Irises to Beautify Your Garden

Jesse Fulbright, MSU Liberty County Extension

The yard I grew up with was a fenced oasis among the weeds and native plants of southeastern Washington.  I remember a lot of perennial flowers in the yard, but what I remember most were the irises that lined one side of the yard in its length, along with a small patch by the storage shed.  The irises came in yellow, white and purple.  They are largely gone now, part of the cycle of life as my parents simplified the lawn landscape and plants aged and died.  However, my memories of those irises have made that flower a favorite of mine in our garden here too.  

Irises come in all shapes, colors and sizes!

There are several types of iris out there and each person will prefer something different.  For all intents and purposes this week, we’ll divide them up into bearded and beardless.  Your stereotypical iris is a bearded iris.  What does that mean?  The beard is a fuzzy patch at the base of each falls petal.  A falls petal, of which there are three, is the petal that hangs downward.  The other three petals, of which there are also three, stand upright and are called standards.  Locate the falls petal and look at it near the center of the flower.  The beard is usually quite distinct, and you can feel the fuzzy hair-like feature.  A beardless variety lacks this beard completely.  Now, to make life confusing there are crested irises.  These lack beards but instead have a crest located in the same spot as a beard.  It has been described as a ridge or cockscomb. You can see and feel the higher crest but it will not be fuzzy.  That’s all I’ll say about crested irises for the time being.

Note the orangish beard on the iris above. 

With irises in our area either already done blooming, or close to it, how do we manage them the rest of the time?  As soon as bearded irises are done blooming, remove the spent flowers.  You can cut those flower stocks down to the base or where they join the leaves.  Removal of the spent flowers improves the appearance of the plants and prevents seed pod formation.  Bearded irises otherwise require little care during the summer months.  In late fall or early spring, remove the dead iris leaves.  It is important that you don’t cut the leaves back until the fall.  If you cut them back right after they are done blooming you are denying that root system of the nutrients it needs to grow and develop.  It usually takes several weeks for iris leaves to completely die back.  By early fall, the leaves are usually ready to be cut back, according to Utah State University Extension.  Leaves should be cut back to about 6 to 8 inches above the ground.  Then, wait until after the first hard frost.  This will kill off the remaining foliage, at which point you can remove it to the ground. If you can't stand the look of yellowing foliage, you can trim it a little at a time as it turns yellow or fold the leaves back so that the yellow parts are hidden from view.


To close for this week, bearded irises should be divided every three to five years, as the plants quickly become overcrowded and don’t bloom well.  July or August is the best time to dig, divide and transplant bearded irises.