Have almost lost hope

19 years ago

Dear fellow iris lovers,

Just like many of you, my passion is irises. I have about 50 of them in my front yard, various colors. I dream of a garden FULL of spring iris blooms. This coming spring will be my third year since planting most of them. The problem is that most don't bloom (got about 15% blooms last year). I am heartsick about waiting another year for a garden full of beautiful green leaves in spring. I am almost ready to give up, or maybe I should just plant a single boring color that does well here. Can you tell I'm a little cranky? I generally have a green thumb, and irises don't need much care, so what could possibly be wrong?

Do most irises take this long to establish & bloom prolificly?

Do any of you have masses of varied, blooming irises in spring? I know they bloom in varied time-tables. Here is a checklist of my general care:

1) Full sun - about 4-5 hours of afternoon sun per day

2) Semi-clay soil - but it's pretty rich & good. Don't they prefer it?

3) I feed soon after bloom season with 10-10-10 fertilizer & alfalfa pellets

4) I water them quite well about once per week

5) They are NOT overcrowded. There is still a good 8-12 inches of space between each plant

Here are some possible reasons why the blooms have been sparse. Can anyone confirm that any of these might be significant enough to create a sluggish bloom environment?:

a) pretty severe gopher problem around here, but they rarely eat the leaves...maybe they are eating the roots? They eat lots of other plants, but rarely take my irises down their hole

b) did not feed until about 3-4 weeks before bloom time last season

c) pine tree nearby, but it doesn't drop that many needles into this bed

d) we had an extraordinarily cold winter last season...had about 8 days below 32 degrees, which is unusual for my climate zone

e) some of them are super slow growers. Shouldn't they pretty much multiply each year?

f) some purchased from reputable growers, some purchased from not especially reputable, some given to me. Blooms are not more predictable by reputable source

g) had inter-mingled some california poppies in my iris beds last year (won't do that again) It helped to brighten the bare spots, but lots of poppies grew above emerging plants. Maybe they didn't have enough sun

Thank you all for listening to my sad story.

Gardenfan

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Comments (3)

iris_gal
19 years ago
1.) 6 hours of sun is minimum recommended for beardeds (CA 5 hrs sun seems like it would do)
2.) semi-clay soil that is rich ??? --- rich is not mandatory but drainage, drainage, drainage is
3.) oh my! stop with the nitrogen. buy bulb fertilizer and save the alfalfa pellets for roses and rabbits
4.) the top 6 inches or so of soil needs to be allowed to dry out between waterings with semi-clay. I flood mine once a month (heavy soil in ammended beds-full sun)
5.) spacing sounds good

I share your frustration Gardenfan. Many beardeds do not bloom the first year in my experience. If I have 75% that is stunning. Usually it's more like 50% or less, depending upon the supplier's rhizomes. Size is not necessarily the key. And you are correct about some being slow growers (increasers). These may only bloom every other year --- they are not that common.

You do not treat beardeds like perrenials. They are drought resistant. If you check the soil's moistness with a trowel, you can see when the top has dried out and it's time for a nice soak.

I believe Schreiner's gives their last feeding 6-8 weeks before bloom.

Also a word about digging depth. Tall beardeds like to put down deep roots. 18" depth of digging is super. Our rain is seldom but when it comes it packs the soil down. I have to re-dig every few years.
laurief_gw
19 years ago
You can also check the FAQs (link at top of forum page) for a list and explanations of other potential causes of non-bloom in bearded irises.
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njiris
19 years ago
You don't say how long ago you planted the iris. Are they from last year?
If so, lots of iris take more than a year to establish and start blooming.
Another hint: Examine the rhizome/base more carefully. A plant is ready to bloom if the fan base is thick (at least an inch in diameter at the very base of the fan) and there is a new plant offshoot on each side. The increase/offshoot may be small but that's OK. If you have this type of growth pattern that means they 'should have' bloomed, so your conditions are not right. If they are smallish rhizomes with no increase, they are just not mature enough for bloom.
If your iris have been planted for a number of years, and you see mostly long rhizomes where the mother iris just keeps growing longer each year and does not increase and does not bloom, that usually means the iris are too shaded, and/or do not have good soil.
Well I hope that helps.
Your conditions sound ok. If the iris appear to be healthy this year, I would not be surprised to see a huge bloom next Spring.
Laetitia