Growing Iris

Some of the blue Iris from my mother’s favorite iris beds. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Growing Iris

When I think of Mother’s Day flowers I think of peonies and iris, usually combined. Where I garden in USDA Hardiness zone 5B, peonies and iris tend to bloom in and around the traditional Mother’s Day holiday. The second weekend in May also tends to be the last hard frost day where I live. In other words, two great reasons to give Mom flowers for Mother’s Day.

There are more than 200 different Iris varieties. The ones most people ask me about are the Bearded Iris, like the ones in the photo.

If you don’t know if you have your Iris planted correctly, this is a good time to look at the green flags that represent leaves and monitor if you see any buds popping up.

White iris from a friend’s garden getting ready to bloom. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

If your Iris is blooming, that means you have it planted in the right conditions for both soil and light requirements.

If not, check how much light your Iris are getting, most prefer full sun.

Secondly, check how deep you planted the rhizomes. Iris flowers and leaves grow from basically a thick root that needs to sit on top of soil. The roots like to be below but the rhizome itself needs to sit at soil level.

Iris rhizomes need to be sitting on top of soil with roots nicely covered. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

If you can’t see your rhizomes you have your Iris planted too deeply.

To correct, carefully dig up the rhizomes after a good rain and re-plant with the rhizomes sitting on top. If you planted them too deep they won’t bloom this year so move them as soon as you can. That will give roots extra time to get established and hopefully bloom next year.

Another group of Bearded Iris in bloom in my garden. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Aren’t these stunning? My mother used to call Iris the equivalent of North American orchids. We grew up in South America with a backyard full of orchids so that was a familiar reference.

One last thing about the name “Iris.” In Greek, the word stands for rainbow, a wonderful association with this lovely family of blooming plants.

The blue bearded Iris in the top photo, by the way, are descendants of ones I brought to Missouri from my mother’s favorite Iris bed. She was given the Iris for Mother’s Day many decades ago, then moved them when she moved to northern Illinois.

I like to think her spirit is still enjoying these flowers.

Charlotte