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jscope399

how to plant iris in pond

jscope399
15 years ago

I HAVE ABOUT 30 IRIS I WOULD LIKE TO PLANT IN THE POND

DO I JUST DIVIDE THEM AND PUT THEM IN POTS IN THE POND

AND LEAVE THEM THERE ALL WINTER I LIVE IN PA ZONE 5 I

THINK

Comments (7)

  • ezaspie
    15 years ago

    Just plant them in pots and leave them on the shelves of your pond so the water is covering the pots for the summer. In the Fall I cut them back and we drain about 12 inches of water from our pond so the freeze thaw thing doesn't crack our edge rock. Our irises do great every year. Just leave them in their pots. We often have -30c days in winter here so irises are very winter hardy for Zone 5.

  • patrick__mi__z5
    15 years ago

    You can bare root them in between the rocks if you have a shelf around your pond with rocks. It takes a couple of months for the roots to grow around the rocks but once they do they are anchored in good. That's where I have most of mine and they over winter just fine. I also put a few in the dirt just outside so it looks like they just naturally flow into the pond.

  • bonecarver
    15 years ago

    +1 for patrick's response. We do the same thing and the iris flourish. This year we placed enough in our 100 gallon skippy filter to almost cover the entire surface( just bare root plopped them in). I think this really help with the water clarity this year. We leave them all winter, just cut them back in the fall after the frost hits them.

  • joan_m
    15 years ago

    Jscope, what type of Iris do you have? I know there are Iris that grow well in a pond, but there are also Bearded Iris that (I think) are not suitable for pond use.

  • minerva58
    15 years ago

    I planted 3 iris in large pots and have been in our small 500 gal pond for two years now but still won't bloom. I also have water lilies that have bloomed past years but not this year--nor the cattail! We've had the pond for three years and the lilies have bloomed the past two years but none this year. What could be the reason?

  • sheepco
    15 years ago

    minerva - My iris didn't bloom 'til their 3rd year. I think mine like to be root bound! As for the lilies, are you fertilizing enough? And do they need dividing? As I understand it water lilies produce smaller leaves and less flowers if they are overcrowded. And they eat alot - need regular fertilizing with pond tabs or jobe's tomato spikes.

  • pikecoe
    15 years ago

    My Iris are planted in the gravel in my bog filter. I have never fertilized them with anything except what comes out of the bottom of my pond. I would not want them to grow anymore than they already have. I've given some away and still have waaay tooo many. Had oodles of blooms this summer. Daughters little pond has shelves around the edge and she has hers sitting in baskets on the shelves. We had to divide hers early summer, they were bigger than the pond and each one had about 25 blooms on them. The only thing we fertilize in the ponds are the lilies. We had seed pods as big as my hand fisted. Glenda