Our first group of irises has just started to bloom. The iris blooms are coming much later than last year due to the cold temperatures that have pushed everything back about nearly a month. There are a just a couple types of iris here in my garden including the tall bearded irises, the Dutch irises, and some Siberian irises like ‘Caesar’s Brother’. Right now we have one bearded iris and several Dutch irises in bloom.
Dutch iris or Iris xiphium are extremely easy to grow. These I planted from a cheap pack of bulb bought last year. They were mixed irises and contained at least three color types from blueish purple to purple to white. These irises are showy but would have much more impact if planted in a mass grouping of similarly colored irises.
We have more bearded irises than any other type. This light purple one is in our rain garden area. It’s fairly plain but has this interesting spider veining on the falls which are the petals that fall downward. (For more on the anatomy of an iris check out this page, great info!) This particular iris is not fragrant but another variety we have releases a strong grape scent throughout the garden. That one should be opening up within the next few days. Too bad I can’t send the fragrance through a blog post!
Hopefully soon I’ll be able to share the rest of our irises with you…if the cold weather relents! Do you grow irises?
Discover more from Growing The Home Garden
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Hi Dave, I have a couple of questions about irises. This is my second spring in my Chattanooga home, and I inherited some irises that have not bloomed. I have them in two locations. The first is a clump very near some daffodils that do well in filtered shade, and the second set are well spaced out, but in deeper shade. My gut tells me the second set has not been in the current location very long. Both sections seem to be growing well, but show no signs of blooming.
Do irises take a while to become established and bloom? Are there certain growing conditions I should be looking for with irises??
Any help is greatly appreciated!!