- Type: iris
- Flowering Period: May, June, July
- Height: 15-40cm
- Color: Purple, Blood Red
- Perennial
- Sun loving
- Loving
Spring flowers are the most coveted, they are associated with warm sunshine, the imminent onset of summer. Apparently, this explains the great popularity of irises - since the beginning of May, lush buds of all shades of the rainbow have been revealed in the flower beds of suburban areas. A huge number of species (about 800) allows you to choose the flowers in the right combination and, together with other plants, create amazingly beautiful compositions. Let us consider in more detail how bulbous irises are planted and cared for.
Soil preparation: drainage and top dressing
Irises are not particularly demanding, but there are several points that should be considered. They are not recommended:
- waterlogged soil;
- mineral-poor soil;
- constant shadow.
Planting on an artificially created slope serves as protection against excessive moisture. If groundwater comes close to the roots, a slight elevation with a slope to the south should be built and a drainage system built. To do this, just raise the flowerbed by 20 cm and ensure the outflow of rainwater.
There are several ways of planting irises: single, bush, group, free sowing. Flowers with large buds are used for a single planting, with small ones - for group
A sample of a flower bed with irises: 1 - hyacinth Purple Voice; 2 - tulip Flashpoint; 3 - daffodil New Baby; 4 - iris net Cantab; 5 - Scylla Siberian Alba
Irises love sunlight, but they can spend some part of the time in the shade, so it is advisable to break the flower garden in unshaded or slightly shaded areas. Before planting, the soil is enriched with organic fertilizers, then carefully digged and loosened. Manure is usually made in advance, about a year before planting.
The ideal soil for bulbous is calcareous. An alkaline reaction is provided by lime, chalk or eggshells that are brought into the ground during digging. It is better to dilute the sandy soil with humus; ash and about 40 g of superphosphate (per 1 m²) will not be superfluous. Clay, on the contrary, is better to dilute with sand of a large fraction and add a little humus or compost to enrich.
Related article: Liming the soil in the garden: why, when and how to do it?
You should not be limited to traditional flower beds located in places of rest and along paths. The original bed-stump looks much more attractive!
The place of planting flowers can not be changed for about 10 years, hybrid varieties - 5 years. The ability of irises to grow rapidly leads to a deficiency of nutrients in the soil, which requires a change of place, that is, the transfer of flower beds.
Autumn - bulb planting time
First things first, we suggest you watch a video on the topic:
Features of planting depend on the variety. In a temperate climate, iridodictiums, Turkish and Caucasian, as well as their hybrids, take root perfectly and tolerate winter. We select a dry, open place and dig up shallow pits - up to 7 cm. We fill in the bulbs so that the soil does not lie tightly on them, and it is better to add a little sand to its composition. To protect plants from fungal diseases, the purchased bulbs are pre-treated with Fundazol or Benlat. In the summer, after the stem and leaves die off, we separate the small daughter bulbs, which are necessary for further reproduction.
To decorate flower beds, one or more varieties of irises are used. A variety of colors allows you to create rare beauty compositions
Bulbs of the Juno variety are distinguished by their large size and the presence of fleshy, annually renewed roots, which should be handled very carefully. If the roots fall away, the plant will die. The best period for planting bulbous irises in open ground is the last week of September or the first decade of October. The bulbs are carefully lowered into the pits so as not to damage the roots, and sprinkled with a layer of earth up to 6 cm thick.
The pit for planting should be relatively small - about two heights of the bulb, therefore, for small onions of irises, a depth of 4 to 7 cm is suitable
Summer preparation consists in digging the bulbs after withering of the iris and drying it in a room with a temperature of 22-25ºС. The second option is to cover the flower bed with film, protecting it from rain, until the beginning of October. Further propagation of Juno is done either by daughter bulbs, or by seeds, which are sown in special boxes. Seed boxes, like bulbs, must be dried. Shoots appear, as a rule, in the second year.
The distance between future plants during planting can be different: the minimum is considered to be a gap of two bulb widths (as a result a dense bush is formed), the maximum - up to half a meter (usually single irises with lush buds are planted in this way).
Using a plastic basket for growing
In the supermarket you can buy a simple but very convenient basket for growing bulb crops.
In order to remove part of the turf, we put a plastic basket on the desired area and circle the contour to a depth of 12 cm with a shovel or scoop.
Carefully remove the separated piece of turf, and deepen the resulting hole by about 20-30 cm so that the basket fits completely
At the bottom of the pit, pour fertilizer, then set the basket. We fill it with a dense wet layer of fertile soil and plant the bulbs
We fill the planted bulbs with a thin layer of earth and return the seized piece of turf back. Thus, the bulbs will spend the whole winter in favorable conditions
The basket is convenient in that it can be easily removed from the ground and, together with planted onions, moved to a drying room.
How to care for irises?
In addition to timely planting and soil preparation, care is required for plants during their flowering: early irises begin to bloom in May, later irises begin to bloom in June. Proper care for bulbous irises consists in regular fertilizing with fertilizers and protection from pests. Another point of concern for flowers is watering. Irises should not be watered during the rainy season, and in the dry season moderate irrigation is necessary strictly in the evening.
It is important to choose the right varieties of flowers. For example, Siberian irises are considered the most frost-resistant, so they easily tolerate winter in the northern latitudes
The application of mineral fertilizers
In the spring, after the snow melts, we wait for the topsoil to completely dry out in order to fertilize. Ready-made solutions and dry universal mixtures, for example, Reasil or Good Power, are suitable. We place the required amount of top dressing in the top layer (or just scatter it on the surface of the soil around the bulbs), then carefully loosen it, being careful not to catch the roots.
One of the three-stage options for feeding hybrid irises is not the first year of flowering:
- nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus (2: 3: 1) - in the spring on dry soil;
- the same composition, but in a different proportion (3: 3: 1) - at the time of bud formation;
- potassium, phosphorus (1: 1) - 1 month after the beginning of the flowering period.
Regular and properly dosed top dressing guarantees high decorative qualities, rapid development and long flowering. One of the important periods in the life of a plant is the formation of flower buds. Fertilizing at this stage provides lush, full bloom next year.
Fertilizers for bulbs contain lignohumate, which performs several important functions: it promotes rapid growth, increases the plant's resistance to diseases, increases decorativeness
It is not necessary to do complex fertilizer for irises on your own, the store sells ready-made compositions for onions in two forms: solution and dry mix
Watch the amount of nitrogen carefully. Excesses of this substance cause "fatliquoring" - a process when leaves develop remarkably, but flowering is completely absent.
Pest Prevention Work
Despite the short flowering period, the cultivation of bulbous irises is accompanied by protective measures. To prevent the appearance of unsolicited parasites, a regular spraying of plants should be carried out every two weeks. It is necessary to start from the period when the leaves reach a length of 10 cm. Usually use "Malathion" (helps from herbivorous mites) or universal pesticides. With the onset of buds, treatment is stopped.
Most often, irises have a disease of the roots and bulb - bacteriosis, which causes decay of individual parts. The plant is dug up, the diseased parts are removed, washed in potassium permanganate and transplanted to another place
How to determine the disease in bearded irises? Usually a healthy plant has a bunch of 7-9 leaves, while the patient can detect no more than 5. There is a problem with the formation of flower buds. For treatment, the plant is dug up, cleaned of rot and insects, treated with an antiseptic. If the irises are affected by thrips, the natural wax coating on the leaves is broken.
Prevention consists in the competent preparation of the bulbs for the next year - the removal of the old stem along with leaves, peduncles and flowers, in which harmful insects can remain.
The traditional care of irises guarantees their unusually bright flowering and the ability to create unique flower gardens.
