Iris missouriensis - Rocky Mountain iris

[Riftlake]

Here in northern Arizona we had a huge amount of snowfall this last winter, and even a bit more spring rain than usual, and the wild iris are blooming abundantly in the meadows. They like it damp, but from what I've seen around the edges of cattle ponds and lakes, they don't seem to be marginals, and I don't know that they would work as a

bog plant. I would like to have a start of blue flag iris if someone has some to spare.

 

[GBBUDD]

Oh I will have. But I warn you it LOVES MY BOGS AND POND I HAVE PULLED OUT AT LEAST 100 NEW SHOOTS. AND THEY SAY THE YELLOW IRIS CAN GET OUT OF CONTROL..

 

[Riftlake]

You're right about the yellow iris, they grow like mad once they get started, but I have them corralled in containers, and so far they haven't escaped. I have some IBC totes I use for grow outs for some of my goldfish, and I use the yellow flag iris to help suck up nutrients, and they really work well. I had a tote that had pea green water and I added pots of yellow flag in pea gravel to them, and within less than 2 weeks the water cleared up and the algae died and settled on the bottom. I then was able to siphen the dead algae out. One thing I noticed about the tubs with the yellow flag is that the water level drops fast, I believe from the plant respiration. I do have some tubs with some other types of water plants that don't seem to suck up the water near as fast.

 

[addy1]

I have some in the bog, every fall I use a saw and cut tubers off and toss them. Keeps it nicely under control

 

[GBBUDD]

As soon as the flowers stop and the seed pods start the scissors come out and a hair cut follows.