Will iris overwinter in pots if you are in zone 6?

Thanks,

Teresa

I may try selling some at the local flea market and was curious if anyone on here raises them in pots. I have several that need dividing.

When I live in the foothills (zone 7), they went through the winter just fine. I don't know about zone 6.

Mine are fine in pots but I am in zone 8a. Greg has raised iris in pots for sales @Misawa77 , so he should be able to give you some advice.

Keeping irises in pots over Winter is something I do and have been doing for the last 5 years. I started out burying them, but I have stopped this practice as it is not needed (mainly in that I had to clean the outside of the pot before selling them and this was a waste time). They have been fine out of the ground. Stoney Creek Iris over Winters pots too (out of the ground) and they are situated just North of Harrisburg PA! You will be fine😊

I have on average 350 pots over Wintering every year.

Excellent, Greg! Thanks for the input. I need to get busy, hopefully between rains and this 100+ heat index I can get several potted up. I had heard one daylily person say that she uses a frost blanket on her pots for protection but yours in just out in the elements hmmm. Interesting.
Teresa

I too have had iris potted over winter. Not alot though.

I just potted a few that I rescued from crown rot and kept them in pots by my door so I could keep an eye on them.

They should do just fine.

I've had iris that overwinter just sitting on the ground and not even started growing roots until the spring.

I have overwintered pots in KY and my advice is to keep them on the ground, not on a deck or anything higher. I keep mine under the raised playhouse protected from the worst of the rain and snow. If you have them above like on a deck, they do not survive. I pot for our iris show rhizome sale. Next year we will host the region 7 so I think we will still need to sell pots.

All my pots are on the ground surrounding the gardens. I keep them close together though so protect them from possible severe cold.

The best part with pots is you can move them. You can change camera lighting from sun to shade. You can turn the pot and get different angles to really capture that diamond dusting off the sunlight. So many perks to potting or temporary potting. I placed a new one or 2 on my porch every bloom I also took some to the other garden site and made a few crosses.

I left my babies completely exposed to the elements. I experienced minimal heaving in the winter, but did notice a lot of West coast rhizomes cracking from extreme lower temps of winter. In the spring i saw well drained pots flood from heavy rains that needed tipping over. It was a soap opera at times last season.

As I still try to figure out how to deal with the element of natural soil here I prefer to pot. You almost can't go wrong Just make sure it's big enough because those roots grow insanely long really fast. Potting was a iris life saver for me. Hell, I didn't even have a true garden till this year and it's mostly made from those potted.

Next ? ? What size of pots are you guys using? How often do you divide? I have a tree/shrub nursery within a few miles that uses a potting mixture that is lighter than garden soil. I wonder if it would be ok for iris. I may give him a call. I have bought gallon pots from him before.

I have a lot of 3 gallon pots because that is what I get from Home Depot. For iris I plan to plant by fall the 3 gallon are great because I can put two or three rhizomes in each pot. I really haven't potted any bearded iris that I don't intend to get planted in the ground, but I have some that are two to a pot that have been together for about a year now, and they are not in each others way at all. I planted them toe to toe, giving the fans plenty of room to expand.

If I am planning on selling these anyway I guess I will stick to the gallon pots. It can run in to money filling a 3 gallon pot. I understand if I was keeping them, when they increase it would be to crowded.

Toe to toe--- but the increase is at the heels, right, Leslie? Help me with this because I am first a daylily collector lol.

I also plant them toe to toe as I found the increases normally grow off the back of the fan.
Blessings

new at growing irises in pots, and have orderd 4 siberian irises which i potted. do the si's like wet feet?

i have also placed my japanese irises in pots (purchased 5 yr ago), and have placed them in 6in. of water during the summer growing season and have removed them during its dormant times. it's proven to work ok. i check every other day during the summer for mosquito larvae; don't want to contribute to the 'squito population!

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I use 1 gal "trade" pots. I think they are 6 inches across and 8 inches deep( I think those are the correct dimensions-I will try to measure or take a picture of the box)

Greg, do you sell? That is the size I am thinking about using. It is like you see at Lowes or other nursery places. What medium do you plant in?

I do sell. I use a mixture of potting soil, peat moss, and dirt from my yard (1/3, 1/3, 1/3).

Sibs like more water than bearded iris, but don't need to be given as much as the JI's. I mulch mine to keep the moisture in.

So true, with record rainfall the TB are dropping fans, while the others are actively growing! I had planted 4 new Japanese, 2 Sibs and 2 Louisiana earlier.