Due to a thread here, I ended up at Tempo Two Iris website, and was reading some of the information. It was stated to NOT cut back Iris foliage as this would cause the Iris not to bloom. It was further stated that if the foliage wasn't looking the best, just cut the tips and pull off any dead leaves. The indication for not cutting back was that the plant needed the leaves for photosynthesis (sp?) and production and energy to produce the blooms.
Anyone here regularly cut their Iris back? I'm talking to say 6" to 8".
I had regularly done this without thinking about it. When I trim them back, they usually have grown out fully again by the time winter sets in and totally freezes off the foliage anyway. The cutting them back just makes them look so much better since often they have much brown tips and sometimes ugly spots.
I got to thinking about one bed, and how that it hadn't bloomed very well this past spring. I don't know if that was the problem, or just weather or whatever. Many others that I had also cut back did bloom.
