In the last decade or so, gardeners have made the tall bearded iris one of the most spectacular plants in the garden.
Out of stocky kinds with small, dull blooms, they’ve evolved large, sumptuous, long-stemmed hybrids, well-branched, floriferous, and glorious in the landscape.
They’ve also prolonged the tall bearded season. Iris time can last from late May to early June, well over three weeks, with such varieties as:
- Golden Luster
- Short Pink Ruffles
- Auburn
- Black Ruby (a colorful quartette)
- The later-blooming, always popular Gudrun and others that bloom with it;
- The still later Arab Chief
- Storm King
- Ola Kala
At the height of the season, the many multi-colored iris in my garden is an exhilarating sight.
For unity, to blend the different hues, I’ve used numerous cream and yellow sorts; for emphasis and accent, here and there are placed clumps of rich purples and reds.
Iris Garden
Of course, the iris garden did not just happen. Most of the iris were tried out first for size, color, and time of bloom before they were planted in it.
Last year, I had Pink Formal, Cahokia, Solid Gold, Argus Pheasant, and others under observation in a trial plot. Now that I know exactly what to expect of them, I’ll assign them permanent places.
Unless the time of bloom is established precisely, the colors combined skillfully, and plants are in scale with each other, the beauty of the planting and the individual flowers in it is impaired.
Selected Background Plants
Though other perennials and background shrubs are cast in a secondary role in my iris garden, they also have been selected carefully and located where their colors and forms will most enhance the more important flower.
Among the background plants are the following:
- Late lilacs Syringa josikaea and S. villosa
- The shrub roses Rosa rugosa Agnes (lovely near a planting of the iris Phoebe)
- Harison’s Yellow
- Sweetbriar Lord Penzance whose foliage is scented when moist
- The climbing yellow rose Le Reve on a trellis
Some of the perennials used to set off the magnificence of the iris are the following:
- Yellow columbine
- Blue lupine
- Lavender Sweet Rocket
- Geranium grandiflorum
- The daylily Hemerocallis flava
- The purple Salvia pratensis
- White and soft pink single peonies
Because the iris has such long stems, I’ve bordered their beds with the biennial forget-me-not (Myosotis alpestris) in pink only and broken the edging with clumps of pansies in colors that harmonize with the iris above them.
Companion Plants
Iris Pink Cameo is charming against the pastel pink-flowered Beauty-bush (Kolkwitzia amabilis) and a group that never fails to evoke cries of admiration consists of clumps of the tawny yellow and white iris Tiffany faced down with yellow pansies against the Golden chain tree (Laburnum vossii) with clusters of Harison’s Yellow rose blooming below it.
The lovely pale blue iris Helen McGregor makes a memorable picture with the silvery Lamb’s-ears (Stachys lanata) and the white-flowered Snow-in-summer (Cerastium tomentosum) at its feet.
Iris seems to enjoy the company of other flowers. Perhaps the competition they meet in group plantings spurs them on to greater strength and health!
Rules For Growing Irises
Good Drainage
But the three rules that apply wherever iris are grown apply particularly when they’re grown in a mixed perennial border. Good drainage is the first requisite (use raised beds, if possible).
Sunshine and sanitary surroundings are the other two. Although iris will grow in any soil, they become large clumps, breathtaking specimens, when given agreeable conditions.
Method of Soil Management and Fertilization
Often gardeners are urged to enrich iris beds with rotted manure. I use none whatsoever. Instead, I apply generous quantities of compost, made without manure, to my clay soil.
Most of the newer iris don’t need rich food to develop large, long-stemmed blooms. They have vigor anyway.
The problem is to keep them healthy. Unfortunately, all manure does is force them into excessively lush growth, which does not stand up here in Ohio’s changeable weather.
The driving winds, heavy rains, and hot, steamy days usual here at iris-time cause manure-fed plants to fall flat on the ground and succumb to rot epidemics.
But rot does not exist in my garden. I avoid all signs of it through my soil management, fertilization, and sanitation methods.
My iris beds are raised, and the soil’s pH is maintained at 6.5. A balanced, low-in-nitrogen chemical fertilizer is applied to the beds twice a year, early in spring and sometime during September and October. It is also used whenever plants are divided or reset after they bloom.
Keep The Garden Clean
Although some delicately tinted varieties, such as the new, so-called pinks, appreciate a little shade in the afternoon, my iris gets all the sun they need, especially in the morning. They are also protected against wind and rain by hedges and other sheltering backgrounds.
Furthermore, the garden is kept clean, not just free of weeds. All plant remains, such as clipped faded flowers, are placed in a basket and taken away from the garden immediately.
Iris, like other perennials, will bloom well the following year if they are prevented from making seeds.
As soon as flowers in my garden show signs of fading, they’re broken off at the point just below the flower where the ovary or seedpod is located on the stem.
Fewer casualties are realized when two hands are used for the operation: one to hold the stalk and one to make the snap from the flower stem.
Removal of Faded Blossoms
Removal of faded blossoms not only assures an abundance of iris blooms the next year but also throws the full strength of the plant into the remaining buds and gives a continuous clean, crisp appearance to the garden.
Moreover, stems are freed from carrying the weight of dead flowers, particularly in wet weather.
When there are hundreds of blossoms, the task is formidable, but the result is worth the time and effort.
Besides, the gardener who makes daily rounds to clip off faded blossoms gets closer to the beauty of each variety.
Stakes
Hybridizers are trying to make iris so sturdy that they won’t need staking. But it is no disgrace to the hybridizer, gardener, or the iris if stakes are used judiciously. Other perennials — delphiniums, peonies — are staked.
It seems unreasonable to expect a stalk (albeit a strong one) laden with four tremendous open blossoms and a lush bud to stand up to hard rain and a driving wind without aid.
Stakes should, of course, be as inconspicuous as possible. I use steel ones made with open rings. They prevent damage to each separate stalk and show off flowers to the best advantage.
Old and new varieties that need no support are a source of special pleasure. Ranger, Golden Treasure, Indian Hills, Helen McGregor, and Great Lakes are a few which need no stakes.
The varieties that are inclined to flop, whether staked or not, at the slightest hint of heat are not good garden subjects. I discard them immediately.
I also banish plants that are miserly with blooms or those that fail to bloom for two successive years.
Numerous Fine Varieties
There’s no need to keep unsatisfactory ones when there are numerous fine varieties, both old and new, at a wide price range.
Amigo, Prairie Sunset, Los Angeles, Matterhorn, Junaluska, and Elsa Sass are excellent iris in the Hall of Fame of the American Iris Society.
And there are wide other handsome, dependable varieties to select in the Society’s “100 best” list (see Popular Gardening, March 1953, page 60).
Immediately after a plant blooms, if it needs to be divided and moved to a less crowded position, I divide and reset it. But I do so only when necessary, as some varieties resent it and sulk next year.
When I move an iris, I label it to keep mistaken identity down to a minimum. When plants are crowded, labels are wired to them as they bloom. I have kept a chart showing the location of each plant in my garden since it started about 20 years ago.
Borers
Borers are a menace in the vicinity of Cleveland. At first sight of tiny brown holes and nicked edges, indicative of borers, I cut off leaves well below the damaged places and burned them to destroy the worms.
Spraying foliage and the ground, too, at frequent intervals with a DDT formula as soon as warm weather comes also helps.
Incidentally, later in the season, because borers attack just above the rhizome, they’re often mistaken for rot. However, soft rot may be identified by the extremely offensive odor accompanying it.
To Prevent Rot
And as mentioned earlier, I have little trouble with it— I dip all new rhizomes in a solution of bichloride of mercury, a poison.
Should an occasional spot occur anyway, I cut it out and soak the clump of rhizomes in the mercury solution.
Leaf spot, while not disastrous, is very disfiguring. When it occurs, I cut leaves well back and burn them. Unfortunately, wet weather seems to encourage this disease. I have not found adequate control for it!
In the fall, all flower beds in my garden are cleaned thoroughly. Iris leaves are cut back to fans about 8” inches high.
After the ground freezes, a mulch of salt hay is spread over plants, especially over newly planted rhizomes.
There remains only the wait for spring’s return when, once again, petals will unfold, and the miracle of the first bloom of a new variety will be a tremendous event.
44659 by Elizabeth B. Miles