Slow notes from a small garden. Updated whenever something blooms.
The falls hold water for hours after a shower. Cut stems last longer if taken early in the morning, before the buds fully open, and kept in cool water away from fruit.
Every three or four years the clumps get crowded and flowering drops off. Late summer is the easy window: lift, trim the leaves to a fan, discard the soft old centre and replant shallow, rhizome tops just showing.
Siberian irises shrug off neglect and dry spells; the flat, wide Japanese types want wet feet in early summer and acidic soil. Both are worth the space.
© iris notes