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Old 26-08-2003, 05:02 AM
Starlord
 
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Default How to properly deadhead tall bearded iris and daylilies

If he lives in an area where the Iris Boarer lives, then he can NOT leave the
dead fans as that is where the moth lays its eggs and it's an invite for trouble
the next spring. Even out here in the Mojave Desert I clean away the dead stuff
and send it to my compost pile.


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"In this universe the night was falling,the shadows were lengthening
towards an east that would not know another dawn.
But elsewhere the stars were still young and the light of morning
lingered: and along the path he once had followed, man would one day go
again."

Arthur C. Clarke, The City & The Stars

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"fran" wrote in message
...


On Mon, 25 Aug 2003 19:27:18 -0400, Pelvis Popcan
wrote:


I'm new to Iris. I can see they send up stalks separate from the
leaves. I'm assuming that after the blooms have faded, the whole stalk
should be cut off down to the base, to get it out of sight.

Am I correct? Please tell me if I'm wrong!!


That's right, cut them down. And in when the leaves die back in the
fall, I leave them on the plant until spring to protect the rhizomes
(roots). I remove the old leaves when the new ones start coming up.
This goes for the daylilies, too.


Now to the daylilies... they also send up stems with their blooms
separate from the leaves. Should I also be doing the same with the
daylilies in cutting the whole stem off after the blooms have fallen
off? I noticed that after the blooms fall off, many of the stems have
a green fleshy pod on the ends that kind of looks like a small pickle.
It's hard. Here's a pic of one:


Are those seed pods?

YES
It's not going to harm the plant to cut off the
stems with those pods, is it?

NO, you'll be letting the plant store the energy for next year that
would otherwise go to growing seeds.



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