Caring For Damaged Irises

The other day my husband decided to run the mulching lawn mower over my backyard irises. He thought it was a good idea; quicker and faster way to trim back the fans and needless to say I was devastated. Many of the rhizomes were damaged and other plants had no leaves as they were cut down so low that I doubt they will produce flowers next spring or the year after, that is if they survive this shock.

My backyard irises that grow next to the rock wall

Anyway I was upset but today I dried the tears from my eyes and decided I would try to care for my damaged irises; try to save them. The first thing that I did was add some organic compost to the flower bed. Normally I do not cover the rhizomes but today I did cover most of them, leaving only a small section before the leaf would begin. The compost is a rich fertilizer and hopefully will aid in provided the irises with the nutrients that are needed to grow and not die.

When I completed the compost, I then watered the irises, in fact I set up a soaking hose that will provide the irises with a slow drip in the morning.

Presently I am watching the irises for sucking insects like spider-mites and aphids and if I see these garden type insects I will treat the irises with a spraying of neem oil insecticide. My friend is a master gardener and she does not think that the flowers will survive. It is a terrible shock to flowers and like I said the rhizomes were cut.

Know that my husband is a great help to me with the garden and that I had explained how to trim back the leaves, even showed him how to sterilize the garden scissor but he thought the mower was a good idea and cut down the irises. Of course he knew immediately that he made a mistake and did say he was sorry.  But the damage is done.

Keeping Irises Insect Free with Neem Oil

This summer has been a real buggy one. I suppose it was due to a cold and damp spring, followed by standing water due to ground saturation then it got hot and the insects came out in full force. Overall my irises took a beating from the sucking insects and when I found that natural soap  treatment was not strong enough I cut the irises back and treated the soil rhizomes and leaves with neem oil insecticide

Keeping my irises healthy with neem oil concentrate

Neem oil insecticide is natural and is safe to use in your garden. Plus it will not harm the butterflies or hummingbirds. I bought the brand Garden safe Neem oil extract concentrated liquid from Lowes.com. The label featured that it eliminate the garden pests; spider mites, aphids, powdery mildew, whiteflies, black spot and rust.

I followed the directions and treated my irises and roses in the evening after the sun went down. It is best to use this plant and shrub spray on a cloudy day or in the evening. Not a good idea to use during the heat of the day or in direct light as it will burn your plants leaves.

I saturated the soil, around and my plants stems and leaves. I am am pleased with the results thus far. Now as far as the grasshopper and other chewing garden pests I plan to treat my entire yard with concentrated spearmint as this was recommended to me by pest control expert.

Know that if you irises are under attack by mites, leaf spot disease, rust and aphids then neem oil concentrate mixed with water will help. If you have grasshoppers or other chewing garden pests then neem oil will not get rid of them

Learn the dos and don’ts for cutting back irises here

What NOT to Do When Cutting Back Bearded Irises

A Gardener’s Cautionary Tale

Every gardener has a story that becomes a lesson  sometimes a gentle reminder, sometimes a full‑blown “don’t ever do this” warning. Today’s post is the latter. Consider this your friendly, slightly satirical guide to what NOT to do when trimming bearded irises, told from the perspective of someone who grows hundreds of them and has lived through the consequences.

If you’ve ever trusted a well‑meaning helper in the garden… this one’s for you.

🌱 The Setup: A Simple Task… or So I Thought

I needed to treat my irises for borers using concentrated spearmint oil. To help the treatment reach the rhizome, the leaves must be cut back neatly about three inches tall, shaped like a fan, using sterilized garden scissors.

I sterilized two pairs of scissors. I demonstrated the proper cut. I explained why it mattered. My husband nodded. He understood. Or so I believed.

I headed to the front garden to trim 300 irises. He headed to the back to trim 287.

🚫 What NOT to Do: The Lawn Mower Edition

Ten minutes later, he announced that cutting iris leaves was “ridiculous” and he was going to mow the lawn instead. Fine. Great. Grass needs mowing.

A few minutes later, he approached me with the phrase no gardener wants to hear:
“I cut them too short.”

Too short… what?

“The irises.”

Reader, he did not mean “too short with scissors.” He meant too short with the mulching lawn mower.

Bearded irises growing on both sides of the garden path

💀 The Damage: When Irises Meet a Mulching Mower

If the rhizome is cut, the plant is damaged. If the leaves are shredded, the plant is stressed. If the entire plant is run over by a mulching mower… well… you can kiss a couple hundred blooms goodbye.

I followed him to the backyard. My Batik irises both sides of the garden path — were scalped. Not trimmed. Not tidied. Scalped.

I suspect I lost hundreds of flowers that year.

🌿 DO: Proper Iris Leaf Trimming

• Use sterilized garden scissors.
• Cut leaves to about three inches.
• Shape them like a fan.
• Trim only after blooming or when treating pests.
• Keep cuts clean to prevent borer entry.

🚫 DON’T: The Fast, Furious, and Fatal Methods

• Do NOT use a lawn mower.
• Do NOT use a weed trimmer.
• Do NOT “buzz cut” irises to the ground.
• Do NOT cut into the rhizome — ever.
• Do NOT assume a helper understands without supervision.

😂 A Little Humor Helps the Healing

My husband is usually a wonderful help in the garden. But on this day, he made a choice  a bold, baffling choice to mow the irises as if they were a patch of unruly turf.

He apologized. He meant well. He still doesn’t fully grasp the horticultural crime scene he created.

🌸 Want to Learn Proper Iris Care?

You can read my full guide to dividing and transplanting bearded irises here.

Disclaimer

Disclaimer: All photos in this article were taken in my own gardens. My gardening knowledge comes from decades of hands‑on experience, beginning in childhood when I learned to garden by helping my father in our family gardens. Those early lessons shaped my lifelong love of plants. I later deepened my knowledge while tending the gardens of a Master Gardener and Master Naturalist. This article reflects my personal experience growing and caring for hundreds of bearded irises in Missouri’s climate.

Gardening Today: Removing Dead Branches from Trees

My husband and I were up early today because if we are going to do any work outdoors it has to be early in the morning because afternoons are too hot. Here in the central states, we have extreme heat and drought. To give you an idea the average temperature has been 100 degrees Fahrenheit, with a heat index of 110. We are both used to working outdoors, but this extreme heat is just too hot.

I have been weeding the garden beds and my husband removed the dead branches from the Mimosa tree and also trimmed the branches that are too close to the windows on the side of the house. Then my husband pruned back the poison ivy that was growing over the wall. I cannot touch it but for some reason, he can pull it out with his hands and it does not bother him.

We worked together today on manicuring the trees and also treated the flowers, shrubs, and around the trees with a soap wash to get rid of the aphids, spider mites, and beetles

Learn more about mimosa trees by reading my blog post here.  Know that our mimosa tree is no longer flowering so it is safe to trim back the branches to encourage growth and many blooms next year.


Happy summer gardening everyone. If you are out in the garden be sure to have some water close by. Keeping your body hydrated is the best way to prevent heat stroke.  

Learn more about pruning your flowering trees by viewing this video.

Dandelions: Easy to Grow and Tastes Good Too

Every growing season my husband and I have disagreements about the dandelions that grow in the yard. He thinks of them as an ugly weed and I think of them as a health food. Since my husband was opposed to the dandelions growing in the lawn I transplanted them to their own earth box.

Dandelions will grow anywhere as long as they have good drainage, sun and water. So you can pant them in a container garden, raised garden or separate area in your yard if you trust your spouse not to mow them over.  Dandelions are easy to grow and have a pretty flower however the new leaves and the flowers also taste good.

Dandelion greens are similar to spinach. Know that If you like sautéed spinach then it is wise to grow dandelions. The entire plant is edible; flower, leaves and root. You can serve in salad, chopped as a garnish on casseroles or sauteed as a side dish.

You will feel better when you grow and eat dandelions because the dandelion also has medicinal properties; the leaves are a natural diuretic, plant. The roots can be roasted to make a coffee like drink or herbal tea.  Dandelion is rich in calcium, iron, magnesium, and essential B vitamins. So if you want to improve the health of your liver or gallbladder it is wise to add the Dandelion herb to your garden.

Learn more about dandelions by viewing the youtube video.  

Maintaining Backyard Wildlife Habitat

In 2004 my husband and I decided to grow a wildlife habitat that would naturally provide the songbirds, squirrel, deer and other wildlife with forage. We knew that initially the garden would not do as intended but within a few growing season we would no longer have to worry; the plants would adapt to the garden and the wildlife would have plenty of food.

Here are photographs of wildlife in the backyard habitat 

Raccoon by serviceberry trees 

Black butterfly and mimosa flower

Butterfly garden

Cat relaxing after visiting the catnip garden

Raccoon hiding in the grass garden

Well that was the plan and it worked well the first few years then came the droughts and the extreme heat during the summer months and we lost many fruit shrubs due to not enough water and or pests. We simply could not hydrate the plants with the water restrictions in our area.

So the following year we collected water from the spring rains in the barrels that I bought at Lowes.com. This was a good idea, however come end of July we had exhausted all of the water intended to sustain the habitat plants during the drought season.

Know that when we noticed the rain barrel water levels were getting low we then started collecting household water from bath, shower and water used to rinse the vegetables.  Yes taking buckets of water from house to outdoor rain barrel wasn't fun, the buckets were heavy and sometimes the water spilled out of the bucket when lifting to pour into the barrel. But by recycling the water we were able to have more water for the forage plants,  but it was not enough water to maintain the wildlife habitat throughout the summer.

Since we had lost many plants due to our extremely hot summers we decided to grow only native plants and other fruit bearing plants. Also instead of growing the forage plants away from the house we grew them closer. By doing this we were able to hydrate them with soaking hoses in the early morning on our assigned  watering days. We also invested in water retention mulch by Scotts. The cost of this mulch is higher than others but it is well worth it because it does help you to save water.

Initially our plan was to grow forage for the wildlife in our area, but with the changes to climates that idea became costly and one we could not afford to maintain.  Know that the wildlife habitat has changed to native plants that are maintained with the special water retaining mulch, soaker hose system that provide the plants at the soil level a slow and steady drip of water. We set these soaker hoses on a timer and water every other day for two hours in the early morning.

We continue to save the spring rain water but instead of waiting for the water level in these barrels to empty out before recycling, we started a water recycling system that we do constantly throughout the growing season.

By implementing the ongoing water recycling we found that the water barrel watering system does not deplete and has allowed us to continue to water our wildlife habitat during the hottest month of the summer.

Do you recycle water for your outdoor gardens?

Vinegar Weed Killer Tips and Warnings

Recently I published a post about using the vinegar and ultra dawn dish soap formula to kill the weeds and grasses growing in between my garden path stepping stones. I shared this post on Facebook and many of my gardening friends asked questions.

I will be answering these questions here.

Keep your garden weed free with vinegar. Photo of my lily and Iris garden

Why use vinegar and dawn ultra dish soap and not roundup?

White vinegar is an acid and the dawn ultra dish soap is what holds the acid on your weed's leaves and stem. The acid kills the weed but does not kill the earthworms. Roundup is a chemical that kills the weeds to the root and every good garden insect that crosses its path. In addition, the roundup is not safe to use around pets.

How often do you have to apply the vinegar weed killer?

The white vinegar weed kill formula should be used on a hot sunny day. Spray the weed by saturating it with vinegar.  You will see the weed dying back in a few hours, the leaves and stems will turn brown. 

 Now provided your summers are dry then you will not need to reapply, you may have to spot check the area for new weed-grown once a week and treat any new growth with the vinegar.  Now if it rains or the area that was treated with the vinegar formula gets wet from sprinklers, then the formula will be weakened and the weeds will grow back quickly.

Can I use it in my flowerbeds or around trees?

I would not recommend using any weed kill in your flower garden areas for fear that it might come in contact with a plant that you do not want to kill. Know that I have used this weed killer on weeds growing close to a mature Oak tree and had no problems but I would not use it in the same area as a young tree.

This vinegar and ultra dawn soap weed kill do work if used as directed and are not weakened from rain or another water source.

Do I have to buy a brand name for the distilled white vinegar? 

 No brand name is needed in fact I would recommend that you buy Walmart.com Great Value which is the store brand and is always less than other top brands. Buy whatever is on sale as long as it is distilled white vinegar.

Does the vinegar smell last long?

When the vinegar is mixed with the dawn ultra dish soap the smell is weakened and is not as pungent as straight vinegar. I noted that the smell was gone within a few hours.

Those are some of the questions that I was asked, if you have any further questions then please leave a comment and I will reply.

Here are some other products that I have used for controlling weeds in flower beds' learn more here

Weeds Growing in-between Stepping Stones

Removing the weeds that grow in-between the stepping stones has been my  garden project this week.  Know that I started this task by using a hand tool to dig out the roots but soon realized that to complete the 40 foot paths that I would need to work several days.  A hand pull on a project this large would be really hard on the body.

Here are a few photographs of my many garden paths.  All needed to be weeded last week.

Stepping stone with pea gravel and edge stone

Dry set flagstone walkway with pea gravel

Pea gravel path with stepping stones

Cement capstone garden path 

First I thought I would use the lawn trimmer as a quick fix to my problem.  It looks good until it rained two days ago and now the weeds have grown back and the stepping stone path looks awful.

My husband suggested that I use roundup to kill the weeds and I refused to do the chemical compound being harmful to the wildlife.  I realized that I needed something strong to take care of my obnoxious weed problem so I inquired about a formula at my garden club and they gave me a mixture that consisted of plain dawn dish soap, Epsom salt and water.

I followed the instructions given; mix well spray on the weed liberally on a sunny day and it should start to die off within a few hours.  Well I waited two days and the weeds did not die off.   

I went back to digging the weeds out by the roots, and had accomplished several feet when my husband tells me to mix 2 gallons of distilled white vinegar with 2 tablespoons of Dawn ultra (original Dawn the one that is blue color) mix the formula and spray on the weeds on a sunny day.

Husband  said the vinegar is an acid and it is what kills the weeds, the soap is what keeps the vinegar on the the weeds.  I followed his instruction and mixed 8 gallons of vinegar with the dawn ultra dish soap, sprayed on the weeds in-between the stepping stones and within 2 hours they were turning brown.