Are these Tall Beardes, Dwarfs, IBs? What kind and do you happen to know the names of these plants? What zone in the US are you?

Linda

Zone 7b, Charlotte, NC.

They are tall bearded.

Don't know the names... yellow, light purple and black.

When were they last fertilized and with what? Any changes in the water situation?

I have never fertilized them. What do they like? I really do not think they need dividing, as when i planted them, I broke them up into almost individual plants. Plus, the bed of irises where i got these from are very tight and crowded and yet they bloom fine. I think you are on to something in regards to the feeding. Also, they are located in a fairly dry part of the garden.

I use low nitrogen fertilizer. One for bulbs is good. We've been in drought and many of mine haven't bloomed in 3 yrs. During the few storms of Jan.-Feb. I collected run-off rain and dumped it on some iris. To my surprise those iris bloomed again!

HMMM... I will start irrigating the iris bed. I appreciate your thoughts.

ncrealestateguy, I do believe littlebit_gw is correct in advising you that they need to be divided.

I don't think so... I am a fairly avid gardener, and can tell you that these are not crowded. I will post a pic soon. I really think they are just too dry and hungry, but I will hold judgement until I post the picture and hear back from you. Thanks.

This is really unusual, because Iris typically will thrive in places where houses are non longer even visible, I know a place in middle of the woods where there's an iris bed and barely the remnants of a foundation. They're tough and survivors, can't imagine them not blooming.

Here they are...

Oh yeah, they don't look happy...I sure would have guessed lack of light.

Maybe too much (or not enough) water? I couldn't see too little water in your area, unless the soil has no water holding capacity. Many of the ancestors of the tbi are desert dwellers. Or perhaps too acidic a soil (I see the pine needles)? They are not native to high acid locations.

Oh yeah, they don't look happy.

They look like iris to me!The North Carolina Piedmont (where realestateguy and I reside) is super clay and super acidic. What we here call 'pine straw' 'thou acid is just for mulch. I'm not sure how much acid iris can take. I occasionally add lime; most people here do. However, I believe a large iris grower/seller is here in NC and I would expect them to be elsewhere if low pH were really a serious issue. In any case, I have had my iris grow very well and also poorly. I suspect my sub par periods are from lack of a high bone meal dosing, or perhaps too much nitrogen.

Given how long they've been planted, they should be much more robust and larger clumps.

I had a clump in my backyard that never bloomed. I moved them to the other side of the house, and left them for a year. This year they are all getting ready to bloom. I've found they like to be divided, then forgotten. That's my two cents.

Thanks Jessica... but you can see from the photo that they do not need divided... They receive about 6 hours of full sun per day. Is this enough?

It looks like they are leaning, in the picture. That usually means that they need more sun. I would think that most irises need 8 or more hours of direct sunlight to grow and bloom. Here is a very good site for learning how to grow irises.

http://www.iris4u.com/iris-guide/iris-rules-of-thumb/

Page down and you will see that they mention that 6 hours of sun is a minimum. They tell you when and how to fertilize too. I bookmarked this site for my own use.

I thought I'd mention that every so often I have a nice sized clump that takes a year off and doesn't bloom at all, but does so the next year. So it does happen, even when neighbor irises are blooming. And my irises get more than 8 hours of sun. We really don't have any large trees in our yard but the neighbors trees do provide some late day shade during the growing season.

Thought I'd share that I have been able to find a very good water soluble fertilizer that I thought had gone out of business. It's the old Peters Fertilizer that is still made by Peters but is now sold as Jacks. They have a 20-20-20 that I thought was superior to Miracle Grow and and a Bloom Booster 10-30-20 that I have not had experience with. The old Peters 20-20-20 worked so well that I never needed a bloom booster type of fertilizer. Hope some of this info is of help.

Linda

Thanks much... I have decided to move them to a sunnier spot this Fall. I will also look at that site. Thanks much Linda.

You are very welcome. This site is a great one for learning things about gardening, and I appreciate everyone who shares their insite! Good luck with your irises.

Linda

I just saw this post. Have you always mulched your irises with pine needles? Possibly, that the problem. The iris rhizone likes to sit close to the soil surface.