As a result of spring was late in lots of locations this 12 months, it’s possible that almost all Iris bloom will likely be crowded into June, besides within the South. This would be the case for every type of Iris besides the dwarfs and early intermediate bearded Irises whose blossoms may have handed.
Early this month, Iris fanciers could benefit from the beautiful blossoms of latest tall bearded varieties in addition to the Siberians which have been enormously improved in recent times. These are adopted shortly by the beautiful sleek flowers of such beardless varieties because the Southern species hybrids and spurias. On the finish of June the imposing Japanese Iris will command consideration all over the place.
Transferring Irises now
Fortuitously, not a lot cultural exercise is critical throughout flowering time. This provides the Iris gardener a chance to benefit from the outcomes of his labors and likewise an opportunity to go to different folks’s gardens and industrial plantings. There, one can notice the most recent novelties and choose varieties to be added to the house assortment. If desired, vegetation might be dug at a nursery whereas in bloom, taken house, and planted instantly. This may be carried out with none considerable hurt to the plant, although after all, it’s higher to attend till the rhizomes have matured in July earlier than lifting and planting.
Lower flower stalks shut
As quickly as Irises have completed blooming, it doesn’t matter what sort, reduce off the flower stalk near the ground-flush with the highest of the rhizome within the case of bearded Iris. This enables extra air and lightweight to penetrate into the clump and helps to take care of it in a wholesome situation. Likewise, when reducing Iris for house ornament, reduce the stalk off near the bottom as a substitute of snipping off sections of the stem close to the highest. Stems can at all times be shortened earlier than being organized.
In June, particularly throughout scorching moist spells, watch carefully for evidences of rhizome rot, the foul smelling bacterial decay of the basis, described final month. Function on the rhizome, drastically if essential, to take away all decayed parts after which smear the wound with sulfur or copper carbonate. If the rot has affected a number of rhizomes in a bunch, carry your entire clump and replant solely the sound rhizomes after letting them dry completely out of the bottom for a number of days.
Any Iris borers that escaped consideration in Could will by now have penetrated the rhizome and have turn out to be sizable worms. There is no such thing as a alternative however to dig up and discard rhizomes thus attacked, in any other case the damage brought on by the borer could be very prone to convey on rot and trigger worse havoc in a while.
Thrips and leaf spot
An occasional dusting of Iris vegetation with sulfur-rotenone in June will assist forestall leaf spot on bearded Iris and preserve in test any Iris thrips which can be harbored on the leaves of Japanese Iris. On the latter, thrips if prevalent could forestall the blossoms from opening in a traditional vogue and the in any other case beautiful blooms could also be a lot deformed as a result of insidious actions of this tiny insect, a lot the identical as with Gladiolus.
With all these admonitions I don’t want to create the impression that Irises are normally plagued with ailments and bugs when in actual fact they’re remarkably freed from them. Nonetheless, because the outdated saying goes, “An oz. of prevention is price a pound of remedy.”
By F. W. Cassebeer
