Texas girl: are you gardening in Texas at this point? Your mother's method sounds like she cut down all the old foliage and (I'm guessing) raked it away? That would certainly take care of a lot of potential diseases...One thing that is hard to get around is lifting and dividing every few years. The "old" parts of the iris roots become sort of useless and the blooms are at the "new" end of the roots. Another thing I've noticed: the old varieties of irises, like one sometimes find in cemeteries or growing wild in abandoned lots, are much stronger, fight off disease a lot better than the new very fancy types. It stands to reason: they have had to fight for their life for many years with no help. My hobby is to find old types and take a small piece (not the whole thing) and plant it in my garden. Some people have helped me with the names.

Iris foliage stays green throughout the year here;
in the spring, I always remove the brown, dead leaves, but I never cut off healthy green foliage.

Shapiro,

That photo is gorgeous!!

Yes, I am in Texas now.

In my opinion, old varieties of iris' and the common orange daylily are the most carefree of all flowers. Best of all is they are not a favorite food of deer. I rarely see them eaten and never enough to kill the plant. They take all kinds of abuse and grow and if you give them any decent care they spread fast and choke out weeds.

Hi Texas girl: I am really pleased with this iris "Perfection" - and especially the way that the standards have that darker purple streak - sort of a batik look, then the falls are like scraps of deep purple velvet.

I've never had deer trouble with either irises or the old orange daylilies until this spring. The DLs in our yard have been "tested"--only some of them---and there was some Iris nibbling earlier in spring. I think when they & daffs were the only things putting up new green---March is the hungry time for deer, etc around here. All the winter eatables have been finished & the green is barely beginning.

Shapiro, beautiful iris and great image. How far do you go for old iris?

Carla

Carla: In iris season, I drive around older neighbourhoods of town and look for old varieties. Sometimes I bring along potted bits of some varieties I have, to trade. I try to talk to the the gardener. A lot of times, the gardener is amazed that I am interested in "that old thing?" If the plant is growing on a public property such as in front of a library or in a cemetery, I very unobtrusively take one rhizome, leave the rest of the plant alone. Generally, I keep my eyes open in iris season. Another good source is garden club plant sales. Older ladies who belong to a garden club are likely to have historial irises.