How to Grow Iris Bulbs

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Yolanda Vanveen from VanveenBulbs.com and in this segment I'm going to talk about how to grow Iris bulbs. Now there's fifteen hundred different types of Irises, whether they grow like a Dutch iris from a little bulb or a Siberian Iris that's a root or a Bearded Iris is more of a tuber that sits on the ground, but they're all easy to grow. What Irises have in common, is that they're all considered a bulb because they go dormant in the winter. And so when you plant them, you want to make sure that the root is covered but the stem is above ground. And you can turn them around and separate them out or leave them whole. And my rule of thumb is, plant them in triangles or in groups of three or more, because they're very social and you want them to look good right away. And they multiply but you still want them to be in groups of at least three or more in a triangle, to start, because that way, they'll look good the first year. You want to make sure they have lots of sun and good drainage, unless you have a Japanese Iris or Siberian Iris that can sit right in water. All the other varieties really want good drainage and they do need a lot of sun. I've tried to grow them in shade and it's really hard to get them to bloom in shade. And just leave them for years and when the foliage looks good, leave it be, and the Fall, as the foliage looks bad, trim it down. And it's pretty much as easy as that."