How To Plant Iris

Fertilizers are a plant's vitamins

To put things in perspective, using fertilizers properly is an important part of gardening, but it is almost never a matter of life and death.

First, despite the common use of the terms "plant food" and "feeding," fertilizers are not food. Plants make their own food through a remarkable process called photosynthesis, which uses the energy of the sun to create sugar from carbon dioxide and water.

If you need to think in terms of plants eating something, their energy source is light and they build their bodies from air and water.

In addition to the carbon, hydrogen and oxygen that plants get from air and water, they also require 13 elements that are essential to their ability to carry on their life processes and be healthy.

Rather than thinking of them as food, a better analogy would be to think of them as vitamins. These 13 essential elements are the same for all plants, and they are almost always absorbed by plants from the soil through their roots.

All 13 nutrients are present to some degree in average soil.

Nutrient deficiencies

Sometimes, however, one or more may not be present in sufficient quantities for a plant to grow and function at its full potential.

On occasion, a plant may be so deprived of an essential element that it actually gets sick (as when azaleas or gardenias get iron chlorosis).

That's where fertilizers come in. A fertilizer is a substance added to the plant's environment that provides one or more of the essential elements.

The essential elements obtained from the soil are divided into three groups, based on the relative amounts of the elements used by plants -- but it's important to remember that all the essential elements are equally important.

The micronutrients (or trace elements) include boron, chlorine, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum and zinc. They are used in very tiny amounts and are rarely deficient. However, in the alkaline soils south of Lake Pontchartrain, acid-loving plants have difficulty absorbing iron, and iron deficiencies are fairly common in plants like gardenias and blueberries.

The secondary elements -- calcium, magnesium and sulfur -- are used in larger amounts. The soils of the south shore are generally rich in these elements, although sulfur may be added to make the soil more acid. The native soils north of the lake, though, are often low in calcium and magnesium and quite acid. Gardeners on the north shore may need to add dolomitic lime to their gardens to provide calcium and magnesium and make the soil less acid.

Siberian Iris – Abundant Bloom With Minimum Effort | Zone10.com

Answer: Grace, Siberian iris are the answer to a weary gardener’s dream. Dramatic in color effect, yet undemanding in soil or cultural requirements, they provide abundant bloom with a minimum of effort. What is more, they are virtually insect and disease-proof.

The graceful Siberian iris flowers are perched like colorful butterflies atop slender, reedlike stalks which often grow waist high. While the blossoms are relatively small – 3 to 4 inches in diameter – they make up in number what they lack in size, producing a generous splash of color wherever used. Flower colors range from pure white through the deepest shades of blue, rich purple and even magenta.

Siberian iris are used most frequently in clumps in front of shrubbery, with other plants in perennial borders, as hedge rows, near pools or alone in colorful mass plantings. They are exceptionally lovely when used as companion plants to oriental poppies. Their narrow, glasslike foliage is in sharp contrast to that of the poppies and their flower colors are equally complementary. A rich purple planted with pink oriental poppy and blue Siberian or white with any of the bright red or scarlet poppies are exquisite combinations.

Like many other iris, Siberians should be planted in full sunlight. They are equally at home in dry or moist locations and in practically all types of reasonably good garden soil.

Since Siberian iris grow more slowly than the tall bearded type, it is usually advisable to plant either large divisions or small clumps such as are furnished by many growers, instead of single roots. The long, fibrous roots are densely matted and resemble those of many perennials rather than the rhizomes of other iris. In fact, the best time to plant Siberian iris is in September or early October, when other perennials are moved.

Before setting out your plants, spade the soil and enrich it with a little humus and any good grade of commercial garden fertilizer. It is well to protect newly planted Siberians for the first winter with a light covering such as excelsior or salt hay. The gardener should not expect many flowers the first season, but thereafter the clumps will become larger and more floriferous with each passing year.

Since Siberian iris can be left undisturbed seven or eight years, they should be planted with a view to permanence. They are gross feeders, needing an occasional top dressing of fertilizer around the clumps. This will insure floriferousness and keep the plants in a vigorous growing condition. The danger of insect infestation is so negligible it is hardly worth while to dust or spray them.

Irises, a gardener's encyclopedia

Plants of the Bible, and how to grow them

House & garden

Plant This!, Best Bets for Year-Round Gorgeous Gardens

Flower Grower