Jeff wrote:
I do not know what type they are and neither does the person who gave
them to us. I may replant them; it looks like maybe I transplanted them
too deep in the ground. I provide them with bone meal every spring, but
I am also giving them Miracle Grow. I will discontinue the Miracle Grow
and see what happens.

Thank you for all your replies and pointers.

Jeffery

Travis M. wrote:
"Jeff" wrote in message
ps.com
A friend gave a bunch of irises to us after they failed to
thrive at
her house; she planted them in a shady part of her lawn.

We transplanted the irises to our garden in a sunny location.
It has
been three years and we have seen only one iris bloom; the
bloom was
yellow. No blooms this year. I wonder what I'm doing wrong and
whether I should just get rid of them.

Thank you,

Jeff
What kind of Iris?

--

Travis in Shoreline (just North of Seattle) Washington
USDA Zone 8
Sunset Zone 5


If the plants have narrow, green, grass-like leaves that die in the
summer or fall, they are bulb iris (often called "Dutch iris"). If the
plants have wide, gray-green leaves arranged almost in a fan that stay
alive through most of the winter, they are rhizome iris (usually
"bearded" iris).

I know little about bulb iris. I have been quite successful with
bearded iris for many years.

Bone meal must be dug into the soil before planting. The essential
nutrient in bone meal is phosphorus, which does NOT dissolve and travel
down to the roots. Instead, it must be initially placed where the roots
will find it. After digging bone meal into the soil, cover it with a
little plain soil so that the disturbed iris roots are not in direct
contact with the fertilizer.

Bearded iris do not need a rich soil. Go very easy when using
fertilizers that have nitrogen. Excess nitrogen can cause the plants to
rot and die. I buy a generic lawn fertilizer (without weed killer or
insecticide) and use that in my beds. I lightly feed my iris once with
this lawn fertilizer, after flowering.

Also, unlike many flowering plants, bearded iris prefer a slighly
alkaline soil; avoid fertilizers that contain sulfur or sulfates. Thus,
bearded iris might go well with dianthus (pinks and carnations) and
primula (primroses), both of which also prefer alkaline conditions.
Since bearded iris require good drainage, however, gypsum (calcium
sulfate) is okay for improving heavy clay.

Bearded iris should be planted quite shallow. The tops of the rhizomes
should be at the surface of the soil. If they are slightly exposed,
that's okay. If you can expose them by scraping away less than 0.5 inch
of soil, that's okay, too.

They should be divided about every 3-4 years. See my
http://www.rossde.com/garden/garden_divide_iris.html.

In cold-winter areas, bearded iris might need some protection. I once
visited the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton, Ontario (Canada). A
number of plants that grow in the ground in my own garden were growing
under glass at the Royal Botanical Gardens (e.g., rosemary). The
extensive iris beds were no longer in bloom. I asked one of the workers
there about how they deal with the iris in the winter. He indicated
that they leave the plants in the ground but cover them with pine and
fir branches in the fall.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/