Ready to give up

My iris look terrible 50 weeks out of the year. The flowers are pretty for a couple of weeks and take the focus off the foliage but the rest of the year they are an eye sore. Brown tipped yellowing foliage falling down that I can't seem to keep up with even if I remove them twice a week.

They were here when I moved into the house and as far as I know they are just a run of the mill yellow bearded iris. There are no other problems that I am aware of other than the foliage.

I'm tired of the constant grooming. It just doesn't seem worth it for 2 wks of flowers. But if there's a secret for preventing the brown tips and floppiness, I'd like to try it.

TIA,
Sherry
(novice gardener in case you hadn't already guessed it)

They sound like there are too many in that space - thin them out, cut them back and feed them a little.

Thye should do fine.

You may have iris leaf spot
http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/plantdiseasefs/450-600/450-600.html

In that case you may need to use a fungicide control. But if your iris don't perform after dividing and replanting then they probably aren't worth the trouble. Even at that the leaves do go brown in the summer. Many people do object to the foliage problem at it's very best.

I'm a person who is not afraid to get rid of plants that don't function in my landscape. If you do send them to someone though be sure that they know that your iris may have leaf spot. It's very contagious. Don't recycle them if they are sick but put them in the garbage.

Unfortunately alot of plants with really gorgeous flowers have short bloom times relatively speaking and lingering foliage that must stay in place for a period to help feed the bulb/rhizome for the following season. I have alot of green leaves and stems lingering from tulips, daffodils, glads, iris and lilies. I guess I'm just used to it and work around it. I get my pops of more continuous flowers from the containers of annuals scattered amongst the debris:LOL:

You could extend your bloom season by weeks if you choose early, mid and late season (bloom times) cultivars. I have iris blooming from May to July.
I agree wholeheartedly with Mitch, if you haven't dug and divided/thinned your iris, then you need to. You may have some other colors lurking in there, but they are just too overgrown to thrive or bloom.

Thank you everyone for your ideas! The iris have been dug and dividedwithin the last 2 yrs. and I'm happy to report that they don't look like the photo of the iris leaf spot (no spots at all - they just look scorched) .

I think dmac may have hit it on the head. I have moved most of my daffodils and other bulbs to the back for just that reason. Somehow, I just didn't think of the iris that way - expected them to look good most of the year. Guess I'll be moving them to the back also.

Thanks all!
Sherry

For longer bloom time, start with SDBs and end with spurias. That will give you months and month of iris bloom.

inanda aka Ginny