Irises...

I planted irises today. K at work thinned her's out, and brought the extra rhizomes into work to see if anyone wanted them. I was very excited that I got to take so many of them home with me. I don't know anything about growing irises. When I looked them up online, the only thing that I could really take away in preparing to plant them was that they need well drained soil.

I believed that my soil options at the house were limited. K said that her's loved the acidity from the sunflower seeds that she kept in her bird feeder. The irises under the feeder thrived. I have lots of pine trees in my yard, and not a lot of well drained soil that I can see. So, I decided to do an experiment. I planted the irises in seven different places around my yard. The soil in each place was amazingly different.

Under some of the pines in the front yard, there is a bed of ivy. I planted three in with the ivy. It might be hard for them to survive when trying to compete with the ivy, but the soil was dark and loamy.

Under a different pine tree out in the middle of the yard, I planted five more. The soil at the foot of this tree was rather sandy. I planted two more at the base of another pine tree, but the soil underneath that tree was the same sandy soil.

In the back yard, I planted two more under another pine tree. This soil was mostly red clay. It was hard, dense and rather dry. I don't know if these irises will do well, but I wanted to try out everything. We'll see what happens.

I planted another one under an oak tree in a back corner of our yard. The soil here was rather loamy as well, but a little damp. This one has a view into the soybean field. I hope it does well so that I can see it blooming against this backdrop.

Two more were planted at the edge of the cedar trees that act as a wind break between the yard and the field. This soil was very dry and powdery. When I tried to water the two irises later, the water rolled off the soil and down the hill, never soaking in. I think that a real rain will have to come to get them wet. The soil just seems to repel the water. I thought that was really odd. To counter act that, I created little wells in behind the iris further up the hill and filled those with water. Hopefully it will soak in and there will be some water for the irises before it rains. I'll continue doing this until it rains.

The last iris was planted next to our patio. There is a rosebush and some lilies or something planted around it, but nothing that has done well. I planted it there, just for a different kind of soil. This was dark, damp, and yet kind of sandy.

Over all, I was amazed to find at least five different kind of soils in my yard. Who knew there would be so many different planting environments in the same yard? We'll see which kind of soil the irises survive in best, and from then on I'll know where to plant them.