Hi, Witsend. I have again become interested in adding iris to my garden. I have some green leaves that come up each spring and look healthy, but I have never seen a flower stalk on any of them. I know they do not like to be planted deep, but I planted them not any deeper than they were in the pots when I purchased them. Maybe they were planted to deep at that time??? Are they hard to grow? Are they bothered by bugs or disease?
Thanks. Jane

Irises don't require large amounts of fertilizer. If you have a lot of growth and no blooms it might be too much fertilizer. Worms in them can be a problem especially if there is too much compost around them. Usually you will see the patch start to weaken in the affected area first and removing the damaged/infected part usually will solve the problem. Loss of bloom can also be from disturbing the roots moving or dividing them. iris planted in spring usually don't blooom until the following year.

overall some of the healthiest iris I have seen are those left alone and mostly unatended. I asked the lady at the iris farm and she doesn't really fertilize them but she adds ash and bone meal along with some sand to amend her soil. They are also located in the open where they recieve full sun year round and have good drainage.

Hi witsend,
I just mapquested Breezewood and it doesn't look good. 3 and a half hours is longer than I can convince anyone to sit in the car. But I have to know.... did she have any historic iris?

I'm a little obssesive about iris lately. I love the fancy newer hybrids but the older historics seem to do a lot better in my garden year after year. Maybe you could head back and take a look (LOL) for me!

I've been spending way too much time on iris websites. It's going to end up costing me chunks of money.

Kato

Is it my imagination or are the iris especially beautiful this year? I have been enjoying those in other people's gardens immensely.

Kato_b she has a few "old fashion" irises there. Not sure if she has the names for them or not but I will see her Saturday and ask. 3 Hours is a long time and
I'm not sure if she mails any of them out. But then you could just make a day of it and after stopping for irises go on over to raystown lake stopping at all the houses that have a patch of irises and talking the residents into donating you some. then do the picnic/bbq thing for the day.

homequaker1 they do seem to be especially nice this year. last years we had so much rain I think they might have been a bit too wet for optimum bloom. the few I keep seem to have divided more than usual but are just coming into bloom so I still can't say much about the blooms this year.

witsend, (chuckle)I might do that....