Dear dottie in charlotte,
If your dog has peed on your irises, are you sure you want to take them inside your house?

Re: Irises blooming on January 31. They're responding to this year's warm winter weather and, thus, are not reading the calendar.

Maybe it is Iris unguicularis? Mine is blooming now, and that is about the right time.

awww, that's funny..no I left it alone in full bloom.

ncrescue..you always send me to Google to look up the latin names. Maybe you're right, I'll go check.

Nope, not winter iris..that's the asian type I think.
This one is an old fashioned ordinary bearded iris.

I distinctly remember in January 2008 seeing a blue bearded iris in bloom in a flower bed at a church on South Tryon Street. And, this bed was out in the middle of a grassy area, in partial light because of overhead limbs from willow oaks!

Wow. My iris aren't this far along. They started leafing out in December and my iris seedlings popped out a few days into January. My iris haven't started sending out any blooms yet though. I'm too nervous about the idea of them sending out any blooms when I'm sure we'll have some more frosts between now and spring...

I had one bloom right in the middle of December. It shocked the daylights out of me! It was beautiful...until it rained a few days later and then froze. :( A second bloom never opened (froze). When do irises normally bloom in North Carolina?