Iris germanica 2020: Ready, set ...

I’m making good on my pledge to stay on top of things in my plant world this year. That goes for ornamentals as well as edibles. Ornamentals such as Iris germanica, also called ‘Bearded’ Irises. This growing season, I dream of being able to look around periodically and say ‘Weeds? What weeds? Oh, just the odd one here and there - easily dealt with’ instead of ‘Hell! My Iris germanicas aren’t blooming well because gargantuan weeds have starved them of much-needed sunlight for too long and their rhizomes have started to rot!’.

Iris germanicas need to be planted with their fleshy rhizomes partially exposed in well-drained soil and full sun. They like it on the dry side and will be more susceptible to rots in wet soil. There are other types of Iris that love water, such as Iris ensata, often planted in bog gardens and by lakes and ponds. Iris germanica is definitely not one of them.

I gave my Iris germanica beds a thorough weeding early last autumn but the sneaky ‘unwanteds’ had slowly started to get a little out of hand over the winter. Never fear, Lola’s here and on it! I have just completed a major weeding and tidy-up exercise on ALL of my Iris germanica beds, cutting away any diseased or rotting bits of rhizome and old leaves, and applying a sprinkling of organic slug and snail control pellets. Slugs and snails can be a problem.

I’ll follow up by working in a little slow release low nitrogen fertiliser such as bonemeal in late winter, hopefully setting them up for a good display this year. I have many varieties of Iris germanica which are early-, mid-, and late-season bloomers, tall, medium and dwarf. This gives me a long Iris germanica display.

I have a few ‘remontant’ or repeat blooming Iris germanica. too. One of them is named ‘Pretty in Pink’. Delicate pink, ever so slightly flushed with fawn. It’s an ‘intermediate’ (as opposed to tall) germanica with a maximum height of 38cm. The first show comes early spring, followed by a repeat in August if the conditions are right. I bought it from Schreiner’s Iris Gardens in the USA. I’ll post a picture of the blooms this year.

Not one to do things by halves when it comes to plants, I currently grow 4 other types of Irises, none of which are quite as ‘fussy’ as germanicas. They are Iris ensata, Iris reticulata, Iris sibirica (I LOVE these!) and Iris hollandica.

The iris germanica bed below is fully prepped and set to GO!