By Bonnie J Nichols (Dallas, Texas)
There is
always a standard joke in Texas: “If you
don’t like the weather – just wait a minute and it will drastically
change.” I really wish that statement
was a joke; however, gardening in Texas (particularly iris gardening) is a
challenge for us.
Our big
challenge is that our weather has so many fluctuations, the irises remain in a
confused state. I hear iris gardeners from
other states say “this has or has not been a normal iris bloom year”. I’m not sure what “normal” for us is.
Gardening in
Texas (and maybe throughout the south) issues include:
·
We do not encourage iris re-bloom because we
have two choices. If we continue to
water the irises when the soil gets dry, we encourage bacterial rot because of
our high humidity. If we do not water in
the summer when there is zero rain in July and August, we discourage re-bloom.
·
The second problem we face is in winter is that our
ground does not freeze or have a constant cold temperature. For instance, we experience 60-70 degree days
and 30-40 degree days in January and February that bring early iris stalks that
should not come until April.
The second
problem is what I would like to focus on in this article. As I am writing, our weather forecast for the
next three days is highs of mid-30 degrees and lows of 15-20 degrees. We have early stalks on IBs and some TBs that
as of tonight will be history. We know
we will lose more stalks that have not emerged from the foliage. I have tried in years past to cover my irises
with freeze cloth. If anything, I made
the situation worse because the freeze cloth kept the cold air in place. Other iris beds that did not have the freeze
cloth did better because there was air circulation.
As dedicated
iris growers as we all are……….you must look at the positive side. The SDBs and aril breds will probably still
bloom once we get to our last freeze date which is typically the third week in
March. If the TB season is a bust, the
Louisiana and spuria bloom (which is much later) will be good. Once this week of low temperatures passes, we
are diligent about cutting out frozen stalks to discourage rot when the
temperatures warm up.
One last
note about spring and irises. When the
crocus bloom we fertilize our irises in Texas.
Crocus bloom is typically around Valentine Day. When you apply granular fertilizer (we use
8-8-8), use caution and do not broadcast into the iris leaves. When the rains come, the undiluted fertilizer
will encourage rot.
