Container Bulbs And Rhizomes Are Growing. 5 Feb 2024.

 Most of the container - planted bulbs have emerged.

You can see tulips, daffodils, grape hyacinths so far.  

In addition to bulbs, some of the bearded iris rhizomes are starting to grow.  Some look better than others.

Bearded Iris Update. 26 Oct 2023.

 These are the bearded irises that I planted early to mid Sept. in containers.  I've kept the containers on the walls of the cement block raised beds, where they get the most sunlight and also are very easy to pick out tiny weed seedlings before they establish.

These are the rhizomes that I cleaned up from my old iris plantings, which had become weedy and I could not care for the last couple of years.  So far, I think they look excellent.

I don't know if it's good they are putting on so much growth before hard winter begins.  Just have to wait and see.  Irises are rugged.  I don't know that they are even as prone to rot as some writers state.  My main challenge has been fungal and bacterial leaf diseases.  I hope that growing them in a well draining, fresh, potting soil helps with that.  

A couple of those rhizomes are quite large.  Fingers crossed for blooms next Spring.

These are the new varieties that I bought, which I planted in mid Sept.

They haven't grown quite as much as the old rhizomes that I cleaned up, but they seem to be establishing nicely too.

I've also been removing all of the old leaves as they turn brown and soften.  Maybe that will help with disease prevention.

Repotting More Bearded Irises and Some Carnations. 12 Sept 23.

 I'm continuing to dig out bearded iris clumps, cleaning them up, and planting the best rhizomes in containers.

There are also some carnations that I grew last year.  They bloomed but never thrived.  I think it was bad potting soil.  Still, they survived the winter, spring, and summer again.  I decided to clean them up and repot.

As they were.

I dug out the four plants.

Cut off dead stems and scraggly stems, and hosed off as much soil as I could.

Planted three into one large container, and one in a smaller container.

I don't know if they will grow and thrive next year.  That's part of the fun.

Bearded Iris Cleanup. 8 Sept 2023.

 I cleaned up some of the bearded iris rhizomes.  There are only a few remaining in the large bed I tried to grow a few years ago.  I moved most to other locations.  Some of that area was also potatoes last year.  I will downsize, converting that to easily mowed lawn, over the winter.  Meanwhile, I'm looking between thistles and grasses for remaining bearded iris clumps.

This clump lost its label.  If this variety blooms next year, I can figure it out.  With all of the ones I dug up, I hosed off all of the soil that I could.

Then separated rhizomes to pull out grasses and remove burnt-out old rhizomes.

Trimmed, and selected the healthiest appearing ones.

And planted into a container with fresh potting soil.

Here's another container.  These were mostly in worse shape.  Two are new rhizomes that I bought.

Bearded irises should be really easy to grow.  The challenges here are the aggressive thistles and grasses that invade the clumps, which have to be pulled by hand.  Also, in rainy spring weather, they get fungal spot and bacterial rot.  My hope here is they will be much easier to give TLC in the big containers, and I can keep them on the back patio when in season, then move to the vegetable garden the rest of the time.  

I con't know if they will bloom next year, or thrive in the containers.  I hope they do.

Planting Bulbs in Planters. 31 Aug 23.

I emptied some containers of their former occupants, removed the top half of soil, mixed fresh potting soil with the bottom half, and added some Osmocote slow release flower fertilizer, then planted these tulip bulbs in one.

Then I covered with more fresh potting soil and a little more Osmocote.  These are settled in for the fall and winter.  They do need to be kept away from squirrels, voles, and feral cats.

This time, I'll also treat the bearded irises as container plants.  I think it will be a lot easier for me to take care of them.  I bought two more, but will also try to clear out the rest of the old iris bed, which is taken over by thistles, and recover what iris rhizomes I can, from there.  Then that bed will become mowed lawn once again.

The daffodils will also be planted in a container.

A Few More Bearded Iris Photos. 5.15.21

 Here are a few photos from this morning.  Some plants were photographed earlier, using Iphone.  This time it's with Nikon SLR.

I really think the hand me down varieties are nice.  Most seem healthier than the bought newer ones.  My guess is that the newest ones are over-hybridized for lush flowers, but not for disease resistance or durability or hardiness.  The hand me downs are ones that flourished over the years in local yards to the point where they had overcrowded their spaces, and were thinned out resulting in rhizomes to give away.  Ones that did not do well and were not liked, did not survive to the point of being given away.   So local gardens did the sorting out of the better ones.

However, there are some newer ones that are very nice, such as "Victoria Falls".

Many of the Bearded Irises are Blooming Beautifully. 5.14.2021

 It's interesting, how nice they are with no effort on my part.  Most of these are historic varieties and most are hand me downs via the curb side "Free Iris Rhizome" freecycle method.  I've given away many that way too.

I still need to learn how edit better on Ipad or add the names on my lap top computer.

Beverly Sills

Curbside Hand Me Down

Immortality

A modern type but I forget the name.

Another Curb Side Hand Me Down.

This was a Curb Side Hand Me Down, many years ago.  I'm certain the variety is "Accent.

Another Hand Me Down.

Iris dalmatica

A "Found in the dog park illegally dumped" Hand Me Down.  Quite Lovely.

This variety is modern, "Red Dirt Road".

Irises. 5.10.2021

 The bearded irises seem to be quite happy with minimal maintenance.  I'll have to add the names tomorrow using my computer - this old Ipad doesn't allow it.

Iris dalmatica

Iris dalmatica

Iris "Alcazar"

Hand Me Down white bearded iris

Curbside Hand Me Down Bearded Iris.  I'm pretty sure this is "Blue Shimmer".

Some Irises. 5.9.2021

 The iris bed was too much to keep weeded, and I didn't get to mulch it last winter.  So it's pretty weedy.  The interesting thing is, this is the first year they didn't have leaf spot and bacterial rot diseases.  My theory is that they need ground cover, either mulch or weeds, to prevent soil spores from splashing onto the leaves and starting an epidemic.  The down side of the weediness, other than appearance, is there seem to be fewer flowers this year.

I love bearded irises so will continue to work on my growing method.  I feel certain that will mean a bark chip mulch.  Last fall I moved some to the vegetable and fruit garden.  Those are mulched and also have no leaf spot or bacterial rot diseases, and also few flowers.

Some flowers. 4.25.2021

 Some nice Spring flowers are blooming.  In addition to lilacs, there are the apples of course.  And this Prairie Fire crabapple, that I planted about 8 years ago.

Someone on the old GardenWeb site said it wouldn't grow here.  Obviously wrong.  I don't believe everything I read.

An Iris germanica and some Camassia.

I like the Camassia because they are native, and because deer and rabbits don't eat them.

Some Hyacinthoides.  In town, these are invasive.  Here at my country place, they have a hard time establishing.  I think herbivores eat them.  A few clumps survive.

An Iris florentina, in the woods border.  It gets almost no care - no watering and only weeding when I can.  These, and the I. germanica, are much earlier than most bearded iris.