting all of the rot. It's a hard year and many of the iris will have minimal blooms, if at all.

I heard that if you have to cut off diseased or rotted areas, that you should rinse them in a mild bleach solution and then rinse them before replanting them. I have done that and saw no damage to my rhizomes.

Only a handful of my dwarf or Intermediates are blooming, but the early TBs are showing good stalks if not perfect foliage. Pink and orange TBs had the most rot--historics have recovered the best.

Oh Gosh ! I'll need to dig them back up and disinfect them since I didn't do that
when I replanted them.

It does help to know that mine were not the only ones that rotted. I was feeling very guilty that maybe I didn't plant them right Although I did it just as everyone has said they needed to be. I still felt terribly inadequate when I dug them up and found rot. Sure am glad for you DG'ers being so helpful. I'm determined, that with a little help from you guys......... I'm going to get beautiful iris.....eventually. lol