Re: just joined

Dee,

Welcome to the list.  It's not uncommon for irises
to wait a year or two after planting before they
start blooming.  And some don't bloom well, if at
all, when they're overcrowded.

Irises generally don't respond well to frequent
disturbances at their roots.  Even moving them
around once a year is too much for most varieties,
although a few spread so fast that they need to
be divided every year to keep them from getting
overcrowded.

You may have devoted too much of the available
area to irises, and therefore have too little left for
plants that look good at other times of the year.

Or you may just need to choose taller plants for
the areas intended to look good the rest of the
year.  In other words, the problem with short
rosebushes may disappear after they have had a
year or two to grow taller.

I was able to solve a rabbit problem in one garden
easily by shutting all the gates in the chain link
fence a previous owner had put around the garden
and the back yard, and placing a few bricks at one
gate which had developed gaps big enough for a
rabbit to squeeze through.  Though if you had such
a fence, you would probably would have tried this
already.

In another garden, no action was needed since the
rabbit seemed more interested in a place to hide
during the day than in eating the irises.  The rabbit
arrived after the irises were large and probably
somewhat tough, though.

If I had a severe rabbit problem, I'd think about
planting a border of very hot peppers around the
garden next year.  One nibble of the leaves will
convince almost any animal with fur that it's time
to be elsewhere, except animals close enough
to starvation to have little choice.  I wouldn't even
limit my choice to peppers that I'd consider eating,
or to peppers that would have time to mature
before frost killed them.  This may not be a good
idea if there are small children around, though.

You may want to think about getting some
reblooming irises - the kinds that can bloom
more than once a year.

Daylilies are about the same height as irises,
and bloom at different times of the year.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dee" <dee@cheqnet.net>
To: <iris-talk@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, July 02, 2001 10:06 PM
Subject: [iris-talk] just joined


> Hi.  I just joined this list because this is the first year that I have
had a bed of iris's.  Last year I had a lot that were given to me and some
that I bought and they didn't do much.  This year they were beautiful.  I
have some with some brown spots on the leaves but not too many.  The flowers
were huge on them.  :-)  I had taken the ones that were at my gramma's house
after she passed on in October of 99 because they had never bloomed.  This
year they did.  :-)  It was sort of like bringing her to life.  Anyway, now
that they are done blooming I have this huge bed that does not look very
nice.  Does anyone have any ideas on what to do with it now?
> I have some roses in back of the bed but the iris plants are so large that
I can barely see the roses and I'm hesitant to move the roses to the front
because they are the only bushes that the rabbits have not eaten.  I love
the iris's but I just dont' know what to do now.  The whole bed is a mess!
> Thanks,
> Dee
>
>
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