Sadly, the last of my iris finished blooming earlier this week I am hoping for some rebloom this fall because everything started so early, So this weekend I am going to clean up my iris beds, and give them a bit of fertilizer, and because it has been so dry, I will water them also.

Decadance



Hello Darkness. Love these almost blacks



Vibrant. This one just GLOWS



Tuscan Summer. Love this one.



And a similar one, High Octane




Finally, my little minnie - Icon



And my bed. This bed was new last year, I am surprised and pleased at the blooms I had. Winter was too mild, snow cover wasn't enough, and the hot early spring, followed by the late freezers was not ideal for my iris. But it was a good year. I suspect I have been spoiled by the early bloom season, and am already thinking of widening my bed so I can add..... more iris!




Some of these photos are not the best ones I have, but when I tried to 'swap' them on this post with better ones after previewing, all I did was screw things up, so decided to leave well enough alone.

So what were YOUR favorites this year?
~Jan

Thanks for the pictures. I started to think of what my favorites were this year and there were many. I mentioned several in my thread "Pretty in Pink". I also loved Ringtone, Revision, Haunted Heart, Beloved, Hopeless Romantic, etc etc etc. I would say widen your bed. Your iris look good because they are growing in what I call "new soil"....soil where iris haven't grown before. A wider bed would give you more new soil and an excuse to get more iris to fill it. We get very little rain in the summer, lots of 90+ days and I water at least weekly.

No "swapping" necessary. Go ahead and post all of your other shots. The more photos, the better.

I love your photo of Tuscan Summer.

My Decadance didn't bloom this year, I missed it, neither did Tuscan Summer, but it was new last year so I haven't seen it yet. It had a lot of increases though, so it should be a nice clump next year. Love your little one, so bright!

Paul, I like the way you think!!!!

Both Decadance & Tuscan Summer were new to me, but like Paul said, they were in a new, enhanced bed. Decadance was a gift from Mit, who sent me a HUGE box of TB's last fall (Thank you Mit) Tuscan Summer was from Keppel, and it was a monster fan. It is one of my very favorites.

But of course, I absolutely loved them all, and wouldn't get rid of any of them! ~Jan

I only have a few pictures of our own irises. Not being good with a computer I was mainly interested in studying our seedlings. This year's pictures are in the shop. For small spaces people might like to try the miniature talls. MTB Here is my 'Elfin Shadows'.

I have found a great way to enlarge a bed, Jan. I buy the oblong bales of straw, and they come apart in 'books', or so I'm told the name is, but like thick sheets, and I put them at the outside of the bed I want to enlarge. It kills the grass underneath, but I notice the ground will have a ton of earthworms in it. Then in the fall, or whenever it's ready to plant. I don't till. It looks kind of silly when the 'books' are laying there, but it does the job.

I have been using plastic to kill the grass in one bed, perhaps I will change it to straw. By the way, around here, we calls those "flakes". Don't have a clue where the name came from. ~Jan

I have 2 questions based on comments made in this thread: we usually have too much rain but this year we have had very little. Should I water my irises? What is the sign of too little water?
Polly, how do you plant when the "books" are covering the ground? Are you planting irises?

Why water, except after transplanting, when the rain did it?

Good advice Lucy if you are where you get rain.....not here. I water weekly all summer.

I won't advise on watering, as I'm getting too many rhizomes and not enough flowers, as we discussed on Cubits. But as far as planting where the books are, I just take them up, and then use them for mulch somewhere, or move them to some other place where the grass needs dying. I just leave them down long enough to kill the grass, then I plant. I don't till, as that makes the weed seeds sprout.

Jan, haven't YET been bitten by the acquisitive bug on Iris. Have few named Iris, like most of the ones I have. My favorites, though, are the ones with history or personal meaning. Each of these bloomed this Spring.

This one came from a Cubits offering of historic Iris (thank you, Lori). Not spectacular bloom, but I was continually entertained by the fact that it smelled like Grape Kool-Aid.


Best Bet, planted to honor Joshua Cullins, is a beautiful deep blue; much more intense in color that I expected.


NOID Chocolate color. Best friend works for a major candy company. Not only beautiful and deliciously fragrant, it reminds me of her whenever I see it.


NOID. Call this one the Big Cat because it resembles lions' manes to me. Was here when I moved in and reminds me of how excited I was to get the house.


NOID. Moving neighbors gifted me with this one. Lovely, lovely coloring and a surprising citrus fragrance. Planted a piece in the yard, and is doing well in a container, too.

Oh I thought you left the "books" there! ( I did plant potatoes in mulch once, and they were really easy to dig out) The reason I am asking about watering irises is that a lot of the foliage is now starting to yellow. As is my daylily foliage. We had about one or two good rains this year, and it is really dry. What do your iris look like if you don't water, Paul?

Bearded iris can stand dryness better than siberians etc.

They start to look brown and not healthy if I don't water. If I water they look dark green and succulent all summer. I think watering is a very individual thing depending on your climate, temps., rainfall. soil, and other things. Nothing will work the same everywhere. One of my good friends who is gone now had 400+ iris and a large vegetable garden and berries. He raised his iris in rows with a furrow on each side. He had an irrigation turn here weekly. He was at the end of the ditch so had waste water for several hours. He soaked the roots of his iris every week all summer long. If you went there after he watered you could sink into the muddy path several inches. He grew large healthy rhizomes which he sold very reasonably and donated box fulls to the UIS Sale. I would suggest that you experiment....water some more often, some less often and let some go. See what works for you in your micro-climate.

I like the furrow idea, that way the water is directed to the roots, not the foliage or rhizomes. Think I will water the ones that are turning yellow/brown and see if they improve.

I love your ELFIN SHADOWS, Lucy!

YES!!!!! The LA Kings just won the Stanley Cup!

Thank you. I bet that you are as excited as the Bruins fans were last yr. they went beserk.