Depends on if you want to keep the seed pod, if so leave it on until they turn brown and start to split open.
The other stalks can all be cut off.
As far as the foliage, pull the dry leaves off and leave the green ones.
Water the plant once in a while so it doesn't dry out.

Once the iris pods has split open, do you just let the seeds fall on the ground in the iris bed? Can these self seed? I can divide overcrowded clumps in August; how far do I space these apart? I believe these are medium bearded iris and not really tall ones, so I hope that helps with the spacing issue.

Bearded rises do not come true from seed, so if you are growing named cultivars, it's best to remove the seed pods before they split open so that you don't risk contaminating your named iris clumps with unregistered seedlings.

The spacing between transplants depends on the size and vigor of the particular cultivar, as well as how often you want to have to divide. I plant my tall beardeds and taller medians at 18-24" spacings, and the standard and miniature dwarfs at 12". At those spacings, I generally have to divide again in 3-4 yrs, though there are cultivars that are such vigorous growers that they require dividing or thinning every year or two. You just have to experiment with the spacings and see what works best for you.

Laurie

The iris is called Clarence and its blue or bluish purple and white, these are beautiful. It states on the package "iris a barbe or iris Germanica." Is this a cultivar? If so, I better remove the seed pods. Today it's raining cats and dogs in Halifax but if it's nice tomorrow, I can proceed.

Yes, Clarence is a tall bearded cultivar. It will not grow true from seed.

But if you let your seed pods mature, then harvest and plant in another place, you could have alot of fun with them, seeing what kind of iris result from your CLARENCE. There are just so many possibilities, you will get one-of-a-kind offspring.
Laetitia

... and no two seeds will produce identical siblings, either!

Clarence is indeed a lovely iris, but if you bought yours in a packet labelled Clarence from a chain store, then it may or may not have been correctly labelled. Clarence is a tall bearded iris, not a median. If it grows shorter, this may be because of the environment in which it is growing, or it may not actually be Clarence.
Cheers, Jan

I took off the seed pods, stalks, and cut off the dead foliage at around 10 a.m. Atlantic Daylight Time (ADT). Today's hot again in Halifax, NS (25 Celcius) after our deluge yesterday of 30 millimeters of rain or more. I'm sure we'll get more violent weather to come as it's going to be a busy hurricane season here in the Maritimes. The water is forecasted to be warmer than usual, so who knows what will happen. In September 2003 we had Hurricane Juan and around February 2004 we had White Juan (nor'easter). What can I do for my irises to protect them from future winds?

Barbudo is Spanish for bearded. You see that on a lot of mart iris boxes.

In the US, many products are now labeled in English and Spanish.

Walter Moores