What about iris?

 What is your favorite type? Tall bearded or the shorter ones, siberian, japanese, or louisiana? All of the above? Post your fav pretties please. What conditions do they do well in in your garden? Dry, moist average garden soil and moisture?  Here are some of my JI. They did not do well last year with all the clouds and rain early. Hoping for a better show this year. This pic is from a few years ago.

Iris are among my favorite flowers.  I love them.  My favorite is a nice big bearded iris ... I have quite a few colors, and can never decide what my favorite is, but it is probably the dark red...followed by the deep royal blue.  And they smell so nice.

 I do love Irises.

I only have bearded and siberian irises. I'm not really into irises as they don't bloom long enough for me.

sash, maybe you can try growing different varieties of them, as they seem to bloom at different times, maybe that will make it feel like you have extended blooms??  I don't know...  I have a few different kinds of bearded and they bloom at different times, allowing me to have them a little longer.

sneezie, those are lovely

Sneezie, ngam love your iris.  I like iris as much as daylily.  I like no fuss plants that multiply fast. 

I think Natalie is right different Bearded bloom at different times and I have japanese, louisiana, siberian, inter-med which bloom when the spring bulbs bloom.  Re-bloomers that re-bloom in Sept.  So I have Iris blooming May - Sep.

I know that but don't feel that they're worth taking up the space in my garden. I'd rather have plants that bloom for a longer period of time. Anything that will start blooming in spring and bloom right through until September is worth it for me. Well, unless, I'm not thrilled by the blooms. Also iris look really ugly when they die back. I don't mind peonies as their foliage is beautiful even when they're done for the year but iris, not so much.   

Boo said that also about the foilage.  Maybe I have different lighting or it is the Iris I have now but my foilage does not die back.  They are still green now when the snow melted.  At the most one or two leaves might die and I cut them off. 

I am also a foilage gardener more than flowers.   l love leaves in different color and structure.  I also look for anything that has fragrance.  Iris give both structure and fragrant flowers.

 

I had to come in here and see what boo said. Hey my foliage didn't just die back, everything did.  I would love to share your Iris love but until I can find a natural way to get rid of Iris Borer, I'm Iris-less.  They even ate my Siberian Iris which I thought rarely happen.  Nasty looking things!

 

Yours are all beautiful though!

I did not know you had a bug.  I thought you said before you got the bores that they also died and were ugly.  

I love them so much I did a trade this summer for 40 different Iris I had 20 already.  I know it will take a while but maybe in 2 more years I will have a Iris garden  I planted them all together.  

Sash, what I do is plant things closely around it, so that those plants bloom as the iris foliage dies down. They basically hide it once it's done blooming.  Or I get the variegated irises so they still look nice after the blooms are done.  I've already posted these in the colour threads, but here they are again.

Unknown Orange Iris




Silver-Variegated Sweet Iris (Iris pallida var argentea variegata)


Unknown Burgundy Iris

I find the bearded iris don't grow too well for me, although I love them, the siberian, japanese and dutch grow best.

dutch iris

japanese iris

unknown

iris chrysographes black form (my favourite)

Iris foetidissima
this one doesn't have great flowers, but I love the red berries in the autumn, and it's evergreen

Aud and Sash, Mine also do not die back, so I suppose I never thought of that.   I have nice green spikes up until the end of fall....maybe it has something to do with soil????  I have no idea. 
I love iris ... but I think that might also be effected if they came out ugly each year or not as I wanted them to, so I understand.  I seem to have a problem with getting nice looking hollyhocks, so I avoid them, although I really want them. 

Grindle....those black ones are so beautiful!  I need to find me some of those 

I seem to have extra spots of iris, as I've been moving them around so I can see them in almost any part of the yard ... lol.  I believe I put some over by the barn this fall...some little yellow ones...so it will be nice to see them come up this year.  I love seeing new fall bulbs show up for the first time.
All of my iris are noids....unfortunately







I missed getting a picture of my royal blue this past year ...it is a great big bearded iris, bigger than any I have and it blooms after all the others do.  It smells soooo good....so I will be sure to snap it this year, along with my newbies.



 

Unfortunately, though I've always loved irises as well for years, I have so many problems with the iris borers , but also the past couple of years with bacterial leaf spot, that I have a hard time getting mine to survive, and much too dry soil with too high pH for my few Japanese ones as well.  I've not tried the siberians nor Louisiana ones yet however, and those might be hardier plants in general, though I think all may be prone to borer problems to a greater or lesser degree!  I continue to lose varieties in my bearded collection, where originally I've ordered perhaps thirty different varieties over the years, and now have at best only ten varieties remaining.. I refuse to start using pesticides as a solution however, no matter how many I lose!

Mr.S and Boo, I think I must have some sort of borer too. I lifted one large clump of irises last year that weren't producing well and I had to throw more away than I could replant. They were riddled with holes and rotting.

All the pics here are just beautiful!  I love the look of Iris too....but the short bloom time really bugged me...so, the few Iris I had got stuffed into my orphanage....and I pretty much just enjoy everyone elses.....Also, a couple of miles down the road, there is a HUGE iris farm....what an incredible sight when the whole thing is in bloom....being located on a state highway, its beauty has almost caused accidents from the gawkers!

Sash, that sounds like an iris borer.  They are such nasty creatures and once they find your Iris patch they are really tough to get rid of without using chemicals.  For years I never had a problem with them and had a beautiful collection of Iris.

 

Ditto!  As pretty as they are its not worth the fuss or the environmental issues.  I replace them with other plants that will thrive here.

I love Iris' especially the Siberian. I planted LOTS of different colors in my new hillside bed last year. I can't wait to see all the different colors in bloom!
I never have a problem with the leaves dying back, maybe a few that I just trimoff. Alot of time when we get out January thaw the Iris are still green. I hope I never get Iris boreres. I have heard horror stories of them decimating entire beds, I would be so upset!

 I think next year (not this year I already have planned way too much stuff) I will make a bed down by the end of the drive just for siberian and japanese iris. I have some stella DLs that need dividing up to use as an edge plant. There are just too many pretties not to have a bed for them. :)

I have to do some dividing on mine this year, it is a need to be done project .... so, I'll have some iris up for trade this spring. 

I don't use chemicals either Boo so if they don't make a decent show this year they're history and they'll be replaced with something else that will thrive. I'll just have to live through other members that post pretty Iris pics.  

I'm not keen on Bearded Iris....I don't know why...perhaps because I find them a bit too showy..??? I don't mind dutch iris and siberian iris and they seem to last longer. With the foliage dying back on the bearded iris...it could be that they are a bit too wet. They do like to be on the dry side.


Dwarf Arctic Iris.


Dutch Iris 'Rendezvous' and 'Skywings'

that's a pretty dwarf iris Gilli.  I've just bought some Dutch iris bulbs called Bronze Beauty
  I hope they're as good as they look on the packet

I brought that one grindle and several other dutch iris through the years they do not survive my winters.

I did not have as much planting areas at the old house so I had some iris in my hosta beds they did not bloom alot but the foilage looked good with hostas.

Jennie the iris on your hillside it going to look great. 

I have two Iris my brother gave me before he passed away.I have had them three year's now and never bloomed.I do wish they would.I guess I'm not doing something right for them.I got a new catalog today full of beautiful Daylilies,Iris,Peonies,Hosta's ,Oranamental Grasses.Wish I had some money  may have to take up donation's.

Spider some take a couple years to bloom when they are moved.  The other reason they will not bloom is they are planted to deep instead of just laying on top of the soil with some soil on top. 

The bulbs need to be above ground.  The saying goes heads in the sun roots in the ground.

That is one thing I'm going to get this year. Like a DUMMY I didn't take when we moved.

Has anyone had the re-blooming Iris? I would love to try some but would like to hear from someone that has them a year or two.

Grindle, I love that Bronze Beauty Iris....gorgeous....can't wait to see pics when it blooms. Have you seen Eye of the Tiger Dutch Iris? It would go well with your Bronze Beauty. I saw Eye of the Tiger for the first time last spring and I fell in love.....got to get me some of them.

Yes Gilli, I looked for that one too, but didn't find any, so I'm going to make sure I get some for next year.
Aud Dutch iris can be short lived, or revert. I planted a mixture out front 3 years ago, now all I have is yellow coming up, but as they are so cheap, I don't mind getting more (that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it)

I love the Iris chrysographes, but that's one I'd have to see blooming before I'd buy it.  The tags and catalogue pics always show them so dark, but so many end up a lot lighter.