Bumper Crop! Now Save 20% on Grape-Scented ‘Madame Chereau’ Iris

        “My bed of ‘Madame Chereau’ is magical,” our friend Tom Trombley of Saginaw, Michigan, emailed us last June. “I now have a large enough bed that I am able to pick one without destroying my garden. Such luxury. This evening, I came home to a house scented with her distinctive grape-like scent which a friend says reminds her of grape Kool-Aid.”
        The most popular iris of the 19th century, ‘Madame Chereau’ has been multiplying happily here in our Ann Arbor micro-farms, too. To share the bounty and help more gardeners see what’s so special about heirloom iris, we’re cutting its price by 20%. You’ll get big, freshly-dug rhizomes in April that, with good care and a little luck, will bloom for you their first summer – but only if you order now! (Jan. 2012)

Now’s the Time: Fall Clean-Up Beats Iris Borers

        Now is the best time to conquer iris borers – and it’s easy. Cleanliness is the key. In the fall, iris borer moths lay their eggs on iris leaves and anything similar that’s close by. In the spring, the eggs hatch into tiny grubs that crawl up the leaves and then chew their way down into the rhizomes where they wreak havoc. By eliminating the eggs in the fall, you’ll save yourself a lot of grief. Simply wait till after a good hard frost (which kills the adult moths) and then (a) cut back all iris leaves to a couple of inches and (b) remove all dead leaves and stalks as well as any debris and mulch that’s near the plants. To be safe, don’t compost this stuff; burn it or throw it out with the garbage. Repeat this simple, poison-free clean-up every fall and you’ll have very little problem with borers. Now isn’t that easy? Learn more at www.ksre.ksu.edu/news/story/fall_cleanup110410.aspx . (Nov. 2011)

Happy Iris Stories

        We doubled our iris offerings for the coming year, thanks in part to the generosity of some of our Old West Side neighbors who shared their heirloom iris with us. Many of them passed along stories with their rhizomes, too. Jean Henry, for example, told us that her ‘Pallida Dalmatica’ came from her Iowa grandmother who got it from the woman who babysat for Jean’s father and later Jean herself. It was “the standard iris” in that area, but Violet Kieffer – pronounced “Wiolet,” Jean explained – was “very proud of them” and “she’d be thrilled to know they made it into your catalog.”
        ‘Flavescens’ is another very old iris that will grow just about anywhere. For example, a few years ago my wife Jane and I were walking along the wooded, hillside path that circles a small lake in the Brighton State Recreation Area. At one point the hillside was so steep that the ground to our left was almost at eye level, and there in the crowded, densely shaded undergrowth I was shocked to see a few scrawny bearded iris. They must have been survivors from a long-forgotten home that once stood where now wilderness ruled. I was so impressed that I collected one small rhizome and brought it home to a sunny spot in my own garden. This spring it finally bloomed for the first time, and – you guessed it – it was the indomitable ‘Flavescens’. (Aug. 2011)

Are Your Iris Thriving? Blooming?

        This spring, to help our freshly-dug iris reach you in the best possible condition, we dipped their roots in a slurry of moisture-retentive hydrogel. Unfortunately, the hydrogel sometimes kept the rhizomes and leaves so wet they ended up rotting. Doh! If any of your iris failed to thrive, please accept our apologies and let us know so we can send you replacements next year.
        If, on the other hand, your iris have settled in so happily that they bloom for you this first summer, we’d love to know that, too. Although we don’t guarantee first-year bloom, that’s one reason we ship our iris in the spring – instead of after they bloom in summer, which is the standard practice – and your feedback will help us gauge how well we’re doing. Thanks! (May 2011)

Site of the Month: “Wild Lakota” Iris and Other Legacy Bulbs

        “My favorite old homestead flower is a bearded iris that I’ve nicknamed ‘Wild Lakota’. It has a lovely lemony scent.” So wrote Dennis Kramb of southwest Ohio in the Pacific Bulb Society’s email discussion group. “The roadside places where I’ve found it are nowhere near any existing home,” he continued, “so I can’t imagine how many decades they’ve been able to persist there, untended. I collected a few pieces years ago and now have a big patch of it in my front garden.” That sounded like an iris we ought to offer, but when we looked at Dennis’s photo of it, we discovered we already do. It’s 200-year-old, primrose-yellow ‘Flavescens’.
        From roses to daffodils to asparagus, some garden plants are so tough that they can persist in the wild without care for many, many years. Some are so commonly found there that they’ve made it into wildflower guide books where they’re typically marked as “alien” or “garden escape.” Although the Pacific Bulb Society focuses on truly wild bulbs, they’ve included a long list of “Legacy Bulbs” – “bulbs that outlast their owners” – in the Wiki section of their excellent website. You’ll find ‘Flavescens’ and ‘Crimson King’ iris there, along with descriptions and photos of bulbs from almost every genus we sell, from Allium to Zephyranthes. It’s fun to explore, it may help you identify bulbs you’ve found in the wild, and it’s convincing testimony to the staying power of heirlooms. (April 2011)

Sydney Eddison’s Favorite Iris (Order it Now to Plant in April!)

        “I am no longer a fan of the modern bearded irises which I once lusted after,” Sydney Eddison writes in Gardening for a Lifetime, “because borers always wreak havoc with their foliage, chewing the edges of the leaves and coating them with slime. While the plants rarely die, they look so awful that you wish they would.
        “The species Iris pallida is a different story. Mine came with the house forty-eight years ago and can still be found in other old gardens. I recently saw it for sale in Williamsburg, Virginia, where the historic gardens contain only plants available in colonial times. This old iris can be easily identified by its bloomy blue-green leaves, which stand at attention throughout the season and are seldom ruined by borers. The three-foot flower stalks bear five or six modest blue-violet flowers that have a delicious scent. And after the brief flowering season in May, the foliage usually remains handsome all season.” (March 2011)

2 New Web-Only Specials: Crimson King and Quaker Lady

        We’re proud to announce that two of the first fruits of our urban micro-farming adventure are now available online:
        ‘Crimson King’ – a fragrant, reblooming, vigorously multiplying Victorian iris of deep claret-purple, and
        ‘Quaker Lady’ – a charming, profusely-flowering, Bungalow-era iris in an unforgettable blend of lavender, fawn, and gold.
        These classic iris have held their places in the hearts of American gardeners for a century or more – and they deserve a spot in yours!

Tough Little ‘Gracchus’ Iris Wins Praise from Virginia to Alaska

        Your mother was right. Beauty is more than skin-deep, and that’s true for plants, too. ‘Gracchus’, for example, isn’t an “oh-my-gosh-look-at-that” iris, but it is an exceptional one.
        According to an article in the Historic Iris Preservation Society’s Roots (fall 2000), Schreiner’s Iris, the country’s largest iris nursery, is now working to “reintroduce hardiness, disease resistance, and vigor to modern bearded iris using ‘Gracchus’ as the foundation stock.”
        The strength and vigor of ‘Gracchus’ has also impressed Straea from Somerville, Massachusetts, who writes at DavesGarden.com, “I love ‘Gracchus’! It produces an amazing number of flowers, and they’re on sturdy stems that don’t bend at all in my windy garden despite often having four or five flowers on them. In addition, it bounced back from an iris borer infestation last year with little intervention on my part (all I did was cut off the worst part of the infestation) and is now more vigorous than ever.”
        In Juneau, Alaska, reports Glacierdawg at DavesGarden.com, “‘Gracchus’ has been growing at the Jensen-Olson Arboretum since the property was originally homesteaded in 1904. It blooms well here despite the cool, wet, maritime climate. While no plant is completely maintenance free, this one comes close. A top dressing of compost in late summer and deadheading is all that we do for it.”
        And in Portsmouth, Virginia, “‘Gracchus’ is my husband’s favorite iris in my whole garden of 300+ irises,” writes Homefire, also at DavesGarden.com. “It is a fast grower with many flowers. He always enters it in iris shows and it won Best Historic Iris here in 2007. It was introduced in 1884, so for an iris cultivar to remain in existence with people still growing it that long tells its own story. Highly recommended!” (Dec. 2010)

Try a Simple Fall Clean-Up to Thwart Iris Borers

        Now is the best time to conquer iris borers – and it’s easy. Cleanliness is the key. In the fall, iris borer moths lay their eggs on iris leaves and pretty much anything else that’s close by. In the spring, the eggs hatch into tiny grubs that crawl up the leaves and then chew their way down into the rhizomes where they wreak havoc. By eliminating the eggs in the fall, you’ll save yourself a lot of grief. Simply wait till after a good hard frost (which will kill the adult moths) and then trim all the leaves off your iris and remove all debris and mulch from around the plants. To be safe, don’t compost this stuff; burn it or throw it out with the garbage. Repeat this simple, poison-free clean-up every fall and you’ll have very little problem with borers. Now isn’t that easy? Learn more at www.ksre.ksu.edu/news/story/fall_cleanup110410.aspx . (Nov. 2010)

Zac Posen Gives Us a Shout-Out At Vogue.com

        For Mother’s Day this year, Vogue.com asked twenty top fashion designers and models – from Vera Wang to Gisele Bundchen – to talk about “the gifts they intend to give or hope to receive.” Our favorite reply came from Zac Posen, the wildly popular Tribeca designer whose “strong, feminine aesthetic has become a favorite of style leaders” such as Kate Winslett, Jennifer Lopez, and Beyonce, and whose off-the-rack collections are currently selling at Target and Saks.
        “I plan to give my mother ‘Madame Chereau’ heirloom iris from Old House Gardens,” Zac wrote. “They are the most sought-after iris of the nineteenth century and have a history of staying alive. I remember when I was younger we had a field of iris, which was beautiful! I want to fill a field with irises for my mother one day.”
        Thanks, Zac! We hope your mom loves them! (June 2010)

‘Flavescens’ Transcendent: Poster Child for Heirloom Flowers

        Here’s a photo that will gladden the hearts of heirloom flower lovers everywhere. Left to fend for itself in the weeds alongside a dirt road not far from Kansas City, pale yellow ‘Flavescens’ iris has multiplied without care into an endless swath of pale, shimmering yellow. (March 2010)

Saving Local Heirlooms at the Pickle Barrel Iris Garden

        Some of the most exciting heirloom flowers aren’t found in catalogs or gardens. They’re just out there, in the wild, the last reminders of houses and gardeners that are long gone. In a small town on the shores of Lake Superior, our friend Nancy McDonald decided to collect some of these relics and display them in a living museum of local garden history. Her charming, photo-filled account of the Pickle Barrel House Historic Iris Garden – home now to “Linnamaki Purple,” “Baker Grade” (from the site of a railroad switchman’s cabin), and other “noids” – is an inspiring story that may get you saying, “I could do that!” (March 2010)

Divide Iris and Defeat Borers: Now is the Time!

        If your iris plantings have become over-crowded, or you want to share some with friends, now is the time to dig and divide them. “It’s easy, and fun,” our friend Ken Druse wrote recently at RealDirtRadio.com. “I dig up my iris rhizomes with a garden fork when they are dormant – now. Most of the soil will fall off the thick rhizome and reveal slender roots. I trim back the leaves into ‘fans’ and cut off the oldest section of rhizome (which will not bloom again). I dip the rhizome (holding it by the leaves) in a 10% solution of household chlorine bleach for about ten seconds. I set them out to drain on some newspaper, and then replant with the top of the rhizome just at the surface of the soil. Sun-baked rhizomes bloom best.”
        “Older varieties of bearded iris do not need dividing as often as newer ones,” Ken adds. To see the six heirlooms we’re offering, click here. To learn more about dividing iris and combating borers, listen to Ken’s July 3 podcast. (July 2009)

Your Feedback, Please: How Are Our Iris Doing?

        We shipped bearded iris for the first time this spring, and we’re eager to hear how they’re growing. Have they settled into your garden happily, and did you get blooms this first summer? Our trial-runs were successful, but we want to make sure we’re delivering iris in a way that works for all of our customers.
        Though most sources ship them in mid-summer, a separate, iris-only shipping season would mean our customers would have to order a full $30 worth (our minimum order) instead of just one or two. With spring delivery, on the other hand, most gardeners will get bigger plants faster along with blooms in a couple of months rather than a year. The way we see it, that’s a better way to serve our customers and to help preserve heirloom iris. (June 2009)

Got Iris? We’re Buying!

        We’ve doubled the number of iris in our new catalog, and we’d like to offer many more in the future. Maybe you can help.
        If you have a big clump of a wonderful old iris, and you might be interested in selling 50-200 rhizomes of it to us, please email charlie@oldhousegardens.com. You don’t have to know its name (we have experts to help us with that), but we will need clear, close-up photos of (a) an individual flower, including the beard, (b) a stalk, so we can see how it branches, and (c) the base of the leaves where they meet the rhizome (the coloring there is often helpful in identification). We hope to hear from you! (May 2009)

If Javelinas Roam Your Garden, Plant Iris!

        Though we didn't include bearded iris on our recent list of animal-resistant bulbs, our good customer Louise Coulter of Payson, Arizona, emailed us to vouch for them:
        “In my area which is at 5,000 feet in Arizona’s northern section there is an animal called javelina or wild pig. With cloven hoofs, tusks, and large foraging families, it devastates unprotected bulbs in gardens – except for iris. Seems they can’t eat iris. So at thousands of homes here, where the yards are unfenced, iris naturalize and are ubiquitous. Seems the local nurseries obtained a limited color palette of them each year, so one can almost tell how old the bulbs are by their color. For years one could only get shades of variegated purple and a lovely pale salmon.” (Nov. 2008)

For articles on other topics, see our main Newsletter Archives page.