As you know gardens don't usually just happen by themselves. There is planning, planting, dividing, thinning, trimming spent blooms, weeding, watering, fertilizing - - - and the beat goes on! Also, a lot of sunshine (at least six hours) is necessary for optimum Iris blooms. Unfortunately, as the large trees in my garden have grown taller and taller, the sunshine diminishes. Good drainage is also very important. The topsoil is almost non existent. So the rhizomes are just sitting on rock and clay. The newest rhizomes need to be saved and planted near the surface in healthy soil. I came across this sentence and think it is a good thing to remember. "Transplant them to places where they will have wet feet but dry knees."
This is how the iris look at this time.
Total neglect! No care - No blooms! Sad.
Total neglect! No care - No blooms! Sad.
In time past the Iris Garden was a riot of color. Each of the flowers in my mosaic are from my own garden. Do you see how my little doggie, Lily, snuck in the photos?
All of the Iris were bought or gifted and planted by me shortly after I moved here in 1993. This is a link to a post that I blogged in 2009 about my Beautiful Iris.
Take Good Care of Yourself.
Mary
Oh I lust after all of your Iris's!!! What a stunning mosaic, and that photo from your garden is awesome! My mom, in Portland, OR, used to have a huge bed of the purple bearded Iris's... some years they took over, and other years hardly bloomed. I don't know what caused that waxing and waning. She also had yellow ones. Your peach ones are gorgeous... I don't think I've ever seen a peach Iris, especially that one with the darker beards.... and oh the white one! I hope you will be able to revive the beds to have such splendid beauty again! I'm hoping to put some Iris in my back raised rock flower bed.. and I should be planting the bulbs right now.. but don't know if it'll get done this year! Darn!
ReplyDeleteHopefully with the upcoming El Nino bringing an end to our drought (if you say it enough it WILL happen!) your Iris gardens will be blooming again next year. From what I understand, Iris are very forgiving plants. You have such beautiful flowers.
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