Gardening with Irises

Hello all,

A problem I have discussed with a lot of people, but not with the list yet,
is using irises in a general landscaping/gardening design. What got me into
iris in the first place was that I really liked the structural element the
sword-like TB leaves gave to a mixed perennial border. A couple of clumps
were a very nice accent throughout the summer. Now that I have more than a
couple of clumps there is the problem of What to Do With Them.

>From a design standpoint, 'collection' gardens seem to be extremely
difficult to pull off. They need more variety than a single type of plant
provides. TBs seem to be particularly difficult because they don't handle
interplanting well. A friend who handles a public estate garden tried
establishing self-seeding annuals among some very long, straight, historic
iris borders. I agreed wholeheartedly with the principle - those borders
desperately needed some color after bloom sesason - but the effect was
extremely messy.  The same problem has existed in every large iris planting
I have ever seen. They look wonderful during bloom season, but by the end
of the summer are drab weedy messes. (Given the vast quantity of discussion
on the list about preemergent weed killers, I guess this is a common
problem among irises.) Rebloomers would probably help, but I don't think
they would entirely solve the problem. I don't think they produce enough
color in this climate to really carry a bed. A mixed perennial garden would
produce the color, but to my eye iris are definitely accent plants, and the
design suffers if they are overused.

So, does anybody have any hints or tricks on using a lot of iris in a
garden so that the casual visitor doesn't walk in and say "Boy do you have
a lot of irises!"

Kay Cangemi
Cangemi@ulster.net
New York, USDA zone 5
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