Time to Stop and Look at the Iris!

Irises are in bloom now so take time out to enjoy the multitude of colors!
Irises are extensively grown as ornamental plants in home, business, or botanical gardens. The Iris takes its name from the Greek word for rainbow, referring to the wide range of flower colors that are found among all the many species. Irises are grown from rhizomes (rhizomatous irises) or, from bulbs (bulbous irises). A rhizome is a plant stem that is usually found underground. Rhizomes are also referred to as creeping rootstalks or rootstocks. A bulb is a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf bases.

Bulbs or rhizomes are dug and separated from larger clumps every two or three years to keep plants healthy and prevent crowding. Propagation of Iris is usually done about one or two months after the bloom season, usually in July or August. These dug and dried Iris bulbs or rhizomes are then available in the fall for planting or ordering.

However, now is the time to get out and observe the great variety of Irises available and find the color and size that you really like. Catalog pictures are nice but observation of the real thing tells you the whole story, size, color, scent, etc. Talk to your friends, neighbors, garden clubs, extension service and your local nursery staff. You may find bulbs available from growers that are digging iris to thin out their own gardens.

Get out and enjoy the Irises!!

Written By:

Stephen Sain

Staff Plant Physiologist

Comments

Weed Identification: Goatheads or Stickers

Goatheads ( Tribulus terrestris ) are native to Southern Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. Goatheads are also called stickers, sticker weed, bullhead, devil’s weed, and puncturevine. Goatheads are easily recognized by their prostrate growth form, leaves with leaflets, yellow flowers, and stickers (Goatheads). If you miss’em visually then they will stab you painfully in the fingers as you work your garden, or stick to your clothing and shoes. Goatheads are the primary reason local bicyclists must get “thorn proof” tires for riding on area trails and streets. Goatheads have prostrate stems that radiate outward from one central point. Leaves are compound with smaller leaflets. Lemon yellow flowers form along the stems and fertilized flowers form fruits. Fruits consist of several attached structures called nutlets (Goatheads). Each nutlet is a single seed that becomes hard or woody when mature. Each seed has two sharp spines that easily pene...

All About the Shantung Maple!

The Shantung Maple ( Acer truncatum ) is also known as the Purple Blow Maple due to the color of its newly emerging leaves which are red-purple (see photo below). These young expanding red-purple leaves change to green as they mature. Leaves are small, about the size of Japanese Red Maple leaves, perhaps 3’-4’ wide at maturity. The Shantung Maple grows 1′-2′ annually reaching 25″ tall and wide. This is our tree for all planting situations. This Maple does well in heavy clay, sandy soils, full sun, or part shade. It can be planted in a lawn or next to a hot asphalt street (see photo below). It seemingly is a happy tree enjoying life wherever it is placed. One place we would not recommend planting this tree is in a rockscape which is just too hot and inhospitable to support this beautiful tree. A smaller tree, the Shantung Ma...

How does nitrogen work in the soil, and where does it come from when we don't have a bag of fertilizer to supplement it?

I've spoken many times on this subject at conferences and it was the main theme of my talk when I represented North America at the World's 1st Humus Experts Meeting in Vienna Austria back in 2013. Most of the Nitrogen used by the vast tropical rain forests, or the fastest growing biomass place on Earth, the Coastal Redwood Forests of California, comes from the production of protein by the Free-Living Nitrogen Fixing bacteria in soil and the massive biomass structure of the mycorrhizal fungi. The proteins as it breaks down in the soil into amino acids are the building blocks of life and the explanation of the Soil Food Web. However, in order for those amino acids to enter a plant and be part of the nitrogen budget of the plant they must have the assistance of the mycorrhizal fungi. It's much more efficient for a plant to uptake amino acids whose molecules include nitrogen needed to build tissues than to uptake just nitrogen minus the amino acid. ...

Trees That Please Nursery

Search This Blog