Our earliest bearded irises have started blooming just in time to add color to the garden as the last of the spring flowering bulbs are fading. As such, they occupy a valuable niche in the flower ...

Tall bearded irises are among the most dramatically beautiful flowers in our gardens, but they are not carefree. Ignore them for three or four years and the quantity of blooms will peter out, the iris ...

Why did the gardener bury a $100 bill beneath each new perennial? The tag said they needed rich soil. Dollar bills might add a little organic matter as they decompose, but it’s not necessary to bury ...

In the swelter of last summer, a coolly white iris called ‘Immortality’ bloomed until the end of October. This was a rhizomatous, bearded or ‘Germanica’-type iris, a group of sunseekers providing ...

Katherine Gallagher is a writer and sustainability expert. She holds a B.A. in English Literature from Chapman University and a Sustainable Tourism certificate from the GSTC. Also known as pot ...