I confess that I have trimmed iris foliage this time of year. I know this goes against the majority of advice which is to wait until Fall. But well, sometimes one has to do what one has to do. Some of my tall bearded iris foliage blocks sprinkler water. In order to allow that water to go where it needs to go, I have trimmed iris leaves down to about 10" near the sprinklers. I did what I did out of necessity. It didn't create any problems.

I just leave them brown out.

I've always cut mine back to about 3 inches when they start to look bad, and mine do just fine.

In fact I cut mine 2 weeks ago.

Whew I feel a lot better now about cutting mine back. Thank you, cecily and gracie01!

When visiting Filoli, I noticed that their iris are planted in the orchard rather than the main gardens. Large iris beds blooming along with the apples must be gorgeous in spring and they can be ignored for the summer.

I don't grow tall bearded iris because of the oftentimes ratty foliage. The dwarf bearded are much easier to tuck behind other plants so the foliage isn't as noticeable if it does go downhill.

This is one of those things that have puzzled me somewhat. With a little effort, I didn't think it was hard to keep iris foliage looking decent, even beautiful, through the growing season. Here I just have to make sure that the rhizomes are clear at the base and I'd go around and pluck off the outer leaves that are about to fall over (something they naturally do). With minimal effort, my irises stay green and upright until frost, when I cut them down. Considering their relatively short bloom time, irises are a foliage plant for much of the year. Their foliage is a part of my consideration for the garden. I see irises around here that get too congested and buried, and their foliage ends up looking awful. Anyway, that's just my experience here in southern New England. Climate is everything, so it may be more difficult to maintain iris foliage where you are.

I was really surprised the first time I read that bearded iris foliage gets ratty. In my region, it stays nice up until cold weather comes in. We do have cool summers, though, maybe that‘s why.

I'm in the cut them anyway group. They do just fine. I mean, you're talking about a plant that you can leave the rhizomes unburied in a garage, forgotten, plant it, and it'll grow/flower. Indestructible.