I'm beginning to have a "love - hate" relationship with my iris. They are so beautiful but so much work. I weed VERY well in the early spring. Every time thinking I'm getting a really good head start to seeing fantastic looking iris'. Then I get going on taking care of multiple, multiple other tasks in the gardens which keep me busy and before I know the iris are getting ready to bloom. Good thing, yes, however by now the weeds are back in the iris and makes them look terrible. That along with getting things around to prop up the flower stalks, then the rain and winds come and ruin them, so it's time to dead head so they look good for as long as they have to bloom yet.
Okay, enough of that...
My main question is how do "you" keep weeds out. If I can control that better (a lot better) I can live with the rest of challenges. I cannot put mulch on them; they would probably rot. Can something like pea-gravel be used? Has anyone tried it. I've seen it with dwarf iris but could it be used on tall bearded ones also.
For weed control I even use Preen on them and it doesn't seem to do too much. Maybe I don't put enough down???
