Flower Power : Iris

 

 

DON'T TOUCH MY FLAGS

 

“Don’t touch my flags” was an oft repeated warning of my father in the days when his irises, ranged along the top of the garden beside the back gate, were at the peak of their flowering prowess.  I have little doubt that the last thing on the mind of a ten year old on those unfettered days in early summer was interfering with his flowers, but of all the features of his garden he obviously felt very protective of them and they were a source of great pride.  And rightly so as they can be cantankerous and uncooperative, and if he’d managed to get an entire bed into bloom he’d naturally want to preserve them for as long as they were in their prime. 

 

Flags, or flag irises as they used to be known are the Snickers of the flower world as they’ve now undergone a re-branding into what these days is more readily recognisable as the bearded iris.  The bearded iris falls broadly into three categories:  tall, intermediate and miniature, and without going too boffin all over you, as there are many further sub-classifications, this is all you really need to know. 

 

Since those long ago summers of my father’s garden, the iris has undergone an entire transformation, not merely in name but also through breeding development and hybridisation there are now so many more varieties and exciting colour combinations available.  Much more so than anything my father had or could ever have imagined.  He had only one common sort which was then the norm and despite his satisfaction with them, quite prosaic by comparison with the diverse range on offer today.

 

 

 

I have to be careful when writing this post to rein it in a bit and not to run too freely to every exaggerated adjective available.  Such as proclaiming that they illuminate and irradiate with their velveteen blush or that they sway majestically above everything else displaying their delicate, quivery furry tufts (beard).  Or that known as they are to be the personification of the rainbow their timeless beauty can soothe your 21^st century soul like a metaphysical balm. 

No, of course I won’t do any of that, but merely to say that these are undoubtedly my favourite flowers, in fact probably my most favourite anything.  They’re head and shoulders above literally everything else and I could extol their virtues all day.  To me a garden’s just not a garden without them.

 

And what is helpful to know is that the Goddess  ‘Iris’ in Greek Mythology was the divine messenger of the Gods.  She travelled on the arc of the rainbow delivering messages between the earth, the sea and the sky.  So you see when you gaze on the splendour of an iris in bloom what you’re seeing is not just a form unparalleled anywhere in nature but something intrinsically magical and mythical which has a special indefinable something that transcends time.   

 

But, there’s the rub, they won’t come quietly, veering as they do toward the cussed, there’s no doubt that they can be challenging.  They’ll fetch up kicking and screaming and it could be a few years before they’ll deign to reward your efforts with any flower.  Yep, these guys sure want it all their own way.  Perhaps that’s their charm.  You know how hard it is to get them to their peak, so the pay off’s worth the effort.  Perhaps I should caveat that by agreeing that yes, there are some easier and more reliable varieties, before the messages start flying in – got it.  But I never said I was trail blazing with the mundane, and the more you experiment with the obscure the more you encounter their stubborn, obdurate and uncooperative streak.

 

Beginners Guide

First thing to know is that they resent being in a pot.  They will punish you for this offence by almost certainly never flowering if left there. 

 

 

 

When you get them they’ll come either as a rhizome from a pack with no foliage or in a deep pot from the garden centre. 

Either way you need to plant with the rhizome sitting on top of the soil.  This is because, to flower, they need to feel the sun on that exposed rhizome.  If it’s buried below the earth they’ll rot off. 

 

 

Secondly, on the underside they’ll be some long hairy roots, try and position and spread these out to the maximum depth possible as these are the tap root or roots and these forage deeply for water sources. 

 

Also important is to have them in as much prolonged sunshine as possible.  Never plant them in shade if you want a long and happy life together.  It’s also worth considering if you’re going to put them in a mixed bed or isolate them by themselves.  The problem with incorporating them among other plants is that the other plants can develop and spread across the iris’s rhizome, thereby eradicating any sunlight and so diminishing the iris’s ability to thrive in the requisite conditions.  I know I’ll get comments about this as many will say that they’ve had much success with their irises in their mixed beds but for me, a singular bed devoted to irises is such a spectacular sight, it’s worth separating them and then you can concentrate on keeping them weed free.  OK, so you only get them in flower for maybe three weeks out of the entire year, so I’ll have to leave it up to you to decide if you feel that’s a worthwhile sacrifice.

 

Another advantage of segregation is that you get to really monitor the watering.  This is important if you’re giving your mixed borders a daily dousing as irises only need watering once a week or maybe twice if the temperature rises above the mid 20s.  The reason for this is that those long tap roots will be running deep, anchoring them in place while searching out hidden water at the same time.  Overwatering is another common mistake that can lead to an untimely end. 

 

Each year the iris will form a clump which develops in a larger and larger mass, eventually running all the individual plants together.  Every few years you’ll need to lift these raggedy clumps and divide them.  There are a few reasons for this but predominantly because each rhizome will flower only once.  After flowering that rhizome will be redundant and healthy new young growth will appear along the outer margin which will develop to full flowering maturity in the following season.  So eventually you’ll have a lot of old and useless non-flowering central growth which is what you’ll be removing by dividing the clump and the bed will look a lot neater for it once you’ve replaced only the productive material.

 

The last thing to know is that after flowering you can tidy up the leaves by cutting them into this fan shape formation.  The tips will dry out a bit but it won’t do them any harm, it looks pretty smart and is thought that by reducing the height stops them rocking around in the wind and putting stress and leverage on the root system. 

 

Well, that's about it, as this is not really a subject for a blog post, it's more a subject for a lifetime of discovery.  So to recap.  What have we learned?  Get some irises into your life.  Basically that’s it and it’s a decision you won’t regret. 

 

 

ANYWAY, AS THEY SAY AROUND HERE 
 

 

You have been warned!!!