First iris bloom this year: Edith Wolford

Yes, it may be a bit boring, and everyone has one, but Edith was the first to bloom for me this year, so celebrating her today ;0)

mine are far from blooming expect end of April

D

Boring......., I think N-O-T !!! We still have 4 feet of snow on the ground, this beauty gives me hope.

Well, I have to eat crow...I have TWO blooming today :0)

I just went out to check to see if there were scapes (is that the right word on an iris?) on any of my others, and found this little cutie blooming.

Alene's other love:

I think this one even came from you, Dee. I was happy to see it, because the little ones are not supposed to do well here...

I almost missed it because it is the same colors as the leaves, lol...

It is in a pot, and not in the ground, so even more happy that it bloomed.

Since I can move it around, I put it where you can see the colors a little better. That blending with the leaves thing, is something to consider when I DO plant it permanently in a spot.

Irises have stalks, daylilies have scapes--silly, but that is the teminology

Man must be nice to have blooms .... we have no snow here anymore but the temps are too low for any growth right now. They are how ever peaking out of the soil for me, so that is some good news. They are all about 3 in. or so tall now ...woohoo SPRING is coming! I saw some increase too .....WOOHOO!!

Oh and yes, scapes are for daylilies ..... but its your garden i suppose you can call whatever you want whatever you want ...lol

I use the word "thingy" a lot, lol...
:0)

How about 'whatsis' pronounced slowly 'what's this'.

I thought words like that were only used here in the south, lol...that is definitely southern drawl talk we use here, all the time ;0)

First irises are exciting, never boring. Can't wait to see more pictures.

Very pretty! Snow is finally starting to melt. Only about 5-6 inches left on my irises now.

Our snow is gone, four days now. And I already have sprouts on some of the speices. Cascade Mist was up about six inches under the snow.

Do you bearded people ever cut the leaves back in the spring? I have leaves on most of them, but specifically iris germanica (the true iris germanica) has leaves about four inches tall. They look a little floppy, but aren't brown. I normally don't cut mine back in fall, as I leave them on for winter protection, and then cut them off in spring, but this year it seems they have a lot of healthy leaves still on, probably because we got snow so early. If I cut them off will new leaves grow, or should I leave them on?

I tend, not to cut them unless they are dying or there is something wrong.

I'm in a pretty warm area, but I never cut mine. I only remove the older leaves that dry and turn brown.

Thanks. I won't cut them then. I always cut my beardless back this time of year, otherwise they really flop, but I never had the bearded keep all their leaves over winter before. Do yours stay up and green all winter, Lucy?

The greeny ones are mostly the new increases. Some plants start their new increase in the fall & some wait until spring. Even siblings do it differently. The older leaves which turn brown do it the same way; some fall, some spring.

These aren't the new increases, though. I can see those coming from the spring ones, and I can tell the ones from the fall ones. They are all the leaves the irises had on last fall. I never had this happen before, but as long as you say to leave them, I'm fine with that. Like I said they are healthy looking, just floppy. Or maybe they will turn brown at some point?

They will tell you when to cut; fresh & green? or brown & yucky? They can't hide.

LOL, thanks.

Beardless are so much simpler, they just all turn brown. Except for the LAs, which confuse me no end. Flourishing in winter, leaves dying out in the heat, looking like they disappeared all together, but not all of them, no, just some varieties.

Tricky plants!

Confusing.

If it green let it be, if its brown cut it down. I cut out all the brown and anything with leaf spot.

I agree with that, but have you ever had all the leaves on your irises stay green over winter? I usually clean up all the leaves after winter and they are brown, or browning. And my irises do lovely starting the spring with fresh new leaves, or as IrisMA said the new ones from the fall. And they are so floppy, the old ones. I'm leaving them to see what happens, they may ultimately turn brown anyway, but it's just really odd. And the new ones are growing in, and they of course are standing up. The clumps are going to look odd.

The old floppies probably will turn brown. However if they stay green & flop over the summer, do you really want that cultivar? Foliage should look good when plant is not in bloom, one reason for liking siberians--a selling point to others.

Last year most of mine had only a few leaves to removed, the leaves did look a little funny but nothing to worry about they did well.

We have had white iris for over a month now. These grow wild here in San Marcos and thrived during the worst drought in history for our town.

These purple are pretty generic here too. Every house has some.

My pinks just started coming up. My wife loves them.

Here is my old indian chief. He is dying back already. We should have some "blackish" iris popping up soon.

Lucy, the leaves on the irises are not normally floppy, the snow weighted them down all winter.

good

jujubetexas-
those are pretty. Thanks for sharing.

That pink one your wife likes, is a dainty pink.

As for the common iris, I've grown to love "common" for its good old reliability and sturdiness :0)

And, so many of the old ones smell so good. Do those white ones have a fragrance?
-T

Not really. We love them just the same. Just find an area where nothing will grow and stick em there.

We all have THOSE spots, lol...
-T

I. reticulata Katharine Hodgkin bloomed today. It is a bulb which should be planted in the fall. The other reticulatas planted last fall are not up as yet. there was only one KH so will have to buy new bulbs next fall.

My histrioides George will bloom tomorrow. they are always my earliest, and easiest to grow.

We bought 'Harmony' which we have grown before.

I was in the yard yesterday and saw 5 bloom stalks with buds ready to start blooming. I can't wait. Maybe this morning when I get home they will be open.

first clump, early for this zone...wouldn't you know, noid