Irises

Description

Few flowers are as user friendly to the weekend gardener as the bearded iris - "Bearded" refers to the presence of a furry strip on each of three drooping, petal-like sepals, called falls. The true petals are called standards and are upright. Flowers appear in late spring to early summer on stalks above the foliage. Offering carefree blooms in nearly every color of the rainbow, bearded irises are easy to establish and require a minimum of maintenance. Petals that vary in texture from the plushest velvet, to the finest silk, often on one flower, provide variety to suit almost every taste. Unlike most spring bulbs, bearded irises don't require a period of cold to produce blossoms, making them perfect for areas with mild winters. They are also extremely drought tolerant, good for areas with little or no summer rains. Bearded irises are not actually bulbs, but rhizomes, a kind of thick brown root. The rhizome can remain out of the ground for a week or two without serious harm, but the sooner it is planted, the better. Hardy in zones 3-9; the rhizomes need plenty of sun to bloom well and regularly. To plant your irises, choose a sunny spot in well-drained soil. Prepare the soil well by turning over the soil to a depth of at least 10 inches. Spread a balanced fertilizer (10-10-10) or (12-12-12) and work it into the top of the soil. Don't starve your irises or make them compete with nearby grass or weeds for food and water. The roots must be buried firmly to hold the plant in place, but the rhizome should be near the surface. The rhizome itself should sit at about ground level. Growers differ as to whether it is best to cover the rhizome completely with a light layer of soil or to leave the tops a bit exposed. An easy way to achieve this is to dig two trenches with a ridge between them, place the rhizome on the ridge and spread the roots carefully in the trenches. Be sure to firm the soil tightly and allow enough for settling to keep the rhizome above any possible standing water. Then fill the trenches with soil, letting the top surface of the rhizome be just barely beneath the surface of the soil. If you have several plants, plant them at least a foot and a half apart, "facing" the same way. The rhizomes will then increase in the same direction, without crowding each other too soon. From the new parts of the rhizome, new bloom stalks will come up in later years and the flowers will be exactly as the original flower. This is called "vegetative propagation".

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