Dear Iris Friends,
I thought I had better get a new newsletter out before we get too busy this week. We are progressing very nicely on the bloom front. We will have some bloom by this coming weekend, which is Mother’s Day weekend. We are open now, 7 days a week and we will have our usual assortment of pre-dug irises ready to go by mid week. Our hours are 9 to 7 daily. All visiting mothers will receive a free iris this weekend.
For those of you, who come to us for your water plants for your water features, we should have those plants in by late week. We won’t have the floaters in until around May 12th or so. After losing a whole shipment to cool temps last year, we decided on a little later delivery on the floaters this year.
I wanted to give some space to a question that is often asked by our customers.
Question: When should I move or separate my irises?
There are several answers to this question and I want to try to answer as many as I can. First the best time to move bearded irises is in the summer months. July and August are the best months for most climates that have any reasonable amount of winter weather. In Missouri, we like to see our plants in the ground no later than September 15th. If you are further north, maybe you need to have the plants in by mid August. If you are further south, you may be able to plant into October.
I get calls every year asking me what will happen if they move their irises in the spring. If it is a must move situation, it is ok to move the plants in the spring. We are very unusual in the iris world. We sell some bearded irises at bloom season. We dig the plants up and remove the bloom stalks and put them in bags and sell them. These are perfectly good varieties that we sell during our regular shipping seasons. We either have large quantities of these varieties, or we are closing out the varieties to make room for new irises. We have been selling spring irises this way for 15 years and our customers tell us that over 60% bloom the first year after planting. So the next question I get is: Why not just dig my order now in May. First, our show that sells irises is a blooming show. If we dig up the order irises, we dig up our show. Second, all irises are putting on growth in the form of more plants in the spring. By waiting until mid summer when the plants naturally go dormant we have more plants and larger plants to sell.
The one except to the spring rule is the spuria and Louisiana irises. They just don’t do any good if they are moved in the spring. For that reason, these two types are shipped in the fall. We give preference to the colder climates and ship those first in mid to late August. Warmer climates are shipped in September and even into October.
I will be putting out a special newsletter later on about splitting or dividing you irises. For now, I hope this helps you to understand spring planting of irises a little better.
Tip #1-If you are not hybridizing irises, it is best to remove the bloom stalk from your irises as soon as the last blooms fades. Cut it out all the way to the top of the rhizomes. Leaving these on, may cause rot. If you are cutting stalks for vases or shows, cut them all the way to the top of the rhizome also.
I believe we may have one of the best bloom seasons we have had here at the farm in years. I think we got our spring fertilizer on at exactly the right time and the plants are full of bloom stalks. In some instances, I have waited 2 or 3 years to get good photos for our website. I hope to get many of these this year. That reminds me, I always get asked, May I take pictures in the gardens? Only, if I am in them. My wife just hit the floor laughing. Certainly, you can. We encourage you to take photos. The only thing I will ask you to remember, is show them to someone and tell them about us.
We appreciate your interest in irises and our gardens. We should have good bloom starting around May 10th until the end of the month. The spurias will start around the first week of June and last until June 20 or so. The Louisiana water irises will bloom the last 2 weeks or so of May. Groups are welcome, but please let us know when your group is coming and how many are coming. If we get several groups at one time, we put on extra help. If you live south of us, please remember we bloom later than Kansas City and all points south. We will still have good bloom when your irises have stopped blooming. If you have questions, call us toll free, at 1-800-382-4747.
I will try to put out a second newsletter in about 10 days to give you a better progress report on bloom. You can also follow the bloom by visiting our Facebook page or the Visitor Information page on our website.
Thanks for listening. God Bless you and your gardens. May God Bless our troops and our country.
Respectfully,
Jim & Lamoyne Hedgecock
Comanche Acres iris Gardens
