Today I will be cleaning up the second Iris garden and planting the remainder of the Iris rhizomes.
A total of about 30 rhizomes. Then my Iris gardens will be done and completed for the year.
Then all I have to do is wait until next Spring and hope for the best. I'm looking forward to getting
this project done and completed today. Please wish me Luck !

Jane, the others have echoed my thoughts, I also think side dressing with compost is the way to go. I have found that irises really like composted mulch and wood chips. I have a bed that got raised quite a bit by using 5 year old composted mulch. The irises I planted there last year are huge!

Interesting, Neal. My nursery beds, which is where I'm planting newly arrived Irises this year, has *soil* that is old composted horse manure/shavings. Before planting anything there, I brought in a couple front-end loaders of soil-soil (read clay) and mixed it all up with the old manure soil. The Irises there are growing like crazy! A rhizome of Kilarney Green is a clump already, in two months time!!! And several average-sized TB rhizomes have not only nice tall green leaves themselves, but have fully developed increases already. I took some pictures last night after I planted my two recent boxes of Irises -- I'll have to upload those and let ya'll see them -- amazing!!!

If my mowing has no seeds in it, I loosely sprinkle the bagged clippings over the gardens and thickly dump them over aisles, so the gardens get fluffier and fluffier.

Hot chips are best for weedy areas, but not on plants you want. Dyed mulch just creeps me out. It must be toxic because I have trouble breathing around it. If I had to buy mulch, it would be dye free.

yes to the latter statement. I miss our horse & their manure. Have not had them for some years. the girls were in college & now in their 50s. We have sharp drainage so no problems with standing water but we don't have very rich soil although enough leaves to make useful compost.

I didn't do much today.. Did some talking with my neighbors over the fence and they sent me home with several iris that were potted up, and in need of going in the ground..

I did stake off some dead lawn for a new bed. This was a former sand volleyball court that I turned into a lawn when my daughter got married. So all this composting talk is timely. I'll need to add a lot of amendments. This border will be 8' wide and about 65-70' long. It will have a few small trees, roses, perennials and of course, Iris..


This is the satellite version of the area.

Exciting project there Sherry!

Definitely not as productive today as yesterday. Only got 20 iris planted. Got stuck at my nieces first birthday party longer then expected. Then I had to water all my gardens. Soooo. Had to cut my time in the dirt short. Weather here is supposed to be perfect this week! Hopefully I get lots done!

*Only* 20? You need to come out here and give me a hand.. The weather is perfect here too

I have finished planting both of my Iris gardens .........but now I have run out of space !
and ... I am left with over 15 rhizomes that I can't find a home for.....
I should have listened to Arlyn and bought more space for made another bed or something,
so right now I'm in a real quandary as to what to do !

I was wondering if you are pressed for space. How close are you guys planting your new iris?

I have 3 new 75 foot rows that are 2 1/2 feet wide. Sooooo. Mine are about 12 to 16 inches apart so I won't have to move them. But I have them jammed all over in flower beds around the bases of trees ect. Where ever i can put a garden bed. I promise there are iris. But I try to keep them at least 12 inches apart. Unless they are tiny. That's another story.

Yes, my goal was to keep the one backyard garden bed nice and neat, with the rhizomes planted in triangles 12-inches apart. That plan fell apart as I ended up buying more rhizomes then I really should have so, the backyard iris garden which is 9-ft. long has 3-rows of iris rhizomes -
some are 12-inches apart, but most are not - the Front row has 10-rhizomes in the row -
the Middle row has 11-rhizomes planted in the row - and the Back row has 9-rhizomes planted
in it.

Is there any way you can add a few feet onto any side or sides of the 9 Ft. bed? Or any other bed for that matter? Another option is to get some large containers and keep them potted in them over winter. Then in the spring if there are some that you find less desirable you could cull them and replace them with some of the potted ones. (I know that's like asking you to cut of a finger ) I like to have my beds ready with markers in place so I know I have spots for them, that being said, most years that doesn't happen, but I like it when I am organized enough to do that. Space isn't the issue for me, it's keeping my work level at a doable place, and that work level seems to be slowly getting smaller. So I have been forcing myself to cull deeper to avoid making too many more beds.

I think my big issue is what Tom just expressed; them ability to tend to what you have. I expanded quite a bit the last three years and I have out stripped my abilities to maintain it. I think I have had alot of loss this year due to that inability.

I'm making plans for more iris bed space this fall and next spring. I have tons of grass I would like to eliminate. DH still love his grass so I have to encroach slooooowlyyyyyy...

No - unfortunately, I do not have room to expand the 9-ft. space. On one side is my patio, on the other is a cement sidewalk. So, what is currently planted in the first Iris garden is all that I can fit.
The second Iris garden space is shaped like an odd shaped semi-circle on the side of the house.
That also is at maximum capacity when it comes to iris rhizomes. There is no room to add any
more rhizomes there either. So, I do have some space on the other side of the house in the rock
garden to house maybe 4 rhizomes. The balance will have to be given away to neighbors who may want them for their own gardens. Live and Learn ! I'll have to wait until next Spring
to see which rhizomes bloom and which do not.

Having neighbors with your iris gives you a chance to see them anyway. I'm trying not to plant what others have so I have more room.

I was able to plant (5) more rhizomes - Caliente, President Pilkington, Coronation, Quaker Lady
and Queen of May. Now both Iris beds are done. A few of the remaining Iris rhizomes will be
planted in the Rock garden, and the rest ............. who knows.

That's progress Patrick! I had to do some running today so I didn't get much time to take advantage of the cool weather. I did manage to increase a part of the historic bed and do some weeding. I still have more increasing to do there, but I have made room to move at least 3 from their current place to this bed where they belong. I have four more historics that need to be moved into that bed yet this fall. Then I have to talk Arlyn out of some of that Autumn Twilight for next year. And I need to get a red historic for that bed too add some more color. Thinking about the ol' Indian Cheif, any suggestions on a nice red histoic?