newbie to iris

16 years ago

Hi,

I have been a fan (haha) of iris since college when every spring I went to the Reynolda Gardens in Winston Salem (the best part of going to college at Wake Forest University in my humble opinion and the reason why I missed 60% of my biology classes) and marveled at the bearded iris. I finally have land and bought some buckets of iris last spring which gave a measly single stem last year but which are going like gangbusters this year. I am so happy to finally be an iris farmer!

I tried planting a cutting garden of rhizomes last fall but my bad puppies got in and dug up the rhizomes (apparently rhizomes are very fun to play keep away with) so even though they're expensive, I'm considering sticking with the pots and making some beds in front of the house; our local place has them right now for $8.00 each which doesn't seem too awful.

Here's some questions.

I have hard clay soil (northern va) and want to start a bed in front of our house (western facing-hot hot hot, small red brick with white trim and about 2 foot overhanging roof).

What should I do to amend the soil? My perennial garden has had various things added to it-miracle grow garden soil, topsoil-whatever. I don't want to dig up a whole clay bed if I don't have to since its very tough going but will if it will produce results.

Can I plant them so they will be under the overhang and if so how often should I water them? (I have evergreens under the overhang on the other wall and they get almost no water.) I thought that might be a good place since they seem to like dry conditions. This overhang justs out from the roof of the front porch which covers a long concrete patio. Will it be too hot there? Will it be sunny enough? Sitting on the porch the view is directly at the sunset.

If I purchase 1 bucket and plant them every two feet will they be overcrowded next year? Can I do 2 rows and if I do how much room should I put in between them? My vision is a long thick line of one variety all in bloom at the same time.

Are any colors or varieties more disease resistant? I love Immortality and they have quite a few at our garden place. Are iris like roses with the pale colors seeming to be more dainty?

Should I try to get buckets with more fans (some appear crowded) or fewer fans. Are more a better buy or will they be susceptible to disease because they're crowded?

Should I spray for anything? This morning there was a big creepy looking brown hard beetley thing on one of the stalks-any ideas if he was harmful or harmless? I spray my roses and don't mind spraying my iris if it will help. Last year I didn't do much of anything not even getting rid of brown foliage until this spring.

Thanks for any information you've got to share.

Oh, one final thing. Is there an iris society in Northern VA that does a sale and or where can I get Iris planted in gallon buckets online?

Terrierbear

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Comment (1)

iris_gal
16 years ago
Hard clay - death! Usually this equals poor drainage. They may survive and even bloom. Blooms will be smaller and increases will be less. Those with less vigor may succumb. I have had success with my adobe by removing 3" and digging in lots of organic matter. I love finding gallon nursery pots with a dead plant - the inorganic light weight material used is perfect to lighten my soil. Perlite is quite expensive here. Stay away from peat moss.

Water - allow the soil to dry out between soakings.

Proximity - 2' ought to be fine, especially if you have one cultivar. A reason for planting 2'-3' apart is to keep different cultivars separate from one another. I have a small garden and plant closer.

Colors - some pastels are as vigorous as deeper colors. Disease resistance is not a significant factor. Aphids can go after all. Iris leaf spot may like certain ones more than others. In bad years it seems to equally disfigure all in my garden. I usually never need to spray. Slug bait yes.

Crowded buckets - hmmm, I'd look at the rhizomes. Are they firm? I'd tend to go for more fans if the rhizomes look well. Remember a mother rhizome withers away after producing babies. So the one perfect rhizome is going to be toast in another year. When you transplant the crowded rhizomes can be separated.

Online sellers do not ship in gallon containers to my knowlege. Postage would be prohibitive. Local nurseries sometimes have a few available that way.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.irises.org/ais600localiris.htm
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newbie to iris

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iris_gal

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