Re: Re: CULT: iris companion plants

Anner succinctly covered some issues unrelated, or in combination with,
competition.  Planning, choices, spacing, necessary upheaval from time to
time (probably necessary for most perennials as well the iris) and the
increased labor required to keep it weeded and managed.  Some of those
issues became immediately apparent when I seeded the beds with the rubra.
Before the seeding, anything not an iris was removed and relatively easily
accomplished using a small tiller fork, my hands and even a regular eating
fork for close work.  Once there were germinating seeds, there were
additional plants to weed around and even to ascertain which were seeds
germinating and which were the unwelcome guests.  The extra time that takes
is much greater than the number of plants would seem to warrant.  Then I
also realized - after the fact - that the difficulty of lifting and dividing
was also affected.  Tremendously affected since I want the rubra and need
them for a seed source in the future.  Being native plants, biennials, and
principally having a taproot I'm pretty skeptical they will survive that
kind of upheaval.  Fortunately the two beds have good spacing and except for
one or two irises encroaching into shared space, I have a season or two to
learn whether the experiment is worthwhile, obtain the seeds and learn the
habits of the rubra in the situation for a time when I can plan better
and/or have the biennials growing so it won't ruin the planting by
sacrificing some of the plants.

If, on the other hand, you have collected irises as Bob put it and then try
to simply squeeze something in between, I think the chances of
disappointment both in the performance of the iris and of the companion
plants is as likely as not to be the end result.  I experiment all the time,
of course.  I also don't follow rules very well.  But I've been growing
things most of my life and experimenting all along, so I can be pretty
realistic with my expectations and sometimes the learning can lead to
something successful even when the initial experiment hasn't worked well.

Donald Eaves
donald@eastland.net
Texas Zone 7b, USA

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