Of course..................

That goes without saying...

Oh I can see it now...every morning the get up giddy with anticipation to see what's on the list, then they begin their wild goose...er...chicken hunt!

I saw the title of this forum and thought it would be about our least favorite iris. "All right, now we'll get the dirt." Nope. Just talking about mistakes in planting the wrong plant.
Some people actually do have irises that they dislike, don't they?

It wouldn't be nice to name names, but types of iris would be OK. Me, I don't like pseudacorus iris. Probably the most invasive iris on the planet. It has naturalized itself on all the continents except Antartica. The clumps can grow very large and the seeds float away and start clumps anywhere the water flows. Other than the yellow color, I don't find them very interesting.

Carl, there are some Irises out there I feel the same way about. Some of muted tones look dirty to me. I think that has more to do with my personal penchant for using a lot of bright, saturated colors, which make blooms with brown and beige look kind of dead. Although I have been working on a garden space with autumnal tones, so I'm starting to come around to liking some I had previously disliked.

Carl, I think the pseudacorus is what we call the yellow flag iris. It's considered an invasive weed here. In the more moist area of the state it is really a problem. That is one I definitely don't want to add to my garden (not that it would like it here with the sandy soil and hot dry summers) !

Other than that I don't have any I don't like because I'm so new at this. I'm just happy to have irises blooming. That being said there are a few that are not my favorites, but since most of them have only bloomed once I need to give them a chance to get a nice clump going (if they can) before I decide to thin any of them.

Neal, I agree with you on the muddy ones. But color is a very personal thing. That is why there are those irises out there. I suppose the same thing could be said for form. Some of the Louisiana irises have a very triangular shape that I am not fond of. My dislike for the form carries over to daylilies with the same form.

I think the pseudacorus iris is on the govt hit list now. It is illegal for it to be sold in some states. It is clogging streams and choking native plant growth that cleans our streams and feeds water creatures. I have a small tub of it where it cannot escape. I am thinking of eradicating it altogether as there are so many other non-invasive irises that I can grow instead. As for people not liking certain color of irises, I run into that all the time. I have friends who will only grow the jewel tones and others who will only grow the muted grays and sooty ones. Even on this site there are a lot of iris lovers who are not overly fond of dwarf irises. Tiny plants with tiny little perfect iris blooms are so charming to me and most of my gardening friends like them head high and big as saucers. Those are beauties too. smiles

I. pseudacorus has been banned in MA as well. People might want to try pseudatas which are the 'weed' crossed with Japanese irises. They are sterile & have interesting colors.

I've got some variegated pseudacorus in well drained garden soil, and it behaves, but I wouldn't dare put it anywhere near water.

Bonnie, a local gardening friend of mine loves wildflowers and graceful, interesting plants, and she doesn't care much for Irises. There are so many Irises out there, I think there just has to be an Iris for everyone. I asked her what she didn't like about them, and she just doesn't care for the big showgirls of the bunch. I've been showing her beardless species, Sibs, and some dwarf and intermediate beardeds, and now I think she's coming around

Attaboy Neal -- convert them whenever and wherever you can!!!

Could someone please post a photograph of pseudacorus? I don't know what it looks like. Could chase it down on Google, I guess.............

Here you go Mary Ann, this is my variegated one, but the blooms are the same.

I agree, Neal. I think there is an iris for everyone's taste. I have a friend that grows wildflowers too and she likes the very old irises because of their form. She is not a fan of ruffles. I like some ruffles but if the iris becomes too ruffled it can lose its beautiful graceful form. I guess I am an iris junky as I like them all....... except for one little muddy one I have. I have it in a pot as it has a right to grow and bloom no matter what I think but I will save my garden room for a little guy I really like. I have a little dwarf named Violet Lass and I cant wait for it to bloom. It is supposed to have drooping falls like some of the historics do.

Comparing Irises to musicians came to my mind, thinking on one hand are the Joni Mitchells of the bunch, on the other there are the Dolly Partons of the bunch, and I just happen to love them both. LOL

I rather like pseudacorus. I had it for a while, but it's far too dry here for it to establish enough to become invasive. It lived 3-4 years as long as I was providing supplemental water, but declined and disappeared when that option was no longer viable. Some of the Louisiana iris actually lived a couple of seasons longer than the pseudacorus. I am currently growing some pseudatas, but they are being treated solely as container plants. I sometimes have issues with what plants are described as 'invasive'. A native plant can certainly take advantage of poor management or extended droughts or extended wet periods to aggressively dominate other native plants. For my part that is invasive whether the plant is a native one or not. With our extended drought here, the mesquite and opuntia have taken that opportunity and their establishment in greater numbers will be permanent at the expense of other native plants regardless of whether the weather changes back in favor of the other plants. That's invasive growth whether the plant doing it is native or not. Otherwise, the word 'invasive' is applied too broadly. Texas covers a lot of square miles. To say a plant is invasive in Texas is not sufficient. It's just not specific enough. A plant may be invasive in west Texas, but not in east Texas or vice versa. On the other hand, you seldom see non-natives like Bermuda grass or Johnson grass described as invasive. They both are considerably more opportunistic non-native plants than other plants that get the designation. Off the soapbox now!

Who's Joni Mitchell?

Singer from the 60s and 70s.

I. pseudacorus is invasive over much of the country where there are waterways. Certainly it is not a native. People waited too long to realize the bad qualities.

Need to add that the seed pods float so can spread that way.