A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Bearded Iris bulbs

never planted iris before,but saw them for sale at Fred Meyer yesterday, a beautiful pink one . I need all the details ie: when to plant, shade or sun,etc.,etc.,etc.

thanks a bunch!!

they like full sun but I've got some around trees that do well in partial shade. Barely cover the rhizome with dirt, don't dig a hole for planting. They don't need much water and will multiply. That's for NC, you'll have to check on Oregon.

You can go here on the forum or to see how deep they should be Here and you can also do a search of the forum..there have been a lot of different discussions about Iris.

what zone are you in?

they don't need to be put in too deeply. and they DO multiply very nicely.

when i got mine, i planted them and they grew fine...i planted 3 in one spot and 3 in another...the group that had the full sun for most of the day did much better.

neither group bloomed for the first couple of years tho.

i just split them out this spring (one of the groups - have to do the other in the fall) and i had about 40. pretty good when you consider i started with 3 6 years ago!!

I bought a boxed assortment of 8; 3 years ago from Sam's Club and planted them in the Fall under a tree. They bloom in the spring; but not at the same time. They seem to bloom around the tree;differently for each color,about a week apart. I think the pink variety was the last one to bloom. Each year the density has doubled;I'm expecting at least 6 to 8 flowers of each variety starting next May. I do put down bulb fertilizer around these plants in the Fall. I just cut this years blades down to about 1/3 their height.I hope info this helps!

different varieties will bloom at different times.

merrill, it's probably time to split them out - that should be done every 3-4 years. i waited too long and the crowding caused less blooming over time.

i'd be interested in trading some of my purple for your pink. and/or white if you have any

In my area they are one of the easiest things to grow. The blooms stay for a long time and the drought doesn't seem to bother them, neither do the bugs. Mine are down by the barn, a row about 20 feet long, and I never do a thing to them except wait for them to bloom and use them for cut flowers sometimes. Hope you'll have the same luck.