They do multiply fast compared to daylilies but my problem is rolly pollies aka Armadillidiidae keep eating them. The daylilies are not affected by Armadillidiidae but they too are not as carefree as garden centers and catalogs make them out to be. The only truly carefree plants I grow are Elaeagnus multiflora and Yucca filamentosa You can pop them in the ground and walk away.

I've always had pretty much carefree iris. Maybe because I don't plant them so close together that I have to divide them very often. I've never had a problem with any bugs on mine, or anything else for that matter. I've only had to divide them every 3 to 5 years, and I don't feel bad about tossing the extras in the compost pile if I can't find anyone to take them. At my last house, I even had ground cover growing all around them, and they were never bothered by that. Maybe I was lucky, but I never found them to be much work at all.

Please shoot me an tree mail before you compost anymore. Too many good things are getting composted by our members.

Natalie I've had the same experience. Good drainage in the sun and I basically split chunks off and give them away occasionally. Probably needs it again I think it depends on your area.

Daniel, it may be many years before I compost any now that I have acreage to move the extra plants to, but I'll send you some when I run out of room. I had to compost them in the past though, before moving here, because I ran out of people to take them off my hands, or I had too many purples, and everyone got tired of purple. Luckily that should no longer be a problem.

Ginny, I think the key to success is good drainage, like you said. I do have one iris area against the house that I have to amend before winter, but it won't take too long because it is a very small area. I can't believe I didn't lose any iris in that bed because it flooded, and stayed flooded, for about 3 weeks last spring. I know I just got really lucky! That bed had these massive clumps of Happy Returns and Stella when we bought the house, and I found a rattlesnake hiding in there last summer, so I moved those clumps far away from the house! Those clumps were also hiding the flooding problem. Now it is a nice clear view, and the iris seem really happy there, but they will be happier when they aren't stuck in a swimming pool this winter!

Borers do not seem to be endemic here in the West. I have never seen one.

The big problem is placement (unless you are into monoculture beds, which I am not). As someone mentioned, the irises need it dryer than the daylilies want, and it is hard (if not impossible) to achieve a happy medium there. Also, the fertilizer requirements are very different; irises want 5-10-5 or superphosphate, whereas daylilies need a lot more nitrogen, and something like an 18-6-12 ratio. You simply cannot expect to grow them both successfully side by side in the same bed (not that I haven't tried, with one daylily amid some irises ).

Even if you could pull off such a mixed-planting bed, do you really want to look at a sea of strappy foliage? I think that each of these plants looks best when plants with different foliage habit (and other forms of flowers) is grown with them.

I've never fertilized my iris before! I never even think to do that. The only thing I use on my daylilies is alfalfa pellets, but I seem to have happy plants.

One thing I did when planting iris and daylilies somewhat together is I put the iris at the back, kind of in clumps, and on higher ground. The daylilies were in front of them, with other plants mixed in. I need to find a picture so that it makes more sense. Things weren't in rows, but pretty crammed together. I thought it worked okay. I had an automatic watering system, so I set the sprinklers so that the iris didn't get much water, but the daylilies got plenty. It isn't easy growing them together that way, but it's possible.

It sounds like you've got the water just right - maybe the irises also had some drainage, being on higher ground?

How long have you been growing the irises, if you haven't used fertilizer? It would seem to me that the bloom would decline pretty quickly.

Polymerous-- my biggest clumps are not in my front garden areas. They have rarely been fed. Some of my best reliable flowerers. They are older iris. They operate off of mom and two babies. I think the mom feeds the two babies. The two babies become moms and feed their babies. If you get a clump started they take care of themselves a little longer than newer iris. With the newer iris they can put eight increases out. Mom can not feed all those and that is alot of flowers to produce in a smaller soil space. You need to feed. This is just the difference I see between rhizomes.

Barbalee-- look for triple socketed iris, or long season. When an iris flower is done, carefully remove from the socket. You do not want seeds.
I have had a triple socketed iris produce more than three flowers from the socket. Kind of like bud building on daylilies. Stayed in bloom for almost a month, but this was a crazy spring. Anxiously awaiting to see what happens next year.

Many blessings for a wonderful successful garden next year!

@Altheabyanothername: Having never had a bloom yet, I have no idea how to remove one from a socket or what a triple socketed one might look like. Can you explain further?

Altheabyanothername said:Polymerous-- my biggest clumps are not in my front garden areas. They have rarely been fed. Some of my best reliable flowerers. They are older iris. They operate off of mom and two babies. I think the mom feeds the two babies. The two babies become moms and feed their babies. If you get a clump started they take care of themselves a little longer than newer iris. With the newer iris they can put eight increases out. Mom can not feed all those and that is alot of flowers to produce in a smaller soil space. You need to feed. This is just the difference I see between rhizomes.

Barbalee-- look for triple socketed iris, or long season. When an iris flower is done, carefully remove from the socket. You do not want seeds.
I have had a triple socketed iris produce more than three flowers from the socket. Kind of like bud building on daylilies. Stayed in bloom for almost a month, but this was a crazy spring. Anxiously awaiting to see what happens next year.

Many blessings for a wonderful successful garden next year!

This is all new information for me. I'll give it a try next spring

Barbalee--the top flower bud of an iris will usually be either single socket, one flower that grows at the top out of the green. There will not be any more flowers at the top. It can be a double socket. There are two buds at the top. When the first one is done flowering you will get second flower on the top.
Sometimes the top flowers, then a lower one, and then back to the top.
Double socket think two top flowers. Triple socketed is a top flower bud with buds to the right and left of it. Three top flowers. They bloom one at a time, sometimes alternating with lower buds. Some lower buds can be double socketed. Two flowers coming from the same place. When the flower fades you gently grab it and pull it out. It helps the next flower to have room and stops seed formation. Just do not cut the stalk until you are sure no more flowers are coming. Look for iris that say triple socket,
long season, EML, or list every bloom time. They stay blooming longer. When I find out an iris is triple socketed I make a note of them for future possible purchase.
Very few of these will open all at once. Champagne Elegance double socket opens all at once for me. While it is very pretty it does not last long at all, sometimes not worth the effort. On Schreiner's site in the search box I put triple. It pulls up all the iris they have that are triple sockets. I can also put in long, I read the descriptions to see if it fits my criteria. I do have some historics that put up 8 single blooms. All iris are definitely not created equal! This is a great place to gather info!
Many blessings for your successes!

Ah...now I totally get it, Sharon. Thank you for the explanation! I can't wait for bloom time next year. Then I'll know what I've got socket wise!

Ginny-- many blessings for the continued successes of your gardens!

Iris certainly can be addictive. I bought a dozen 2 years ago and I think I now have about 30. This was not a good bloom year though. Had one rot and dug up another to share and have the rhizome was missing. Iris borers????

Cindy--That is a bummer. We do not get iris borers the way you get them.
It is my understanding the cold weather drives them into the iris. But if your entire rhizome was missing, I lean towards critters. I pot new rhizomes only a very short time to know the roots reestablished. Once I tug and can not remove it. Then I plant in ground. The squirrels can not move it. Sometimes they want to plant a nut there and if it is not firmly attached off it goes. Sometimes they just play with them. Frustrating to fix a problem when you do not know what caused it! May you be blessed with a successful garden next year!
Many blessings for a wonderful and safe month for everyone!

Borers are horrible here in my garden. They will normally begin in early spring about the time buds begin to form. You will see circular spots form on the fans, and then you will see a discharge
coming from the fan joint. The borer will travel down to the rhizome and will eat it from the inside out, leaving a mutilated half eaten shell. The upper part of the plant will rot at the base of the
rhizome. I use Imidan for my apple trees, and will spray it on the Iris before buds form after they first begin to grow in spring, and again when buds begin to show. I try to spray the rhizomes as
well as the fans, and I am going to try spraying now for this year just to see if that works better.

Boo hiss, Deryll. That sounds dreadful! Good luck with spraying now!

Deryll, that is great information! I know for sure that I've never had borers before, since I've never seen anything like this before! Do the borers travel down inside the leaves? How big is the circular spots?

Sharon, that's a great idea for planting if squirrels are a problem. I wouldn't have thought to plant them in pots first until they are well rooted. I've never had squirrel problems, but it's good to know that this works in case I ever do have a problem!

Also forgot to say that borers seem to attack the newer tall bearded much more than the older Iris that have smaller less fancy flowers. Even side by side it will be obvious which
are the tall bearded Iris, and which are older. I don't grow border Iris or dwarf, so I don't know if they affect them or not.