i have some living on the compost pile.. where.. after borer damage i threw the remains of useless pieces ....

if this actually does kill them .. let me know ...

what i really want to know.. is how 4 guys knock on your front door and volunteer to erect a shed in your yard.. and you are upset about the eye-rye??? .. whats that all about ???

to chastise you a bit .. a few iris are a small price to pay for installation of a shed ... i hope you baked them some cookies or a 12 pack for there generosity ... w/o running out there and stroking out on them ...

dont worry about the iris.. relish your new shed ....

ken

ps: forward me the recipe for baking 12 packs if you would ....

I feel your pain. Three years ago I had 2 men come and trim the Norway Maple I had in the front yard and they weren't careful at all and trampled my 7 hostas. After they left I went out and cut down the mangled hostas to ground level and let them start over. They didn't do much that year but the following year they came back as nice as they had always been. Later that same summer I had roofers come to re-shingle one side of my house roof and they did the same thing....completely slautered my front garden. Some of the casualties were irises. I went out after and trimmed everything and they started over again. That was at my last house. This year we had our garage and shed re-shingled and I specifically told these guys what had happened at the other house and that I didn't want a repeat of that so to be careful around all my gardens so my plants didn't get trampled. They were careful and not one thing was disturbed. I took the risk this time of sounding a little obsessed and crazy when it comes to my gardens but it payed off. I wish I had said something to the others and maybe they would have been more careful. From now on, I will for sure say something to ensure my plants are not wrecked. I'm sorry for your flowers but I would bet that next year they will be back just the same as ever.
Jason

When they've finished, just go out & trim the foliage. As Ken said, they will be fine next year, possibly even better because they didn't get to bloom this year.

I,m so sorry your iris got trodden on so close to blooming . That really sucks. My dh is always stomping on something. I find removing his wallet from his pocket and buying new plants with it helps ease the pain;)

LOL! Madeyna! New irises?! I'm on that bandwagon, they will do to the old ones grow back!!! Cuz ya can't keep a good iris down!ha! Even me! Who takes gardening tips...filters them thru my brain to come out in some wonky plant killer way....

I had a few casualties this year from the tree trimmers. I guess it's part of gardening, but it doesn't help when you have been waiting all year to see the flowers and now they are gone. We only have so many springs left, you know? The irises will survive it. My mom dropped a shed door on top of her new irises this year and snapped off the leaves, but one bloomed anyway, with no leaves!
Renee

did they at least put the shed in a place where it's not covering up any plants? the iris will come back, but I know next year is a long way away. I moved all my iris last year, & I lost a lot of them to the neighborhood squirrels. it seems they like to dig them up to taste them & then just leave them on the ground when they discover they don't like them. unfortunately that was last fall & early winter, so they were out of the ground all winter long. I still have a lot of iris in the ground but, I lost about half of all my iris. some of them were new e~bay iris that I got last summer, so I'll never get to see them. I did get my first one open today though. it's a pretty yellow one. & I have 3 more with buds on. that's it so far. all you can do is take them back down to ground level & hope they will set new leaves. it's still early enough in the season, that they may surprise you. good luck with your iris.

Just meandered on in here and saw this thread. I wanted to know what to do about top heavy iris. So many of mine fell over, and it's been unseasonably cool, windy and rainy. Then I remembered, the first year of bloom, one fancy bearded did the same thing. Then the following year, one or two fell but not the whole lot, almost seems like they know they have to develop tougher stems. I'll try some support next year. They were so loaded with buds.

I think your iris will be fine. This is what was going on at my place last year, fell right on my Mariposa Skies, Immortality, and a Siberian; the bearded ones had multiplied nicely, and when that thing came down, it came down hard!!!

I didn't know what to expect there, had two roses I'd rooted as well but it partially flattened one and totally flattened the other; they're back, about to bloom, look fine, canes do better in our winters than most of my other ones. Well, the iris sulked the rest of the season last year, and looked just awful by early spring. They started filling out again, and the end of that row nearest my camera is where that tree fell (see second photo further down).

I was so discouraged I didn't do one bit of gardening last year, the sadness of losing that nice tree, the cost, and other difficult things going on. But ever so slowly, I've been out there and in front trying to clean it up, have a ways to go.

But I must say seeing my Persian Berry and Edith Wohlford, one gold NOID, one group no blooms and can't remember. But Mariposa Skies and Celebration something (the pink and lavendar) filled out and bloomed beautifully. But no sign of Princess Caroline, and I had fussed with that one, finally moved it back to this row and it bloomed, think it is no more. So maybe this will encourage you but I sure know how you must have felt, free labor or not.

Oh, the falls on Mariposa Skies were darker blue w/slight lavender tinge when they were shaded part of the day, but now in full sun, they are lighter. I'm going to try to get most of this row going in iris, tired of fighting the problems and maintenance with the rest that's in that row.