My first of the year

I inherited a bulb garden from the earlier owner or the house. I have contributed a few things, but I'm fairly certain these are from the previous homeowner. I have two of these that have opened, and probably four more to come soon. What have I got?

Another picture...

The standard dwarfs really can give a running start to the iris season.

I don't know what you have, but it is a cutie, and I like the color. My mother lives in Denton, and I was just there, yesterday :0)

I noticed lots of people's irises are in bloom there. One of her neighbors had an entire yard full and my mother commented how she liked the lady's peach one the best, but it was a Tall beareded, not one of the little cuties, like yours.

how tall is the bloomstalk, Carl? in your neck of the woods, this could well be a TB at this time of t he year, but the bloom looks more like an IB or SDB, which should have already bloomed for you.

Alright, you'll have to explain TB, IB, SDB. I didn't plant these and don't know anything about them

The bloom stalk is shorter than most of the leaves, and are about 16 inches in height on average.

Thanks!

The B stands for bearded (type of iris). The description & picture show a standard dwarf bearded SDB plant/ TB=tall bearded, IB= intermediate bearded. SDBs go up to 16" but they should clear the foliage.

Thanks. I'll try to take a picture of the bed this evening to show you how they poke up among the foliage.

Here's one in context. You can see what's left of the daffodils on the right of the garden, then the Irises poking out second from the right.

maybe in TX, without much water they would bloom low in foliage, irisMA? seems I recall mine did that the year we had drought.

you are right about bloom form, but unless Carl is at elevation in TX, the TBs are blooming now - the SDBs would have bloomed out by now, wouldn't they?

now that I've said that - - - my established SDBs are done blooming, but one newly planted SDB is blooming now with my new IBs. some of the IBs blooming at 16", too.

weird year, some of my very early TBs are about to pop. usually Eleanor Roosevelt is a full 3 weeks before my earliest TB, and she's just now about to pop, but Mariposa Autumn has been blooming for 3 days. maybe because we had a mild January and warm February (I was out planting irises!) but then a couple nasty cold spells followed by snow last of March, followed by non stop rain in April?

I live in Texas, and I've had tbs almost as tall as I am, and others bloom about 2 ft. tall.

It really seems to depend on the particular iris.

Most people around me have the tall ones, and they are much taller.

This garden gets regular hose watering by me, so I don't think its too dry, plus it has over the last month gotten two relatively nice rain batches. Maybe I've just got late blooming short ones?

well, I see a brick wall in the photo. any chance these get less than 6 full hours of sun a day? how much sun do yours get Taylor?

of course, this could also be an unnamed seedling that just hasn't got the umph to get up above the foliage, too. lots of those around in some folks yards!

Water & fertilizer certainly help increase the height of a stem. I like straight compost. Sometimes it's the leaves which are the problem--too tall--watch the nitrogen for that.

mine that bloom short for TBS, are on the west side of the house and only get sun after about 1:00 or 2:00 and then until about 7:00 or 8:00 depending upon the time of year(we are currently in daylight savings time)

The others that get taller are in a garden that faces south, but gets some shade as sun passes around a few trees.

-T

think you just answered the question as to why these are blooming so low.

Hmmm. That's a possibility. These start getting sun around noon, then get it for the rest of the day. Although, I must say that my neighbors across the street have some that are above my waist, and they're under an oak tree, and get no direct sunlight all day. If they're sunlight dependent, I guess they've got some varieties that don't require sun.

yes, I think that doesn't count for me, either...

The ones in the front garden with southern exposure, are hardly true southern exposure. They are shaded by two huge live oak trees, and are located behind some rose bushes, lol...

You have to understand how hot Texas can get(100 degrees for three months in summer is common),and our full sun is way more intense than most other people's full sun, because we are closer to the equator.

Most full sun plants need part sun here, or they'll just get cooked.

Definitely. If my garden got "full sun" as in most other parts of the country, I think it would BBQ everything in it. I have enough trouble growing things here. Nothing can take full sun except the natives, and even those wilt pretty good in July and August.

With being in TX do you guys plant your iris about 1" under the soil? Helps alot as it shades the rhizome and I believe you will get better bloom and might increase the height as well.

D

Dee-
I "just cover" my sdbs, but don't cover my Tbs. I was always told that would rot them.

However, I've had some that accidentally got covered by years of leaf mold, and they seem to do ok, but they are in an area where I don't water at all...just rain

The TBS in areas that I water the surrounding flowers, I plant above the soil line, and on a hill. And I still try not to splash them. Things can rot here easily because we have a high clay content, so we have very heavy soil.

Although Carlos may have that wonderful "brown sugar" sandy loam, since there is a lot of that soil in Denton.

It can be quite a harsh and challenging environment here! ;0) Just come visit some August, and you'll see, lol...

Well I noticed when at Nationals in Austin that many of the iris that had suffered all they had gone thru there, had just a little over the TB and it helped. Acturally after seeing Schreiners during plant back and others that they plant about 1" at the time of plant back and it does settle down some to about 1/2" over the iris and I have no problem here, so why not try it on a few...

See what happens.

D

ok, thanks :0)

I have the heavy soil too, and I find that putting a final bit of soil that's almost half sand overtop the rhizome helps - water runs through and off. later one I may find it washed off, but if I don't do it, sometimes I find clay sliding down my slope will cover them deeper. the ones with sand atop them, when the clay slides down it keeps going, the sand won't support it's weight, I guess.

I didn't plant these, so I didn't have a choice as to depth. I haven't dug them up. If I should do that, then I guess I'll start.

I dug up about half the flower garden last year, and those that I let stay did more poorly than those I just left there, so I decided this year, I'd try to disturb as few as possible. I can't recall if these bloomed better last year. My general feeling is that they are about as tall as I remember, but definitely seeing more blooms coming on than I remember from last year.

As far as soil goes, I'd say that there a few people with sandy sandy loam, but my neighborhood tends towards more blackland prairie with a black clay dominated soil, not quite a Houston "gumbo," but still more on the clay side. This bed has been active and amended for years according to the neighbor.

I added 6-9-0 bone meal to the flower bed in late Feb or early March. I also sprayed the soil with liquid 5-1-1 fish fertilizer. As I said in my earlier post, I tried not to disturb the rhizomes and bulbs this year.