A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum Irises

I have a question about Irises. A couple of years back we flooded and our Irises stood in at least a foot of water for about three days. A couple of weeks later when they bloomed the flowers were a dark purple, large and a lot of them. The next year they didn't bloom as well. In order for them to really bloom do they need wet feet? Any help would be great.

Thank you.

Penny

No wet feet for iris'. Natural drowning cannot always be helped. But Iris do like regular watering with a drying out time between. And I find that mine tend to bloom best every other year.
And if they are crowded the blooms will stop too. They do need digging and dividing every 3-4 years most of the time. And the older bulb will not bloom well so transplant the outside fresher 'eyes' for best blooms.

Thanks Tina. Maybe we will get some nice blooms this year. I love Iris and we are thinking about putting in some nice white ones to go with our purple. We are still getting snow here and I'm starting to get antsy see to some green.

Hope you are having a good day.

Penny

I am having a great day, thank you. I live in SoCal. You would see two seasons here, spring and summer. But I see 4 distinct seasons in my gardens.

If you do get white to go with your purple wait and see sooner or later you'll end up with some that are mauve and white like I have. They are hybrids from the seeds that drop and grow. I have more of those now than either the white or the purple.

I have yellow and purple Louisiana Irises growing on a creek bank.These variety grow up to 5ft. and love the wet soil. They grow right to waters edge and dont mind at all when the creek floods.I'm glad because it floods often here.I started with about a 2 gallon clump 5 yrs ago and now I have a solid bank about 200 yards long. I also have given away hundreds of starters and you cant tell at all.I'd be happy to share if you're interested. good luck!

I want to add yellow to my garden at some future date. But right now I'm still thining and transplanting the ones I have. It's nice of you to offer her some of yours.