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Non-Blooming Iris... is it possible??

14 years ago

So my lovely grandmother offered me another iris... however she said it has never bloomed...

Apparently, she took it from an old air base, and planted it in the shade... It comes up every year, but only grows the fan, never a flower...

If I were to take it and plant it in the sun would it bloom??

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Comments (5)

hosenemesis
14 years ago
Yup.

I grow them in the shade for just the foliage, in the sun for flowers.

Renee
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chocolateis2b8
14 years ago
Take it from someone with years of iris misery experience, or at least miseries until I learned that sun really makes all the difference in the world. Most of mine were in most shade so did bloom somewhat, but when I made a new bed in most sun, BOOM!!!!!! blooms galore. I wasn't even expecting all those blooms because I heard they don't bloom the spring after transplanting. They were so glorious that I'm expanding the bed and ordered lots of new ones. I'm on my way to becoming a irisaholic, lol.

So of course, give your grandmothers iris a try, what do you have to lose other than the little time it takes to plant it? Might not get blooms next spring, but wait until the following spring.
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They get plenty of sun. I had iris in this bed before, but they died from rot in the year we had el nino. It didn't stop raining all summer. This bed backs up to the compost pile and I have to occasionally add iron to it, as the Sweet Autumn clematis sometimes gets iron chlorosis (sp?). So, nutrition can be a problem in this bed. I was sure that the rhizomes were large, but some are not. I just checked the ones on the end and they feel pretty small, but I'm just feeling as best I can without digging them up. My yard guy also added compost on top of the rhizomes when he was here last. I'll have to get him to remove it Tuesday. I don't think that's a factor, though, as he only did it last week. So once I get the compost off the top of them, I can check to see if they are as small as they seem. What can I do to grow the rhizhomes, if that's a factor? (Wow, the foliage is so large and green, I would not have guessed the rhizomes weren't mature size.) bkay
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You might be taking too good care of them. I have an noid that I put in the flower bed in our drive way and never did anything to it for five years except water it and it bloomed like crazy. It was so over crowded I had hard time getting it separated. Now that I separated it I only got two blooms from it. Some iris thrive on neglect. How often do you water them? I only water my iris once a week here in sunny California. They are drought resistant after they have established themselves. They originated from a region where there is no rain in the summer just like here in California.
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pippi21
14 years ago
Maybe Grandma had them planted too deep and too close together all these years and that is why they didn't bloom for her. Never heard of planted them in shade either. Always thought they needed full sun. When you dig it up, hose all the dirt off and put into bleach solution, and check for Iris borers. Sorry I can't tell you the formula for the bleach solution. Maybe others here can tell you. Like Chocolateis2b8(a clever username!)told you, you might not get blooms the first spring; more than likely the following spring. Good Luck! Keep us posted, but put those babies in sun.
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mooseling
14 years ago
Anything I have planted in the shade either doesn't bloom or blooms poorly. I don't have anything in full shade, so most things bloom eventually. I have Edith Wolford growing in nearly every corner of the yard at the moment - the ones in the sun bloom like crazy and in the shadier locations, I might get one or two.
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iris_nut
14 years ago
1 part bleach to 9 parts water. LaurieF covers the basics extremely well in her FAQ on bearded iris.
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