I'm sorry that I can't tell you the proper names for the products available, but I know that there are products that will only kill the grass without harming other plants.

I plan to purchase a good deal of it this spring and use it everywhere.

Hopefully someone here will know of a reliable brand because I too would like to know what to look for when it's time.

I haven't used mulch, but I've heard that just about any kind is fine as long as you leave the rhizomes exposed. Otherwise they'll rot.

The mulch I've wanted to try for some time is gravel(just can't afford it).

I hope this helps you somehow.

Brock

I have very wet clay soil, on a sloping lot, not good for growing iris. I only grow iris at the top of the lot in softly mounded raised beds. The grass desperately wants to invade these "improved" places. I use rubber edging around the main beds or edging trenches, straight edge of the outside rim down as low as you can go, slant edge on the inside, at least 5 inches wide.

In addition, I use newspaper, lots of newspaper, covered by mulch, on the inside of the bed edges. In zone 5 the paper 8 - 10 sheets thick is good for a whole season. The paper eventually turns into mulch, & I repeat the process. Grass doesn't usually grow through this unless you leave gaps. It is relatively easy to do & doesn't involve any poisons. Cardboard boxes also work but are harder to cut/shape to the bed. I just save up the papers in early spring, and do any areas that I had problems with the past season.

Use Round Up along the outside of your bed. Keep a perimeter of about 4" to 6" clean of invading grass. It's tough keeping grass, especially bermuda out of beds, but this will work if yo u keep at it.

Have a special sprayer (cheap gallon plastic one) and put diesel or regular gasoline in it. Use this as bed edging and carefully on weeds actively growing in beds. It will keep the weeds down for about three months and you won't have to worry about any drift distorting your blossoms. I never use Roundup until after bloom season.

This is the way we kept weeds under control long before Roundup or Weedeaters or anything like them were invented. I remember people setting fire to the brown stubble in their chain-link fences after the diesel had done its job.

Walter Moores

OK people...it's another grueling time in my iris beds because of weeds and crabgrass. I am growing in what I call a "farm bed"...rows of iris only. What do Mr Schreiner and the Wilds and Mr Ghio and the many professional and commercial operations use? Surely they don't have people out there in the hot sun picking out crabgrass??? (or maybe they do) HELP!!! Thank you for any shared solutions here.

Chiclady, me too. Field of meadow grass. I got in touch with Mrs. Spoon at Winterberry after Mr. Spoon wrote the article about the "weed" called Scleranthus in the AIS quarterly bulletin. They sent me some and I am sowing it in my weeded beds. It can't be any worse then the meadow grass which is like pulling the strings out of a piano!!. I have around 400 irises and am about ready to quit :O(( Will let you know how this does but it will be next spring before I know. Also will try Mr. Moores gas remedy on the long beds that I just can't get that grass out of.
Marian

Using petrolem products to kill weeds is not a good idea these days. Most states have strict laws, some with severe penalties for gasoline or other spills... even small amounts. Breathing gasoline vapors can affect the nervous system, blood and kidneys. Benzene, an ingredient in gasoline in a known human carcinogen. If you would like to know more about the hazards of breathing gasoline fumes, or the environmental impact of even small spills, the link to the New York State Attorney Generals office on Oil Spill Laws is a good source of info, and is typical of most state laws.

Here is a link that might be useful: Oil Spills : Big Problems