Well, last year was a year of great drought in Iowa. The Irises did well, although there were some strange diseases. This year I fear they will all rot, we have had so much rain!

Kinda' the same across the river, here in Illinois, too! Last week the weather man said that 1 year ago, on that date, we were 12 inches "short' on rain, and this year we were 12" over....feast or famine ! I watered ,watered, watered, last year, and thought things looked pretty good, but my bloom was WAY down this season, with a lot of the "new" plantings not blooming at all.....Arlyn

Same here in my part of Illinois......way to much rain. So many of my iris have not made it from the flooding we had in April and now from all the continuous rain that just will not stop. Never gets a good chance to dry out. Even so many of my peonies and other plants struggled from the drought.

My Dad always called Illinois the "Too" state...too hot, too cold ,too wet, too dry...depending on the conditions at the time !!...I'm actually afraid the rain WON'T last, tho, and we'll end up dry later in the year.. I guess we'll deal with it, even if we don't like it ...Arlyn

Iowa is also "Too". The blooms on some of the Iris are enormous this year! But it is too wet to enjoy them. They get cut and put in a vase to enjoy inside. Really hope we get some dry weather soon so I can get a leg up on any rot that might be starting.

Same for Wisco - and the cool temps and grey skies too. They are calling it June-tober.....

I had very little increase in about a dozen of my iris - and no blooms in them either, I assume they didn't tolerate the drought well. The rest have been fabulous, and I think the cooler temps have extended the bloom season for me - so perhaps there is a silver lining. My main iris bed is underneath the overhang of the house and raised, so I am not quite as worried about too much rain - yet. Although I am hearing reports of 12 - 18 inches over normal of moisture. I guess added together with last years under normal rainfall - we are about average.

Sadly, many of the farmers still can't get in their fields
~Jan

That is sad, Jan. Hope things improve quickly.

My odd phenomenon for the year is that some of the rhizomes that I transplanted last year produced a bloom stalk this year, but no side increases. So now I have one rhizome sitting there that may or may not go ahead and grow sides this year, but those sides likely won't be mature enough to bloom next year. So the price of last year's drought could be paid two years later. I did water often and well last year, but I don't think that hose water is the same for them as rain. Oh well -- the rhizomes that I received and planted late in the year are behaving normally so I ought to have some blooms next year!

I agree that hose water is not as good as real rain. There is just a "difference" yanno? I can tell in my yard if I have been watering with the hose or if it is rain.

Mary Ann, I have had them "bloom out" like that too some times. What happened in my case is that they sent out their increases durning the summer, and then they skipped a year of bloom, but then continued on as normal.

Good to know -- thanks Tom.