When Spring arrives, the flower I look forward to greeting the most is Iris! She's so lovely, and her fragrance can rival even the rose. : ) I was discussing irises, recently, with an e-mail friend, and she was telling me about some irises she has that are growing in a hot spot. She was worried about them and thought she'd transplant them to a better spot. I told her about the strangest places I've seen irises growing. Once, when I was walking my dog on the desert, we came across a place where someone had dumped their garbage. Guess what was growing and blooming on top of the rubbish heap? Yep, an iris, it was a bearded iris, no less! Another time, I was driving past a hill that had no houses nor visible water source close by, and guess what was growing and blooming right there on the hillside, as bold and as lovely as you please? It was, again, Miss Iris! Once again it was a lovely, large bearded iris, too! Can you believe it?! Speaking of rubbish heaps, a couple of years ago, I was making compost heaps, right on the ground, way out in the back of my yard. I had been depositing my rabbits' droppings on the heaps, as well as prunings from the yards, and I had thrown some extra irises, that I had thinned out (bearded irises), on the compost heaps. Guess what's thriving this day, and blooming, where those compost heaps were? There's no sprinkler system out there either, and our temperature soars to upper 90's in the summertime! The moral of this story is: Irises are hardy plants and are not hard to grow. I have never tried to grow them where there's a lot of rain though, and they like full-sun best. I know I told you three times that they were growing on top of the "soil," but we've planted ours, with about an inch of soil covering the rhizomes, and then put a fine, bark mulch around them, and they thrived. You don't have to give them a lot of water, but ours that get quite a bit of water are larger and lush. Oh, and we have "nice," heavy, clay soil, also! When we first moved here, I took a handful of the soil, mixed it with water, and baked it - just for fun to see what would happen. Sure enough, it baked just like pottery! That's how much clay our soil contains! I've also tested our soil's PH. It bubbled and bubbled over for the test, telling me that it's FULL of calcium carbonate. So, irises are pretty tough plants! : ) And, what they give back for the crummy conditions they can grow under! : ) Now that iris season is winding up, it's time to decide where you want to transplant some of those irises. : ) If you do want to move some around, just wait until they're all finished blooming. Remember, if you aren't into hybridizing irises, keep those dead heads pinched off, or you'll have big green seed pods. If you let some slip through, then be careful when they dry out. Those seed pods are very hard and sharp when they're dry and pop open! Anyway, when the flowers are all dead, it's time to transplant irises. : ) Since, iris rhizomes grow out from the original rhizome, all you have to do is to dig up some of them, to thin them out. Then, snap them in half where they join each other (the skinny part). These can then be transplanted to another part of your yard/garden. When you transplant them, cover the rhizomes with only about an inch of soil, and then mulch them. As with any transplanted plant, give them a good dose of water, and that's it! : ) Next spring, you'll be rewarded for all your work! If you're looking for some new iris varieties, check out my page of links to on-line iris growers. There's one that has a good on-line catalog, and they take on-line orders, too. The Gardening Girl copyrighted Gardening Girl is not responsible, in any way, for the death of or harm to anyone's plants, other than her own. Find your climate's zone. To be notified by Email when this page is updated enter your Email address below and SELECT your platform's OS. EMail Address: Identify Your Platform OS: MacOS Windows 95 Windows NT Windows 3.x Risc OS Amiga Be OS/2 Unix Linux DOS WebTV Bandi Game Machine Other The lovely Disney tune you hear, "Colors of the Wind," is from Laura's Midi Heaven. Thanks Laura! : ) Home / Queen Iris / Iris Care / Iris Growers / Sweet Nectar / HTML Help / Vegetable Garden / Pruning Tips / E-mail Me / Please, sign my guestbook. / Would you like to view my guestbook? GeoCities - FREE Home Pages! / Picket Fence Community
When Spring arrives, the flower I look forward to greeting the most is Iris! She's so lovely, and her fragrance can rival even the rose. : ) I was discussing irises, recently, with an e-mail friend, and she was telling me about some irises she has that are growing in a hot spot. She was worried about them and thought she'd transplant them to a better spot. I told her about the strangest places I've seen irises growing.
Once, when I was walking my dog on the desert, we came across a place where someone had dumped their garbage. Guess what was growing and blooming on top of the rubbish heap? Yep, an iris, it was a bearded iris, no less!
Another time, I was driving past a hill that had no houses nor visible water source close by, and guess what was growing and blooming right there on the hillside, as bold and as lovely as you please? It was, again, Miss Iris! Once again it was a lovely, large bearded iris, too! Can you believe it?!
Speaking of rubbish heaps, a couple of years ago, I was making compost heaps, right on the ground, way out in the back of my yard. I had been depositing my rabbits' droppings on the heaps, as well as prunings from the yards, and I had thrown some extra irises, that I had thinned out (bearded irises), on the compost heaps. Guess what's thriving this day, and blooming, where those compost heaps were? There's no sprinkler system out there either, and our temperature soars to upper 90's in the summertime!
The moral of this story is: Irises are hardy plants and are not hard to grow. I have never tried to grow them where there's a lot of rain though, and they like full-sun best. I know I told you three times that they were growing on top of the "soil," but we've planted ours, with about an inch of soil covering the rhizomes, and then put a fine, bark mulch around them, and they thrived. You don't have to give them a lot of water, but ours that get quite a bit of water are larger and lush. Oh, and we have "nice," heavy, clay soil, also! When we first moved here, I took a handful of the soil, mixed it with water, and baked it - just for fun to see what would happen. Sure enough, it baked just like pottery! That's how much clay our soil contains! I've also tested our soil's PH. It bubbled and bubbled over for the test, telling me that it's FULL of calcium carbonate. So, irises are pretty tough plants! : ) And, what they give back for the crummy conditions they can grow under! : )
Now that iris season is winding up, it's time to decide where you want to transplant some of those irises. : ) If you do want to move some around, just wait until they're all finished blooming. Remember, if you aren't into hybridizing irises, keep those dead heads pinched off, or you'll have big green seed pods. If you let some slip through, then be careful when they dry out. Those seed pods are very hard and sharp when they're dry and pop open! Anyway, when the flowers are all dead, it's time to transplant irises. : ) Since, iris rhizomes grow out from the original rhizome, all you have to do is to dig up some of them, to thin them out. Then, snap them in half where they join each other (the skinny part). These can then be transplanted to another part of your yard/garden. When you transplant them, cover the rhizomes with only about an inch of soil, and then mulch them. As with any transplanted plant, give them a good dose of water, and that's it! : ) Next spring, you'll be rewarded for all your work! If you're looking for some new iris varieties, check out my page of links to on-line iris growers. There's one that has a good on-line catalog, and they take on-line orders, too.
The Gardening Girl copyrighted Gardening Girl is not responsible, in any way, for the death of or harm to anyone's plants, other than her own. Find your climate's zone.
The lovely Disney tune you hear, "Colors of the Wind," is from Laura's Midi Heaven. Thanks Laura! : )
Home / Queen Iris / Iris Care / Iris Growers / Sweet Nectar / HTML Help /
Vegetable Garden / Pruning Tips / E-mail Me /
Please, sign my guestbook. / Would you like to view my guestbook?
GeoCities - FREE Home Pages! / Picket Fence Community