Can Someone help me with Irises?

[rodriguezpoultry]

I would dearly love to get irises. Of course I have to want the weird ones: blacks, dark purples, oranges...but I've never grown them before.

Does one rhizome give you one plant? How do you get more than one plant? I've read you can divide the rhizomes every 3-4 years...how? Where can I get them? I hvent seen a single store with irises or even a yard with them here in Central PA. Should I start out with the "normal varieties" before I branch out?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Reinbeau]

I would dearly love to get irises. Of course I have to want the weird ones: blacks, dark purples, oranges...but I've never grown them before.

Does one rhizome give you one plant? How do you get more than one plant? I've read you can divide the rhizomes every 3-4 years...how? Where can I get them? I hvent seen a single store with irises or even a yard with them here in Central PA. Should I start out with the "normal varieties" before I branch out?

Thanks for any help!

Iris are fairly easy to grow. Usually you'll start with one rhizome, it may be 'forked', so you'll get two fans. They do multiply, if they like it there, fairly quickly, so three to four years is probably right. There are sources on the internet, you can mail order them, usually, they'll sell them at garden centers in early to mid spring. Are there any nurseries or garden centers nearby? Schreiner's Gardens is a good source, I've ordered from them in the past.

 

[journey11]

I usually see the best variety in catalogs. There are many places that sell them, even Lowe's and places like that. I got all of mine from generous friends and relatives who gave me starts when they divided theirs. They don't bloom well when they get too crowded, so every couple of years you have to divide them up. They are a little different from most of your other perennials in that you don't actually bury the rhizome. More or less just push it into the top inch or so of ground. I love them because they are so rewarding for so little effort and the smell is heavenly sweet!

 

[Ridgerunner]

You are in no hurry either. Late summer is a good time to plant iris. In Pennsylvania I'd guess mid to late August is a good time. They will not bloom real well the first year but will establish roots and really come out the following year. You might ask at your garden center and see when they will have them available. It is probably still too early for them to be in your local stores.

 

[patandchickens]

Schreiners is certainly "iris central", if you want catalog ordering. Be aware however that with irises it's even worse than with most flowers, in terms of the pics being um not extremely realistic and with the colors often rather firmly tweaked (Schreiners' catalog isn't as bad as a lot of them on that, but it's still an issue)

If you have a local (or "reasonably local") garden club or horticultural society, their plant sales or swaps are often a good way to get irises for much cheaper (per size of plant).

You wouldn't want to be acquiring/planting irises til later this summer ANYhow, though -- usually one divides or moves them a month or six weeks after they finish blooming, or up thru early August outside Philadelphia anyhow.

The main things to know about bearded irises (which I'm assuming is what you mean, that's "the iris" most people are talking about):

1) they hate wetness and need good drainage, tho are only "somewhat" drought tolerant. In heavy or questionably-too-damp soils plant with almost all the rhizome atop the soil; in normal good garden soil plant with the top of the rhizome sticking up a tad above soil level. If you plant them somewhere too wet, they will simply rot away. (e.t.a. -- a site that's a bit too damp for bearded iris will be just right for siberian iris, tho! And for a really boggy site there are really boggy other species of irises)

2) if you are the only one around who has bearded irises, and you don't have too many, you may well have little or no trouble with borers (at least for a while). If however you get seriously into irises with lots and lots of them around, in Pennsylvania expect to be locked in permanent battle with the borers. With vigilance and removal of affected parts, you can hold your own, but they are not the very most problem-free plant in the world when grown in number.

3) most varieties require division every few years (the ones that don't "require" it still APPRECIATE it, in terms of giving better flowering). The way irises grow is the rhizomes grow horizontally across the soil surface, in segments, each segment giving rise to (I forget exactly) one or two or three fans of leaves, each of which will bear a stem or two of flowers. When the flowers are gone the segment then gives rise to another one or two, growing outwards from where the iris was planted. The older segments do not bloom and may not even have leaves. Thus if you neglect a clump of irises you tend (with most varieties, IME) to end up with a big circle of foliage with a bare (rhizomes-only) middle and flowers only around the edge. The rhizomes will also grow up and over each other to some extend when very neglected, which doesn't produce good flowering and is a mess to try to disentangle.

When you buy a mail-order iris and it's just like two fans or so, it will "probably but not necessarily" bloom the next year despite not taking up much garden room yet, but in a couple years you'll be dividing it and making more plants from it anyhow. They do grow reasonably quickly.

4) tall varieties don't do well in windy spots, especially if it's also part shade (making them taller and spindlier). It's real hard to stake irises inconspicuously. You can still plant them there of course but you gotta expect them to flop over. If picked *immediately* and put in a vase the flopped stems are fine cut flowers; if you've left them there for 12 hrs or more though they tend to take a permanent set and you have horizontally-flowering irises. I don't personally mind this (it's the way a lot of mom's irises always were when I was growing up, LOL) but some very ordered or artistic gardeners find it upsetting

If you want a "plant it and forget it" perennial, I'd suggest something more along the lines of peonies, or Siberian irises if you like irises. That said, bearded irises are not AS high-maintenance as some things -- borer patrol is the main thing, once you start having borer problems. Division can be let go a year or two and it's not like you'll LOSE the plant, it just won't do as well -- and they are extremely, extremely beautiful. Some are also nicely scented. I particularly recommend Immortality which is a scented white rebloomer, what more can you ask

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

you can check ebay for some of those varieties you are looking for. but i would suggest NOT going with those that do the pre-buy in April or May and say they will ship it sometime in July. i was taken last year by one of them and because it went beyond the 45 days to file a complaint i wasn't able to get my money back.

i have had good luck with one ebayer called Yodad50 from TN. he usually sends some extra rhizomes depending on the total number of plants you are buying. the rhizomes have been very healthy and clean when i've received them these past couple of years! this year i have seen some of the ones he sent from last year bloom and they are gorgeous! they just started blooming this week so i will have to get some pics!

 

[skeeter9]

Hi Rodriguez. I have tons of bearded iris on a gravely, hot, dry bank behind my house. They take very little care at all and I have never had any pest or disease issues, but I'm in a different area of the country than you are. I absolutely love mine. Maybe you could check with your local gardening clubs, etc and see what they have to say about growing iris in your area?

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

Hi Rodriguez. I have tons of bearded iris on a gravely, hot, dry bank behind my house. They take very little care at all and I have never had any pest or disease issues, but I'm in a different area of the country than you are. I absolutely love mine. Maybe you could check with your local gardening clubs, etc and see what they have to say about growing iris in your area?

The gophers ate my 300+ divisions last summer. This spring I had to dig around, clean up what was left and replant. Pitiful looking. Mine are in a bed, sorta under a CA oak tree, not much sun anymore, but they do get regular watering.

 

[skeeter9]

Oh, gophers can be so very frustrating!!!! They had better stay away from my iris or I will send my Corgi after them!

 

[desertwillow]

I live in the high desert of CA and in zone 8b. I have over 100 bearded iris and they tolerate the cold, heat, drought and our high winds. I have all colors and color has nothing to do with whether it's the best plant or not. Everyone is giving you good advice here and I would advise buying them from a nursery. Places like Walmart, Lowe's and Home Depot sometime let their rhizomes dry out. Local nursery's would be good but Schreiners is a good one and here in CA I order mine from Sutton's Iris Farm in Porterville. I've always had very good luck with them and I've been buying them from there for over ten years. Prices go from way high to low and they always add extra plants. Good luck! Enjoy! They're easy to grow and care for.