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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
You didn't give us any clue as to where in the world you are or what your climate is like. Are you in spring moving towards summer or fall moving towards winter like our Aussie friends?
If you are in the US and not the very northern tier, it may be too late to plant them and have them bloom this year. My iris are almost finished blooming, though the larger varieties start and finish later so will keep going for awhile.
But you can plant them anyway, to bloom next year.
Yes, I have iris just a couple feet away from my house. Their root systems are shallow and don't spread very much.
They bloom for just two or three weeks a year and then are done, except the hybridizers have now developed some re-blooming varieties that will bloom again late in the season. But you would have to look specifically for re-blooming varieties, most of them are not.
If you are in the US and not the very northern tier, it may be too late to plant them and have them bloom this year. My iris are almost finished blooming, though the larger varieties start and finish later so will keep going for awhile.
But you can plant them anyway, to bloom next year.
Yes, I have iris just a couple feet away from my house. Their root systems are shallow and don't spread very much.
They bloom for just two or three weeks a year and then are done, except the hybridizers have now developed some re-blooming varieties that will bloom again late in the season. But you would have to look specifically for re-blooming varieties, most of them are not.
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Perennialnorthernmichigan
- Full Member
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Mon May 14, 2012 9:28 am
- Location: Michigan
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
But they are exceptionally hardy and really can be planted any time, just probably won't bloom this year.
One time someone gave me a clump of iris from their garden. I didn't have a spot in mind in my garden so I just dropped them on the ground next to one the deck posts to wait while I figured it out. Then I just sort of forgot about it. The next thing I knew they had rooted themselves in and were growing. Terrible soil, too much shade, and they had never been planted just dropped, and they had never been watered except rain!
I left them there for a few years just as a testament to life's vitality, even though it was too shady for them to actually bloom.
When I dig up and compost iris, these days I cut the greens off from the roots first. If I throw the whole plant in the compost pile (totally dark enclosed), it will happily keep growing in there.
One time someone gave me a clump of iris from their garden. I didn't have a spot in mind in my garden so I just dropped them on the ground next to one the deck posts to wait while I figured it out. Then I just sort of forgot about it. The next thing I knew they had rooted themselves in and were growing. Terrible soil, too much shade, and they had never been planted just dropped, and they had never been watered except rain!
I left them there for a few years just as a testament to life's vitality, even though it was too shady for them to actually bloom.
When I dig up and compost iris, these days I cut the greens off from the roots first. If I throw the whole plant in the compost pile (totally dark enclosed), it will happily keep growing in there.