No sign of life in my JI's

Planted several Japanese Irises last year (from All things Iris) and have not yet seen any foliage. I am really disappointed. I have never grown JI's before. I live in Zone 6. Is their still hope or should I be planning a funeral?
Thanks

If you haven't seen signs of foliage yet this year, I think it's safe to assume they're dead. I lost three of my seven JIs this year, and a fourth is looking mighty sickly.

Not all irises can handle all growing environments. If you want to try to grow JIs again, read up on their cultural needs so that you can provide them with the best possible conditions, then jump in again. Gardening requires a lot of trial and error. It's one big living experiment. Don't be afraid of the inevitable losses. Rejoice in the successses!

Laurie

Funeral arrangements are in order. Mine are up to about a foot now, and we are always way late, due to our snowfall.

The key to Japanese, I think, is water, water, water the first year. But they aren't supposed to be in any standing water over the winter. Supposedly it suffocates their crowns.

If you tell what growing conditions they were under, maybe someone can spot something that will help.

And as Laurie said, do try again. They are beautiful irises.

I'm in Maine and mine aren't up either. Mine are 2 years old but I made the mistake if digging them to share with a DG member and I have a feeling I killed my plant by doing so.

Kim

I guess we just got lucky. A friend gave DH a plant for his water feature pond last year. It just looked like some green foliage. so he stuck it into the water, left it all winter...........and darned if it didn't bloom this spring ! We didn't even know it was a JI........... we thought it was just greenery for the pond. When he told his friend at work that it was about to bloom, the friend said, "oh yeah, it's a JI... they're real pretty when they bloom."

The water pump on the pond got struck by lightning in the fall, so there was no water movement all winter, and it got really full of algea. I guess the JI liked it that way. LOL. As soon as we got the pond all cleaned up and a new pump for it, the JI stopped blooming. Go figure !

Thank you so much for the info. I had them planted in an area that gets a fair amount of moisture and full sun. In general I have a pretty good garden environment and most things thrive. Will certainly try again. JI's are too beautiful to not give it another attempt.