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Easy-Care Irises Provide Breathtaking Beauty Irises, with their fan-like foliage and spectacular flowers are easy – and rewarding – to grow. Incredible color combinations and showy blooms combine with dependability to make Irises one of the most popular flowers for home gardens. Irises are versatile, carefree plants that bloom faithfully and multiply annually without much help. Plant them in borders or as their own groupings. Let them expand to fill a large area. Their sun and soil needs are flexible, giving you lots of garden design options. To get even more out of your Irises, try the following suggestions. Caring for your Irises Irises are hardy plants that can grow in most conditions. They perform well in sun or part shade, and they don’t require fertile soil. They do, however, need good drainage. Adding organic matter or sand to your soil will help, and you can also plant beds on a slope to improve drainage. Most Irises love soil that has organic matter, meaning compost, leaf mold, decomposing bark chips – the things most of us find less than lovable but that prove to be great accompaniments to Irises! Place your Irises 15-24" apart, depending on the variety, and make sure they are not crowded by other perennials. And don’t make one of the most common mistakes with Irises: planting them so deeply that they don’t bloom. We get so used to planting bulbs at depths of 4" or more that it doesn’t seem right to have Iris rhizomes near the surface. Potted Irises should be at soil level; most bareroots need to have the rhizome lying horizontally with the top showing or barely below the surface with the feeder roots spread down into the soil. Many types of German Irises will rebloom during the summer. Reblooming varieties benefit from fertilizer in spring and again after the first wave of flowering. Some varieties spread a foot or more each year, so plan accordingly when you choose a planting area. Expect to divide them every 3-4 years, after they bloom. If specific directions come with your plants, follow them, as they apply to your particular variety. Storing Irises If you can’t plant your bareroots as soon as you get them, keep them in the bags they came in. Put them in a location that is cool (40 degrees Fahrenheit) but not freezing. One option is to store them in a refrigerator, in the vegetable drawer. Quick planting will give the best results but the roots can be stored for up to three weeks. Don’t worry if the roots look like they are dead and dry. They often are shipped when dormant but will burst into life after planting. If you have questions after you get your plants started, remember to use IrisLovers.com as a resource. Check back often for helpful advice! » Shop Our Wide Selection of Irises Now! |
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