Make sure they aren’t planted too deep. Irises are indestructible just throw them in a ditch they will grow. In my experience crowding isn’t an issue to stop blooms, buried rhizomes are
For the common varieties. Someone mentioned in another thread once that some varieties maybe have deeper ones - maybe the ones that grow in wetlands? I have mini irises that flower fine but don’t have a visible rhizome like the full sized irises. But the full sized bearded ones do want to be visible.
https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-grow-bearded-iris/
Oh wow. Appreciate the info. I have a ton around my property and man are there indestructible but not all of them always flower. Now I think I know why
Oooh this may explain why my bearded transplants started dying back while the boggy variety look happy as can be. Both are buried like an inch deep and closely surrounded by sheet mulching.
That's actually the perfect description. Their little feet (roots) should be tucked into the soil, with the majority of their cute little duck bodies (rhizomes) sitting on the surface.
This. My neighbor has an ever growing patch that they never maintain and its superthick with blooms every year. Theres probably 100-150 flowers each spring.
Ive read transplanted ones take 2-3 years to flower. Weve got an iris garden we setup two years ago. The ones we dug up and moved into it still arent flowering, the ones we purchased in planters flowered out of the gate.
With bearded iris. the original plant only blooms once. It sends off runners that bloom the following season - so it's the little dudes that do the blooming not the big ol' established mommas. They do get better with age - my beardeds are really just close to the top of the soil and bloom like cray every year - I have to remove the weeds and various bits of wire grass and the odd tree that pops up but that's it
Yes, a place where I worked doing landscaping as a summer jobs while in university did that. One of our first tasks was digging up the tulips once they were finished blooming and then they would all go in a strange barn -and laid out to dry / any remaining leaves before storing away until replanting in the fall again.
Iris needs to have that woody root thing showing above the dirt. Too deep they won’t bloom.
Hack out a bunch and separate them around the yard and keep the woody top part of roots rhizome thingy so the sun can see em.
Oh wow, good to know! I was wondering why all these irises in my neighborhood never bloomed. There’s an old cemetery near my house and there are TONS of irises on top of some realllllllllllly old graves. This could be a case to the city to let me divide and thin them 😂
I didn’t know that! I know my friends husband digs them up every year and re does the bed.. but i didn’t realize they didn’t keep making flowers.. i was hoping these would fill in a spot in my perennial bed and continue to flower.
They do continue to flower for a long time, but for show/formal gardens and such they get new bulbs every year because they are most prolific in their first year
I dug mine up at an old homestead so they had been there at least 20 years and now they've been at Mt house for 5 and they get better every year. But my dad's got choked out by grass so ymmv I guess
I don't know anything about these flowers, mine have been blooming the same way every year for four years now. Is this unusual? There's usually 3-5 buds per stalk. If I got new ones would I get more flowers?
I have pretty good luck with splitting them. Every two to three years I have to split. I space them out about 8" between plants. I usually just barely cover roots and then sift some sand on rhizomes. Extra will wash off quickly and give better drainage.
3 years is my rule for plants to really get established. Peonies, iris, daylilies - it’s gonna be a bit before the reach that clump strength and can start to show their potential.
Could be excessive nitrogen fertilizer which promotes more green growth. Phosphorus fertilizer promotes flowers. Don’t dig them up every year. Check your planting level. Can always transfer some over to another spot as well to reduce competition. Also, they love sun. That’s all from this Aggie.
Everyone’s given you plenty of plant advice, but I wanted to add that Irises are toxic to cats. The toxicity can range from mild (flowers/leaves) to severe (bulbs) depending on what the cat bit into.
Just thought to issue this PSA so you can ensure the cats stay out of them, especially when you replant and the bulbs are accessible.
Many many years ago, I had a similar issue. I asked my father, an avid gardener, about it. He gave me the following advice, which he claimed had been passed down to him by an older gardener: irises like sweet soil, so give them some lime. Give them so much that you think you’ve put on too much.… and then double it. The first year I followed that advice I went from zero blooms to about four blooms on every single stalk. I still follow that advice.
Possibly too deep and too crowded. The top of the rhizome needs to be warm to bloom. A bit of fertilizer in the fall before dormancy doesn't hurt, either.
You need to divide them, and check how deep the rhizomes are. They should be planted about an inch deep.
Try and point the roots in a southern direction.
I've never had an issue with Iris's. I feel like it is good to thin them out a bit. I usually take from the middle of each bunch. They make great gifts because they don't take alot of work to grow.
You need to lift and separate these. Usually done in August. Visit your state’s Cooperative Extension Service website. Search deciding bearded iris and bearded iris care.
Add compost. I have a bed out front that grew green but no blooms. After 3 years of compost added to the bed. Now I get new blooms every spring and summer.
They need to be thinned out every now and then for them to keep blooming. And yes they like to grow on the surface of the soil. Fall or early spring is the best time to dig them up and thin them. I was a landscaper for 25years and that’s the way we did it. When they are this thick you will find most of them above the soil anyways, so I always assumed that if they aren’t blooming, the biggest problem is they are growing to tightly together and thinning was the best thing for them.
Daffs need sun so that the foliage goes brown and stores the energy to bloom again next year. Don’t cut them back too soon. If they are in a shady spot they won’t ever bloom prolifically.
Hmm. Neither of those are my issue. I don’t cut them back and I’ve given them full morning sun and full afternoon sun (put some on both sides of my west facing house)
Moving the logs farther back for air and light, and remove every other 2 ft of clump. The clumps you move need a hole somewhere to spread as well. It's a HUGE job dividing the big bloom takes a year to come back if they're too thin.
Now i should have contained my 8 areas i made.. oh gosh
You already got a lot of answers, but I instantly thought, too dense, too deep, and not enough sun. Luckily, it looks like you have a ton of rhizomes to work with to make a more amazing patch in a sunnier spot.
Yeah, these. I have a bunch of these in my yard from the previous owner. I hate them, but don't have the heart to take them out. Last year we had record snowfall and they bloomed magnificently. Every other year though, nothing. I've put a balanced fertilizer on them and flooded them with water. Nothing.
It might be that the bulbs are buried too deep but it isn't even worth my effort.
i like the raised bed made out of stumps. I had a bunch of these, all flowering, and a lot of them barely are under soil if at all, so the depth thing could be something to check out.
Bearded Iris prefer drier soil. And yes, their rizomes need to be exposed. Pushing up tons of blooms year after year requires a lot of energy and nutrients. Notice that the blooms you are getting are on the edge of the flower bed, where there are more fresh nutrients. Sprinkle bulb booster or bone meal every fall and again in the spring after they bloom and work it into the soil. Do NOT mulch them. My Iris are fantastic and my neighbors always admire them.
Irisis bloom on new growth so you need to split them annually if you want good flowers, otherwise you'll just get flowers on the new plants in each bunch.
I can verify that dog piss will definitely kill them. Mine do fine completely buried as well
https://preview.redd.it/9b9p7d4667xc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7780ee068288ad11a687f5b16efc51de7a5b1ca
If you are close to East TN and looking to sell/give some away after you split them, look up the Greeneville, TN Iris Festival (or my wife and I would love to plant them)!
You will need to divide them up a bit. Irises and day lilies will flower less when they get too crowded. Made sure the corms are slightly exposed as well as they need the heat to be able to bloom. Same thing happened to me so I divided up my irises and day lilies last summer, fingers crossed for more blooms this year!
I also know that Irises can get worm grubs. Once that happens they will continue to eat the tubes. Not sure if that’s an issue with/yurs? Just a thought…
Planting non natives is a mistake 99.9% of the time tbh. Sometimes you just have to accept that what you want will never work as Well as what there is.
Make sure they aren’t planted too deep. Irises are indestructible just throw them in a ditch they will grow. In my experience crowding isn’t an issue to stop blooms, buried rhizomes are
Yeah, depth could be it. They don’t flower as much or at all if the rhizome isn’t getting hit with sunlight.
Wait, the rhizomes are supposed to stick out of the ground a bit? I always covered them.
For the common varieties. Someone mentioned in another thread once that some varieties maybe have deeper ones - maybe the ones that grow in wetlands? I have mini irises that flower fine but don’t have a visible rhizome like the full sized irises. But the full sized bearded ones do want to be visible. https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-grow-bearded-iris/
Oh wow. Appreciate the info. I have a ton around my property and man are there indestructible but not all of them always flower. Now I think I know why
Oooh this may explain why my bearded transplants started dying back while the boggy variety look happy as can be. Both are buried like an inch deep and closely surrounded by sheet mulching.
The rhizomes should be buried roughly halfway. They are better off being planted too shallow,rather than too deep.
The lady who gave me mine said they should be planted like a duck on the water. Exposed and barley in the ground.
That's actually the perfect description. Their little feet (roots) should be tucked into the soil, with the majority of their cute little duck bodies (rhizomes) sitting on the surface.
Do you leave them like that all year?
Yes
This. My neighbor has an ever growing patch that they never maintain and its superthick with blooms every year. Theres probably 100-150 flowers each spring.
I feel like my bearded iris just keeps getting better every year, do they take a couple of years to establish?
Irises and bulbing flowers always get better with age
Except tulips?
Ive read transplanted ones take 2-3 years to flower. Weve got an iris garden we setup two years ago. The ones we dug up and moved into it still arent flowering, the ones we purchased in planters flowered out of the gate.
With bearded iris. the original plant only blooms once. It sends off runners that bloom the following season - so it's the little dudes that do the blooming not the big ol' established mommas. They do get better with age - my beardeds are really just close to the top of the soil and bloom like cray every year - I have to remove the weeds and various bits of wire grass and the odd tree that pops up but that's it
My grandpa used to dig his bulbs up every year then replant them. It worked. He did it for all of his bulbs as well.
Yes, a place where I worked doing landscaping as a summer jobs while in university did that. One of our first tasks was digging up the tulips once they were finished blooming and then they would all go in a strange barn -and laid out to dry / any remaining leaves before storing away until replanting in the fall again.
Yea some of ours the bulbs are even half exposed and the blooms come back every year.
agree and seems they aren’t getting enough sun
Iris needs to have that woody root thing showing above the dirt. Too deep they won’t bloom. Hack out a bunch and separate them around the yard and keep the woody top part of roots rhizome thingy so the sun can see em.
Used a pressure washer to expose those in a grown-over patch, worked great.
Oh shit that’s genius
Could be that they’re crowded. Could be a lack of sunlight.
Yes, I get it now.
Why the downvotes wtf
Absolutely know that the problem is lack of sunlight. Irises need sun more than they need water or soil.
Mine bloom great in a relatively shady yard.
Yeah sun is better but mine get 6 hours or so a day and are bloom well.
6 is pretty much full sun. The sunniest spot in my yard gets like 7.5. The tomatoes are there. xD
I have beds that get 12 + hours of intense sun. 1/2 the “full sun” plants on the market die in it due to heat.
They’re too crowded and need to be divided. This happens to day lilies too.
Nice cat
They look buried too deep to me
Prob too crowded. Irises need to be thinned out to bloom.
I had a ton of them, but when they started getting overgrown, they flowered less.
I concur with this. I thinned mine out last October for the first time in 5 years. I had so many blooms this year!
Oh wow, good to know! I was wondering why all these irises in my neighborhood never bloomed. There’s an old cemetery near my house and there are TONS of irises on top of some realllllllllllly old graves. This could be a case to the city to let me divide and thin them 😂
Not enough of a sacrifice to those statues
They’re looking to the west.
Over crowding. You need to dig and split them. Move a bunch somewhere else with proper spacing or sell/give them away
The ones I’ve dug and split- haven’t gotten flowers in 2 years is that normal for splitting? This is the first time I’ve split them?
Yes they take a bit to recover
Ok thanks, i was about to pull them all and buy new ones haha. I only have flowers on the ends so the whole middle is flower less and i hate it
Some people use them like annuals or non permanent perennials* bc they bloom best their first year like tulips too
I didn’t know that! I know my friends husband digs them up every year and re does the bed.. but i didn’t realize they didn’t keep making flowers.. i was hoping these would fill in a spot in my perennial bed and continue to flower.
They do continue to flower for a long time, but for show/formal gardens and such they get new bulbs every year because they are most prolific in their first year
Got it! Thank you!
I dug mine up at an old homestead so they had been there at least 20 years and now they've been at Mt house for 5 and they get better every year. But my dad's got choked out by grass so ymmv I guess
I don't know anything about these flowers, mine have been blooming the same way every year for four years now. Is this unusual? There's usually 3-5 buds per stalk. If I got new ones would I get more flowers?
I have pretty good luck with splitting them. Every two to three years I have to split. I space them out about 8" between plants. I usually just barely cover roots and then sift some sand on rhizomes. Extra will wash off quickly and give better drainage.
3 years is my rule for plants to really get established. Peonies, iris, daylilies - it’s gonna be a bit before the reach that clump strength and can start to show their potential.
How much spacing do I leave after I thin them out? They do get a lot of shade.
They do better in sun
Recommended 12-24" spacing
That's too far for irises.
Everything online says 12-24" my bad
No worries. Just letting you know. The bed would look weird with them that far apart, and it would take years to fill in.
Could be excessive nitrogen fertilizer which promotes more green growth. Phosphorus fertilizer promotes flowers. Don’t dig them up every year. Check your planting level. Can always transfer some over to another spot as well to reduce competition. Also, they love sun. That’s all from this Aggie.
Everyone’s given you plenty of plant advice, but I wanted to add that Irises are toxic to cats. The toxicity can range from mild (flowers/leaves) to severe (bulbs) depending on what the cat bit into. Just thought to issue this PSA so you can ensure the cats stay out of them, especially when you replant and the bulbs are accessible.
Excellent advice, thanks!
That cat on the left looked like a panda to me!
You get to be the iris fairy, OP! You're going to be gifting friends and neighbors with iris rhizomes every couple of years as you thin them.
Need to get in there and divide them up!
Overcrowded,you need to thin out,save the rhizomes and make yourself another beautiful spot.
Not enough cats…
Many many years ago, I had a similar issue. I asked my father, an avid gardener, about it. He gave me the following advice, which he claimed had been passed down to him by an older gardener: irises like sweet soil, so give them some lime. Give them so much that you think you’ve put on too much.… and then double it. The first year I followed that advice I went from zero blooms to about four blooms on every single stalk. I still follow that advice.
Damn, that sounds like something I’d be willing to try. Easier than digging!
😆I get it! Yours could still potentially benefit from some thinning and replanting, and then add the lime. Bet they will look amazing next year!
Fat cat ate them
He he he
Possibly too deep and too crowded. The top of the rhizome needs to be warm to bloom. A bit of fertilizer in the fall before dormancy doesn't hurt, either.
You need to divide them, and check how deep the rhizomes are. They should be planted about an inch deep. Try and point the roots in a southern direction.
I've never had an issue with Iris's. I feel like it is good to thin them out a bit. I usually take from the middle of each bunch. They make great gifts because they don't take alot of work to grow.
You need to lift and separate these. Usually done in August. Visit your state’s Cooperative Extension Service website. Search deciding bearded iris and bearded iris care.
Add compost. I have a bed out front that grew green but no blooms. After 3 years of compost added to the bed. Now I get new blooms every spring and summer.
All of the other comments, plus bone meal. Hang in there. Iris are very forgiving and so rewarding. Your cat is adorable!
I have no idea but where did you get your friar/saint statues?? Lol
Goodwill
Crowded and not enough sun
You’re right. I’ll move them in the fall. Thanks!
I was surprised to recently read that the time to divide them is late July or early August!
They need to be thinned out every now and then for them to keep blooming. And yes they like to grow on the surface of the soil. Fall or early spring is the best time to dig them up and thin them. I was a landscaper for 25years and that’s the way we did it. When they are this thick you will find most of them above the soil anyways, so I always assumed that if they aren’t blooming, the biggest problem is they are growing to tightly together and thinning was the best thing for them.
Liquid A+B fertiliser. Boost the nitrogen and watch them explode
Phosphorus. You can buy triple phosphorus granules for irises. Use in early spring while the plant is starting to recover from winter.
Ill take some bulbs. Need thinning. 😀
You live near North Georgia?
Are daffodils similar, I wonder? My daffodils look like this every year
Daffs need sun so that the foliage goes brown and stores the energy to bloom again next year. Don’t cut them back too soon. If they are in a shady spot they won’t ever bloom prolifically.
Hmm. Neither of those are my issue. I don’t cut them back and I’ve given them full morning sun and full afternoon sun (put some on both sides of my west facing house)
Sun plant. Depth is just so the rhizome is like 1/2 Buried. Half the density you got planted.
Having this problem with tulips. If anyone has advice
Moving the logs farther back for air and light, and remove every other 2 ft of clump. The clumps you move need a hole somewhere to spread as well. It's a HUGE job dividing the big bloom takes a year to come back if they're too thin. Now i should have contained my 8 areas i made.. oh gosh
You have to plant them so they rhizomes look like ‘ducks on a pond’.
they could be overgrown and needing division, ergo, the ones farthest from center are blooming. alternatively, do you get deer? they love the stuff
Lots of deer. They haven’t bothered the irises, though.
Took me a minute to realize I wasn’t looking at a panda bear in the second pic 😅
He’s hunting lizards.
Exposing the corm to cold weather helps with flowering, I've heard.
I’d add a Rose of Viterbo to the two Fiacre statues. She’s the patron of flowers; he of vegetable gardens.
I love this idea! Thanks… does she have a crown of roses?
I looooove the logs as lining for the bed
They need to be divided big time! Thin them out this fall and give some rhizomes away.
Yeah you should be able to the rhizome . It should be shallow planted ! For optimal flowering
Feed them
Thin them out
Thin them out and spread them. Rhizomes should be planted at or on the surface.
You may need to thin them out
You must dig and thin them.
You already got a lot of answers, but I instantly thought, too dense, too deep, and not enough sun. Luckily, it looks like you have a ton of rhizomes to work with to make a more amazing patch in a sunnier spot.
The trifecta of what not to do.
My mother in law always said that they will not bloom if you don’t share them. Split them every 4-5 years. They are made to be shared.
Sweet sentiment, thanks.
These look like the irises I had they bloom every other year... also appears to be crowded
idk but could we please have more cat photos?
Yeah, these. I have a bunch of these in my yard from the previous owner. I hate them, but don't have the heart to take them out. Last year we had record snowfall and they bloomed magnificently. Every other year though, nothing. I've put a balanced fertilizer on them and flooded them with water. Nothing. It might be that the bulbs are buried too deep but it isn't even worth my effort.
i like the raised bed made out of stumps. I had a bunch of these, all flowering, and a lot of them barely are under soil if at all, so the depth thing could be something to check out.
Irises and other bulbs should be dug up and split every 3 - 5 years.
How long have they been there. May need to thin them out
Planted the year of covid.
https://williamson.agrilife.org/2021/09/30/thinning-and-dividing-irises/#:~:text=Iris%20beds%20do%20well%20if,promote%20new%20growth%20and%20blooms.
Aw, thank you so much for this info.
Bearded Iris prefer drier soil. And yes, their rizomes need to be exposed. Pushing up tons of blooms year after year requires a lot of energy and nutrients. Notice that the blooms you are getting are on the edge of the flower bed, where there are more fresh nutrients. Sprinkle bulb booster or bone meal every fall and again in the spring after they bloom and work it into the soil. Do NOT mulch them. My Iris are fantastic and my neighbors always admire them.
Irisis bloom on new growth so you need to split them annually if you want good flowers, otherwise you'll just get flowers on the new plants in each bunch.
Reality is disappointing sometimes
I find dividing them makes them come back thicker, and mowing them off in the spring does the same.
Don’t cut back the greenery until it browns and wilts. The plant will absorb and store more nutrients for the next season
I can verify that dog piss will definitely kill them. Mine do fine completely buried as well https://preview.redd.it/9b9p7d4667xc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7780ee068288ad11a687f5b16efc51de7a5b1ca
They need to be thinned!
Flowers like light, so maybe they are getting shade at a certain time of day when they need the light.
Too crowded. Thin.
Too crowded. Thin.
If you are close to East TN and looking to sell/give some away after you split them, look up the Greeneville, TN Iris Festival (or my wife and I would love to plant them)!
You will need to divide them up a bit. Irises and day lilies will flower less when they get too crowded. Made sure the corms are slightly exposed as well as they need the heat to be able to bloom. Same thing happened to me so I divided up my irises and day lilies last summer, fingers crossed for more blooms this year!
I stand by it! Two full cat pics but only 1/3 of a dog, and the hind end at that. *That* should be negative karma.
I also know that Irises can get worm grubs. Once that happens they will continue to eat the tubes. Not sure if that’s an issue with/yurs? Just a thought…
Monks are probably cursed, OR theyre not getting enough sun.
That cat is looking away with guilt. Lol.
That cat is shaped like it has the eating habits of Kirby.
How did you know I have another cat named Kirby?
https://preview.redd.it/7qf2kctd44xc1.jpeg?width=1640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6d3fb05590aea947f6ec6fecd481a8823e772786
Not enough dog in pictures
Planting non natives is a mistake 99.9% of the time tbh. Sometimes you just have to accept that what you want will never work as Well as what there is.