Lucy.. I did not get any plant pictures of Border Skirmish just flower but will take some for you this spring at home.

Tom I did not get to see much of Spiral Galaxy this year it is a really early bloomer and was finished when I got to Santa Cruz but I like it good color. The other one Oil Painting is Awesome and looked great in Oregon and California.

Spiral Galaxy


Oil Painting



Greg... last winter was brutal we hit a completely different zone all together here ,so much for there new zone maps we had a Canada Winter here and the spring that followed was miserable as well. My next question is How do you plant your bulbs are they exposed or planted under the dirt. I am curious How the majority of the group plants there bulbs I noticed this spring all the gardens I visited were all planted with dirt on top of them but I have always planted mine with the bulb exposed with the thinking that by covering them they would rot in our climate our summers are normally Hot and Humid with strong storms especially this year we had rain for what felt like weeks on end mixed with cooler temps so the plants never really dried out for a long period of time but I got through it and lost very few to soft rot because they were planted on top of the ground in good sandy soil to drain well. The erosion problems were terrible but the plants survived with very few issues.

The next issue at least for me is protecting them from the winter conditions. I have always covered them with something for the past few years and have been buying truck loads of well aged compost and using it as a top dressing through the winter and blowing it off with a leaf blower in March after the worst of winter and before new growth starts and it seemed to work great until Last winter This year I am experimenting with different kinds of Mulch, Leaves and just plain dirt hoping to find a answer for what works the best in my climate.

I still don't know what exactly it was that I am calling Rot was different than anything I have ever seen before had a dark brown look to it with no smell before the soft rot set in. Most people I talked to thought it was Botrytis which has a grey moldy look to it and the bulbs are soft and spongey but mine was totally different. I made the mistake of spending too much time trying to put different chemicals (comet, Bleach,) on it and none of this worked if I could do it over again I would have just cut out the affected bulbs and saved the side growth on the majority of them

Thanks for the pictures of these. They were bonuses in my Ghio order this year, among others, and I wanted to see some of your good pictures of them. I'm not sure if seeing all these great pictures helps me with the winter blaas or if it just makes me all the more anxcious for spring! anyway, don't stop!

Your photo's of Oil Painting are beautiful Brad.

I need to get Spiral Galaxy!!

Brad, I tend to have the rhizome exposed when I plant them. Sometimes, I may plant a tad deep, with the expectation of the dirt settling down a bit. I think last year was an anomaly. My rot was like yours and did not smell. My garden tends to be wet in the Spring and we have a very high water table in South Central PA. This is why I started putting in raised beds. I also crowd them in tightly as I have too many. I too did nothing differently than I did in the past (which worked well until last Winter). I am planning on adding more light weight material to my beds next Summer when I start my bed amendment program, maybe even some sand. I used to bury my pots to protect them (which caused a bit of time cleaning them up so they look good to sell), but my friend Katie (Stoney Creek Iris) does not do this and she is an hour North of me (Just North of Harrisburg PA); so I stopped doing this. The only "cover" I have used has been unintended, pine needles from the trees in the yard.

I also did not spend enough time looking for nor treating the rot. Most of the time I only noticed the issue when the plant keeled over.

I have been asking questions about winter cover for irises also, Brad. I plant my irises 'like a duck on water' with the roots and bottom of the rhizome underground. I did not lose any to the cold weather but I lost many other plants. I thought perhaps I would leave the fallen leaves on them this year but I sure do not want any to rot so maybe not. I had one that had the non smelly rot this spring and I dug it, performed drastic surgery and planted it in a pot. It came back like it was just waiting for me to rescue it. It is a favorite and hard to find. I was curious about this rot so I cut into one otherwise healthy rhizome and found a dark spot, it looked like the dark spot in a potato when it is going bad, and there was no sign of the rot on the outside. Perhaps there was a tiny opening to the surface of the rhizome but I could not see one. I am in zone 7a but that does not take into account that I am on a hill in a large valley - Ozarks/Ouachita - so I think zones within zones perhaps - but 7a is my planting zone. As I said in another thread, I have only known the ground to freeze several times in my long life here. More often when I was a kid than of late. Even then that did not hurt the established irises but I plant in June due to the early bloom season and the irises put roots down and get situated well before cold weather. I do, however, get a lot of sun burnt irises in the summer but still do not mulch due to fear of rot. I think in the future I will perhaps plant where the afternoon sun does not cook them. sigh

I plant mine like Greg plants his -- top of the rhizome just visible with the expectation that the soil will settle and it will end up with just a bit more showing. I also had some of the soft rot issues -- most of it in the new temporary bed which had no leaves for mulch over the winter, but which stays wetter longer than any of the other beds because it's on the north side of the garage -- limited sunlight. And yes -- same discovery with mine -- no warning, but one morning I would find the entire plant keeled over and laying on the ground. I was able to salvage one of those cultivars and I did what Bonnie did -- cut away the bad stuff, dipped in bleach water, and replanted. Last I looked -- it was hanging on.

And -- same thing here -- no odor to the rot, rhizome just turned a dark corky brown.

Yeah, I think the rot I experienced was not the "bacterial" soft rot...at least not to start with. I "believe" it is / was a fungal rot...maybe what is known as "crown rot". The symptoms lead me to believe that the "fungal" rot comes first, and ,if allowed to proceed, the "bacterial" soft rot then has an "entry point"into the rhizome. Most of the info I've found says to destroy the plant, but, I found two sources that recommended a treatment with a rather 'high-powered" fungicide ( which seems to be on the 'banned/ unavailable" list, now), and one that recommended a spray / drench program using a mix of water and hydrogen peroxide.
I treated the affected plants ( main rhizome 'growing point" rotted with a "dry", brownish rot, no smell, fans healthy, except for the " tips" , which were yellowed, turning to brown. fans "sometimes" fell over in a wind, but usually stayed upright, but, would "lift off' the rhizome, without much effort. Side increases never seemed affected, remained solid, and growing...although not at a very fast rate.) by the 'scrape" and "spray" method, using different things as a "spray'...bleach water, dilute fungicide, etc....but decided that listerene mouth wash, undiluted, seemed to "dry up" the rot the fastest . This seemed to "save" the plant, although others continued to be affected. I then, after reading the info on crown rot...in an old, old book on iris....decided to use the hydrogen peroxide spray. Whether it helped...not sure?!?...as the season had progressed to Sept./ Oct., and possibly the 'disease" didn't have the required conditions , by then. But, I found only one plant that seemed to be affected after the spray/drench with Hydrogen peroxide.
The plants in areas that were "un amended" never had a problem...only those in the amended beds...which have a highly organic soil( the natural soil here is VERY sandy, with little organic material). The "bed" soil is so loose, that the iris fans actually act like
bull dozer" blades...pushing the soil ahead of them, pilling it up, and ,in effect, actually gigging themselves deeper into the soil. I normally plant with the rhizome visible , above the soil surface, but many times, for various reasons the rhizomes might be as much as 2" deep, this has never been a problem, till this year, and only then in the "organic" soil .
Whether I'm right, or not....who knows .....but I believe most of MY trouble , percentage wise, was due to....Harsh winter conditions 20%........Highly organic soils staying wet, early in the year....20%.......plants growing a little too 'deep" 30%......a little too much nitrogen, and fast growth 15%......and the remaining 15%...Just "cause" ! I added LOTS of plants over the last 2 seasons, and, percentage wise, haven't really had that many of them "give trouble", so, it's hard to really say that 20-25 affected plants, out of 800-900, is a very "big" problem.
I do intend on resetting the "deeper' iris ( or removing the "pushed -up" soil from around them), cutting down, just a bit, on nitrogen, using the hydrogen peroxide spray "occasionally" throughout the season, and a lot of "hoping and Praying"

Arlyn, do you dilute the hydrogen peroxide with water? if so what is the formula? I have dug, washed, cut, bleached and replanted with a dusting of clorox.... but not back into the same spot. I have left the place where the affected irises grew unplanted. I really do not know what to do. I am going to get a lot of Listerine.

The mix,as I remember, was one cup of peroxide (3%...that's what you would get in the drugstore) to 1 gallon of water. Another book said 1 & 1/2 cups. I have used the Listerene (actually a "Walmart substitute" !) for quite a few years, and have had good luck with it.I use it, undiluted, in a spray bottle, and anything that looks "iffy", gets a good squirt. I also, if it's a large wound (or where I may have 'scraped" a rhizome) dust with either Comet, or, powdered limestone.
I will add this comment...I have never had ANY trouble with borers, leaf spot, or any kind of rot, in beds that have been "burnt over', the year before. If the "burning" really helps , I don't know...but I can see no actual harm done by it, so, I'll continue burning, on the premise that "it 'might" help, and doesn't hurt"

I can learn from your practices what may work in my garden. I cant burn them as most of time during the fall we have a burn ban and cannot make an outdoor fire. I guess I could burn in December but I think my rhizomes may be too exposed to the flame since I plant with half the tops showing. But I will certainly keep a spray bottle of Listerine on hand.

Great information Arlyn!!!! Thanks for taking the time to share your 'secrets' with us.
I may have to try the hydrogen peroxide and listerine sprays.

My irises are planted in sandy soil and do the same thing. I found that after a year they have dug themselves in and I have to 'un-bury' them. I've had a little trouble with rot...but mostly in one area that get's some overspray from the sprinklers, so I'm moving those irises to new spots or as they become available or to pots to nurse the sick ones.

We have a storm moving in today. They expect 1.5" of rain and wind gusts up to 60 mhp . It will be nice to get more rain, the ground really needs it...but for the first time I'm actually having a lot of trouble with leaf spot. When the storm passes I'll have to get out with my shears and trim everything up!

I'm hoping the weatherman was correct last night saying the storm is coming Thursday. Some folks are saying up to 10 inches in the mountains. I have to drive into Silcon Valley tonight for a show, and don't relish driving in 60mph winds. Our neighbor also has a dead oak on her side of the shared driveway. I think this is the year it's going to come down. Chunks of bark were falling off last week

Yesterday, I made a list of Iris that I'm putting together. If the soil isn't too goopy still, I'm going to try to get them in the ground today.
I'm Dreaming
Plum Pretty
Oh Carol
Strut Your Stuff
Polite Applause
Famous Last Words
Florentine Silk
Friendly Advice
Starring Encore
Company of one

Of course this largely depends on how good their root systems look.
If it's a no go on the Iris.. I'll be picking up dog poop and raking leaves. Not nearly as glamorous, but needing to be done.

Sherry - I'm wondering, too, about continuing to plant. We're having mild, rainy weather here in N.CA.
What are the chances that iris would "make it" if planted now? I'm actually wanting to plant some late-blooming
iris so that when we have the Artists' Open Studio in late May (Memorial Day Weekend) something will still be blooming.

...and, do you know of any growers who would sell me a few irises (late bloomers) now?

Like everyone else, the rot I have had no smell and didn't seem to affect the starts, so I was able to rescue those. Only one of mine had the fan fall over, and since I found it after being on vacation, the rhizome was too far gone to save.

The first iris I found with rot this spring was in a full sun garden, and none of it's neighbors had any rot problems. I had covered the rhizomes with pine boughs, and wonder if it just made the garden too wet for that iris. It had lots of starts so I now have it growing in 3 places. A couple of it's neighbor rhizomes had a bit of shrivelling but this didn't affect the growth or bloom.

The second one to go had just been planted (July), and was in a sunny location so no water issues. I had a new organic garden mix added into that bed, which is the only thing I can think may have been the rot source. This is the one that had the fan fell over. The last one was new too, and it looked great, then the leaves yellowed and the rhizome got soft. I dug this one up and potted it and really tried the Comet treatment. Comet had little effect. I would spoon out all the soft rot, then sprinkle with Comet, but after a day or so more spots on the rhizome would be soft. A solution of beach and water a bit stronger than the suggested 1 to 10 ratio worked very well (about 3/10) stopped the rot finally , but it only has two very little starts left (about an inch high) and they are growing very slowly. I think it was the victim of the same soil mix. So Arlyn - you may be right to suspect your "organic" soil.

And I plant mine with the top of the rhizome exposed like many of you. Some of the old iris in my yard got buried by about an inch of dirt or so and bloomed sporadically. Once I reset them with the rhizome exposed they went to town and have increased and bloomed ever since.

I have had a few that were plagued with rot for a couple of years, and then they seemed to do OK. Two of them that come to mind are Expose, and Luscious Lace. I lost all the bloom stems off them for two springs, and then they finally kicked it into high gear and made it without furture problems. I'm wondering if they might be able to develop some level of immunity over time? Others just never seem to be bothered no matter how wet it is. My purple seedling was planted in a spot where there was a leak in the gutter, and was saturated, often to the point of standing water, and it has never developed any rot. I'm curious if any of you who have it had any issues with rot with it. I think some are more able to fight it off.

Jan if you get any iries this late and transplant them, they should live in you area, but I doubt if they will bloom next spring unless they are potted and you can just pop them into the ground without upsetting the roots.

Thanks for the feedback Tom!

We have very sharp drainage. The only rot we had this year was on a seedling which was ruined by an iris borer. I cleaned the pieces & planted in a new spot. tops of the rhizomes are exposed & they also can dig themselves in. John makes his own compost--can be very careful what we bring in from outside.

Jan,
Mine have all been in pots at least a couple of months... most more.. Last year, I planted through the winter.. but then we had that very warm/dry January and February. If nothing else, I need to place them where they will go so at least I have a feeling of moving forward. I really overwhelmed myself with the numbers I added this year. I was just eyeing a spot next to the garage where I could put several raised beds

Sherry , Are you getting a lot of rain tonight? It's quite a downpour here, and 10 inches
is predicted over the next couple of days.

I just noticed that there's a big system over Northern Calif. Hope you don't have issues with mud slids,flooding, and high winds. Fill those rain barrels for next summer!