Add a rainbow of color to your water-wise garden with easy-care bearded irises
This beauty is the 'Go Berserka' iris. Find rhizomes for gorgeous irises at the Sacramento Iris Society sale this Saturday. Kathy Morrison
Bearded irises rank among the best easy-care, water-wise perennials for Sacramento – and the foothills, too. (They can take winter cold and deer don’t like them.)
And now is the time to dig up and divide these beautiful bloomers – which is why it’s also perfect timing for an iris rhizome sale.
On Saturday, July 20, the Sacramento Iris Society will host its annual rhizome sale at Shepard Garden and Arts Center. These are newly dug rhizomes – fresh from the ground, divided, trimmed and ready to replant.
Mid to late summer is perfect for planting bearded iris rhizomes, so this sale’s timing could not be better – even with triple-digit temperatures forecast for this weekend. (Shepard Center is air-conditioned.)
Unlike past years, this will be a one-day sale. Shop early for best selection; sale starts at 9 a.m. and runs until 4 p.m. – or until they’re all gone. Admission and parking are free.
In virtually every color and combination, more than 60,000 cultivars of bearded iris (Iris x germanica) have been named. Commonly known as German bearded iris or German flag, the bearded iris actually traces its roots to the Mediterranean, which is why it’s so ideal for our climate.
At this sale, hundreds of varieties will be available in a rainbow of vivid hues. According to the society, each specimen will be labeled with the cultivar name and a description of the flower appearance.
Besides the traditional spring bloomers, find a large selection of “rebloomers” that extend iris season into summer and fall. Get advice on how to plant rhizomes plus year-round iris care.
Why plant irises? Besides the beautiful flowers, bearded irises are both deer- and drought-resistant; they can coexist with wildlife and need little summer irrigation.
Shepard Center is located at 3330 McKinley Blvd., Sacramento, in McKinley Park.
Details and directions: www.sgaac.org.
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Food in My Back Yard Series
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Garden Checklist for week of May 11
Make the most of the lower temperatures early in the week. We’ll be back in the 80s by Thursday.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.
* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.
* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)
* Plant dahlia tubers.
* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.
* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.
* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.
* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.
* Add mulch to the garden to maintain moisture. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch-to-1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.
* Remember to weed! Pull those nasties before they set seed.
* Water early in the day and keep seedlings evenly moist.
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