Re: Gardening with Irises
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: Gardening with Irises
- From: "* G* C* <j*@erols.com>
- Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 15:38:16 -0700 (MST)
iris-l@rt66.com wrote:
>
> Hello all,
>
> A problem . . .
> is using irises in a general landscaping/gardening design. . . 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 . . ..
> TBs seem to be particularly difficult because they don't handle
> interplanting well. . . 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 -- If you now HAVE a lot of irises, perhaps the trick is to use the
OTHER plants for accent. My main front-yard garden is planted around a
weeping cherry. The iris surround the cherry on three sides. The
plantings along the driveway (24 feet) and the half of the sidewalk
directly in front of the tree (12 feet) are all TBs. They are only two
rows deep, and they are rimmed, adjacent to the drive and the walk, with
creeping phlox. The phlox provides bright color just before iris bloom
and a green carpet after. (If you want edge color throughout the summer,
you can use the little jewel-like moss rose in the same way.) On the
side of the tree opposite the drive, the garden balloons into a 15' x
15' triangle, except that the side away from the tree is curved outward
like a pie crust. The rebloomers are concentrated here, but are broken
up by two roses --a grandiflora and a floribunda -- planted in the midst
of them, with the raised rows of irises curving around them (probably
something like Chad Schroter's s-curved "river". The roses and the
rebloomers get along well, since both like to be watered. The two front
rows along the sidewalk are SDBs and MDBs. A few clumps of day lillies
are placed at the back and side of the bed, and some oriental lillies
peek from between the cherry's trailing branches. In this way, there is
always something to draw the viewer's eye besides the iris. Very small
evergreens, miniaturized trees, or lantanas can also be used among the
irises. Hope this helps.
Griff Crump, along the tidal Potomac near Mount Vernon, VA
jgcrump@erols.com
