Viewing post #1888736 by crowrita1

…...As to "fall care",...I think it kinda' depends on "when you want to do the work" . Most chores can be done, in the fall, OR the early spring......clean-up is the main one. I have found I have the best luck (and the most time!) in the fall. I cut back the foliage on all the irises, to about 4 inches (it's going to die, and become a slimey mess, before spring, anyway) in mid , to late, November, and rake all of it out of the beds, going over everything with the leaf-blower, after that. All the iris foliage (and the tree leaves that have already blown into the beds) gets hauled off to the dump.....I don't compost that, because of the chance of spreading disease. After every thing is "clean", I go over the beds with a "weed burner", burning / singeing anything that's left (I give all the iris clumps a good 'dose" of flame, but move along, pretty quickly, so the rhizomes don't really get very warm)…..IMHO, the flames get rid of a lot of the fungal spores, and insect eggs....making for less leaf spot and borer trouble, during the next season. After the "great burn-off', I add any lime, that I might need, spray any persistant clumps of grass, or perennial weeds that may be in the beds.....and head south , for the winter ! ! The only thing I wouldn't do in the fall, is add fertilizer....it will just 'leach away' before the plants get "active enough" to utilize it, in the spring, when growth starts.
When I get home, In March I clean up any tree leaves that have blown into the beds (with the fans all "cut back", most tree leaves just blow right through the beds, without "sticking", and a quick "once-over" with the leaf blower takes care of those that DID stick in there !), add any fertilizer that's needed, apply my first "dose" of pre-emerge weed control, and the first dose of borer control., and correct any that aren't at the correct planting depth....either scratching away soil from those that look "too deep", or adding some to those that aren't "deep enough". As was stated, unless they are planted "too late" to set a good root system, heaving isn't usually a problem, for me.....if I am worried about it, a brick on top, or some "landscape staples" will help hold them down, and, as was stated, a mulch of pine straw (or anything that won't "pack down" can be applied over the rhizomes (best done late in the winter after the frost is in the ground, and removed in the early spring, before new growth starts).
That said.....you can ALWAYS find things to do in the garden, and you NEVER have enough time to do all that you would like too, so, don't knock yourself out worrying about it....irises are pretty 'forgiving" when it comes to winter care, and if you're taking a "winter stroll" through the beds , on the 'nice days", any heaving', or large accumulations of tree leaves can be dealt with, then !