How to Care for Irises

There are many varieties of Irises. The smaller ones are beautiful for rock gardens, the larger bearded Irises are stunning in the late spring flower garden. Iris is a name from Greek Mythology, in Homer's Iliad she is the Greek Goddess of the Rainbow and a messenger from the God's. While your Irises may not be quite that powerful, they do make a beautiful display of purple flowers, yellow flowers or mulitple colored flowers in your garden.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. 
    

   First find a site for the Irises. They require full sun, good soil and soil that drains well. Irises grow from rhizomes that will rot if they sit in standing water.

2. Propogating: Every 3-4 years, dig up the irises after the blooms are spent. Inspect the Rhizome. Remove any of the older, drier rhizome portions (each of these will look like a long, fat root) and discard. Keep the smaller rhizomes that have grown around the original. Seperate these rhizomes by just cutting at the juncture between the rhizomes. Or just break by hand.

3. Prepare the bed by digging the dirt up in the hole from which the rhizomes were just removed, mix in organic matter to a depth of about a foot deep. Reset the young, fresh rhizomes into the bed about a foot from each other. Set the rhizomes to a depth that the top of the rhizome is just at the level of the soil and exposed. Be sure the roots are well nestled into the newly softened and enhanced soil. Water well to remove any air near the roots.