How do you buy your iris?

I don't really know all that much about bearded. I do know they are shipped and planted successfully in the hotter months.

What I am questioning is the beardless. If some growers are promoting planting them in August, that may explain why people consider them hard to establish, and why I have heard, especially this year, that so many newly planted ones die. I heard from numerous people on Daves Garden that their siberian and Japanese had died. If you could keep them cool and damp in August, I'm sure it would be a good time to plant them, but how many people can.

Siberian iris and Japanese iris are amongst the easiest irises to establsh and grow if planted at the right time. August is not it. Of course there should be shipping dates in August, for the northern people, like North Dakota, upper Maine, etc. But for most of the states that is not a good time. And if someone in the lower states is worried about establishing them early enough, April or May would be better.

I decided to do some research instead of relying on memory. Translation: dug into my drawer of past catalogs. No shipping time for 2007 as I had ordered. Shipping schedule for 2006 has April dates, plus Aug.14 (which we use) & sept. 5 & 18 which you would use. Marty & Jan themselves use the Aug. dates.I can vouch for their primroses if you see their catalog. They are a 2 person operation amd were voted the AIS Hybridizers' Medal this fall. So I guess we are back to the differen strokes bit. Lucy

I think I have an inadvertent test in planting several divisions together. An AB seedling was returned to me by a person who been giving it a test--luckily--I think I had lost mine. There were 9 divisions, 2 singles and the rest doubles. Arilbred bed was full, so we quickly added lime to an area in aother bed. planted is small space, so close together and added fist size rocks on top of the rhizomes to prevent heaving.

So are there too many in a small space? Planted too close together? Don't like our soil after Colorado? We will see this May. Maybe they will grow even if they don't bloom.

I don't have much space and only want one of each that I buy. They will become clumps fast enough for me (and then, I'll have to end up dividing them sooner than later). I'm trying to pick and buy the ones I really want alot, even if that means the Irises I pick are a bit on the expensive side.

Marilyn

I would remove the rocks over the rhizomes for sure!
if you plant too close together you will be dividing more than you will be bloomingi am guilty of planting too close!

Plants arrived late Sept. Rocks were to prevent heaving. they can be straightened out next season.

Up here we divide/plant 5 or 6 weeks after bloom time. Or later, end of August or beginning of Sept. Talking bearded here of course. We have to keep them waered for the first month or so.

Our main thought is to make sure all newly planted rhz. have good root growth, going into winter.

Sibs & JIs we move/shift around/plant all summer, the earlier the better but again, good watering is certainly required to keep them happy and healthy.

Bigger is better re sibes and JIs. Lost far far too many little ones last year. sob sob.

inanda

I'm new to Iris and since the few I planted didn't bloom for 2 years, I was going to dig them up and throw them out. Thanks to this forum I found out in time about not always getting blooms the first couple of years, and this past fall, they started to bloom. The cold weather killed the blooms before they matured,but I am so looking forward to spring to see how they do. I am growing just Blue colored ones for an all Blue Garden around the potting shed.

I thought I would add different varieties of Blue Iris and maybe by the time I am 90, I will have every type of Blue Iris made by God and Man☺

After seeing the Black ones here,for the contrast, I might put a clump of Blacks smack in the middle of each Blue Bed.

Oh the possibilities are endless and so is the fun,

LU

one of my all time favs in Puccini it is awesome, and this pink that was nameless when it came, Posyblossom, if you saw my front field you would be totally sold on iris:)

that was Puccini and this is one of the most awesomeblacks, Before the storm

Your front field,even saying front field makes me drool at the the thought of a field full of the awesome,dainty Iris☺Love the pics too!

if it weren't for the gophers, the 4 acres would be FULL of iris:)

posyblossom,
Check out the all blue iris garden at Napa County Iris Garden. It is on the home page of their web site with link below. The web site has a rotating series of really beautiful iris. Once you get there just wait while it rotates through about 5 or 6 really gorgeous irises. Eventually the all-blue bed will come up. I find it absolutely stunning and have been tempted to start one myself. I am neither recommending nor not-recommending Napa County Iris which I have never ordered from, but I sure can recommend their iris pictures as well as the all blue bed.

http://www.napairis.com/index.html

i did order from napa and they were great!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Paj....I enjoyed the scenic Tour,just beautiful. Mine will never be as massive, but it will be BLUE☺

I just bought Puccini this past fall--really love the colors on that one. I ordered a bunch of singles from one place and the guy was so generous that he doubled up on everything and if they were small, I got up to 4 rhizomes plus he included 2 of each bonus he sent:LOL: I still have rhizomes rooting in water here in the den...I don't know if that will be a problem later but they seem to be doing OK. I'll just try to pop them in the ground once it stops freezing at night or maybe trade them. I want a front field:LOL:

If you can, a better solution than water might be putting them in pots. Bearded iris really don't like wet feet.

I think that's probably a good idea:) I didn't want to watch them dry out until spring while I procrastinated tearing out the old iris bed so I dunked them. I'm honestly shocked that they've survived sitting in the water and I've had no rot or softening either. But I'm going to pot them up this weekend so they can readjust to living in soil. Thanks for reminding me--I probably would have let them swim till spring:)

Puccini what a beauty, it is probably my fav iris and I have a lot of them!!!!! I was so mad, the phone people were here today and ran over a section of iris including the stake!!!!!they are suppose to come back tomorrow, if I see them they are going to hear about it:(

Bearded iris are tougher than we give them credit. My business partner dug some historic iris & threw in the alley last winter. They rooted into the gravel & bloomed last spring!

Can't get way doing that to the modern cultivars, except the dwarfs.

I usually want so many i just by one of each so that i can get as many new var. as possible.

I thought I was being good and did that too. There was only one that I had been wanting for years that I bought 3 of. The place was so generous that they sent double or triple on most of what I had ordered, including the bonus iris! I wasn't expecting that so it threw my planting plans off a little but I'm not complaining...it's a great problem to have:lol:

My wish list for TB iris is ridiculous:)

I almost always buy one of each iris because I want so many I couldn't possibly afford 3 of each and can't convince myself to order fewer. I will just have to wait for some of them to clump up, but I can already see that some of the ones I ordered last year have increased very nicely. Maybe it won't take so long after all.

I was very surprised to see that some of the best increases were on some of the smaller rhizomes that I had received. I got one that seemed really dinky (so they sent 3 of that one) but there are 5 sets of leaves sprouting off of that one little rhizome.

I got my first arilbred (Mrs. Mohr) in a trade and potted it since the bed wasn't quite ready and it looks great and has 2 increases on it.

I started my bed over from scratch this past late fall/early winter so I'm not expecting much at all this year by way of flowers. I had forgotten how patient I was when I first planted my little Walmart iris nubs the first year I was here. LOL The older I get the less time I seem to be willing to wait for flowers =)

That's the true curse of getting older. We don't want to wait anymore for glorious clumps of the plants we love best.

It's not wrinkles or gray hair or those flabby things that start in under our arms but the lack of patience for what we want, when we want it.

Amen sister:lol: I thought my sleeves covered those wobbly things=)

It hit me when I dug up the overgrown/crowded iris that they had sat in the same spot almost 8 years undisturbed. I was just so used to having them be there. Looks all new and young in that bed again:)
I'm the best plastic surgeon that flowerbed has ever had:)

That's so true. Our plants must love us for the face lifts we give them by moving or dividing them.

Oh, I so hope you are right pirl and dmac, I divided a whole bunch of my iris last year -- they needed it. I see their leaves sticking up and looking healthy. I just hope they will bloom for me after the trauma of separation.

They'll be fine:) Whenever I divided my old bed back in NM, it took a season for it to snap fully back but it was worth it. I procrastinated about dividing them for so long.

My flowers looked the best about 4 years ago and since then as they grew crowded they threw up fewer stalks and didn't look quite as good. I actually have one clump left of the old iris, still covered in dry dirt and sitting on it's side in a 5 gallon bucket in the den. It hasn't been cut apart yet but there is healthy green leaf growth all over the thing:lol: Wish I could remember what color these had been:LOL:

You know you're a true gardener when......

You have a bucket of iris covered in dirt in your DEN in March.

Thanks=)

I am a terrible procrastinator by nature. I always dig up a bed and let the irises lay on the ground for a whole entire MI winter. They are always fine in the spring though. They are tough as nails.

I really need to redo the left side of my yard. Its a complete mess. The right side is all fresh and new. Well organized and easy to navigate.

I practically have nightmares about redoing the left side. Most of that garden as been in place for eight or so years. Things are starting to run together.

Im gonna get to it this summer though. I swear.

That is a great looking bed! I've really got to get out of this apartment...if only for a yard:lol:

I'm a procrastinator too. To be honest the only reason the old iris bed got dug up this year was the fact that I had actually ordered new iris and they were ready to go in the ground. If I hadn't ordered them--I would probably still be looking at the super overcrowded clumps. I really like the spacing between the different iris.

Welcome Flowergirl1!

Do you have any pictures of that iris bed in bloom? Looks great.

Thanks! I just redid more of that bed on the left of the path. I had a lot of new ones bloom last summer but i think this summer will be great. I still have lots more work to do. You cant see it but on the left of the photo is another iris bed about 30 by 60 that is just a mess.

Is there a place i can post multiple photos here?

here is a shot of some of the blooms.

Most of mine are planted in rows. I do have several in the main garden!
I plan to redo so much this yr-hope we both get er done!! :)

I can't believe how much room you both have:) notmartha--your looks like you own an iris farm:lol: I hope to have that one day. Both gardens are gorgeous.

Both notmartha and flowrgirl1 have large magnificent spaces full of iris. dmac, I agree completely!

my space is acually as small as a yard in the country gets. Its all on a single lot which is only 150 by 50 and the house is on it too. My garden is acrually only about 50 by 70. I have oround 400 var. of tb irises plus hundreds of other perennials, shrubs, grasses, roses, daylilies ect....

Thanks

I wish i had 40 acres. I wann go all martha stewart on a big piece of land and make it something that people mark on a map to come visit.
michelle

picture from a garden in TC that is awesome! Its open to the public if anyone ever wants to go.

I have to get my bearded iris in the ground by early September. They need a good 6-8 weeks to root before the first frost hits. If I can get the rhizomes in by late June, I can get substantial growth from them by Fall & a better chance for Spring bloom. If I plnt them later, I only have mush in the spring. Alot of wasted work.

Most of my modern TB iris take 2-3 years to aclimatize and bloom. The dwarf iris babies usually bloom the next year--fast increases. Many of the modern TBs like to rot if I have a cold wet spring---2007 was a good example of it. Lots of loss even in established clumps. Some fancier cultivars were totally destroyed by the end of summer.

I grow MDB,SDB,IB,BB, MTB & TB in my gardens. I have best luck starting with at least two of each cultivar to start my clumps. Since I have alot of clay & clay likes to hold water, I plant my iris in a circle, facing in on top of an earthen mound. My 324 iris cultivars are in mixed beds with 340 daylilies, 200 + lily cultivars & 100 + other perennials. The higher planting of the iris clumps enables me to mulch the rest of the bed without endangering the bearded iris. I only water new plantings and let mulch conserve the moisture as well as smother weeds.

an 18 degree high for 3 days last April damaged many of the buds as they were forming. iris blooms were scarce on the most of the clumps, but the historics did the best. I spent much of the summer kneeling by iris clumps and using my trusty butcher knife to remove rotting rhizomes. By fall, I noted a marked increase in size and number of babies on my mother unbloomed rhizomes. If the snow ever melts here, I may have an interesting iris bloom year.