ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

How To Grow Tall Bearded Iris

Updated on May 13, 2012

Iris "Purple Petticote"

Source


I have gardened literally all my life, since some of my earliest (and happiest) memories involve mucking about in my mother’s lush gardens. Since them, I have relocated many, many times, yet there was always—always —a garden, albeit that occasionally it consisted of little more than a pot on the stoop or a window box slung from whatever grim apartment I may have rented. More recently, I have spent the past twenty-five years transforming an acre of easily mown grass into a series of complicated, high maintenance flowerbeds. Basically, I don’t garden; I over-garden. It is my fate, evidently, to do so.

Along the way I have studied plants, at times intensely, at times haphazardly. But at all times I have observed , trying to learn from the source because I realized early on that even the most scholarly, well-researched advice was just as often useless as it was helpful. And I believe that my neighbor’s overgrown iris bed sparked an epiphany, because now I know why .

A Patch Of Tall Bearded Iris

Source


Plants do indeed fall into certain categories—the iris I adore in spite of how much they mystify me are classified thusly: Kingdom: Plantae; Division: Magnoliophyta (unranked); Monocots Order: Asparagales; Family: Iridaceae; Subfamily: Iridoideae; Tribe: Irideae; Genus: Iris.

There are also certain caveats that can be quoted with confidence: they reproduce more dependably by creating new branches on their rhizomes—which can be broken off to form new plants—than by seed because of the hybridization to which they have been subjected as well as the ease by which the insects that pollinate them can transfer pollen between different plants, resulting in muddy colored mutts.

Iris "Fancy Woman"

Source


Iris in general prefer more sun than shade, are prone to several diseases and attractive to certain pests. The flower stalks are brittle and easy to break off, so the wise gardener will avoid messing around inside a blooming clump.

But beyond those generalities the only guidance I can personally give is that they are interesting plants, with lovely, delicate flowers, and they like what they like, dislike what they dislike, and the only way to discover which is which is through trial and error. Try growing some, in other words, but avoid dropping hundreds of dollars on plants until you have given just a few a decent shot at thriving—or dying—in your garden. If a plant does well in its first summer, then not so well in its second, try moving it. Read about your plants, but take all that you read (including this) with a grain of salt. Remember the lesson of my neighbor’s iris bed: you just never know which plant will thrive, which will fail. They decide that, not you. Accept it. It is the truth at the core of gardening.


Iris "Lemonade"

Source


It is with this humble attitude that I approach gardening. Here on Hubpages, I will relate many anecdotes, some practical advice, and a great many sighs inspired by the inability of myself or any other human to know—absolutely and with certainty—what any particular plant will feel about the conditions into which it is planted.

It is an approach to gardening that has served me well. As far as I’m concerned, the plants in my gardens do not belong to me, even though I went out and bought them. They are free agents. I enjoy them tremendously; yet I never feel that I actually understand them. The animal kingdom and the plant kingdom have much they can share, and yet ultimately we live in very different worlds. And so shall it always be.

Copyright © Roberta Lee 2012. All rights reserved.


(I am an artist and the author of the Suburban Sprawl series of novels as well as two nonfiction books. Find out more about my work at RobertaLeeArt.com.)



Siberian Iris

Source
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)