First of all to all my buddies to the north, still shoveling snow and huddling by the fire to keep warm, I apologize for piling more spring fever on you. Here in the great state of Oklahoma (zone 7) we're enjoying some above average temperatures which is letting us get a little head start on the gardening chores. With our garden a master planting at this years Median Iris Society convention in Oklahoma City (April 14-16) we need a little head start! I personally am in hog heaven crawling along the iris and daylily beds weeding and cleaning up last years leaves and dead foliage. It's so good to be outside! (Again, my apologies for those still in the frozen tundra. ;)
I just wanted to suggest to my friends that as soon as you can, you should work on cleaning up the old stuff in the beds, especially around your iris. The worst enemy for iris is excessive winter moisture and as long as the old foliage is there, acting like a thick mulch, the better the chance of rot and leaf spot latter. Coupled with it are the cutworms and sow bugs finding the mulch a perfect abode. Of course the old foliage does have its purpose, especially for the daylilies. It protects them from the cold and can be helpful for insulation if a late freeze hits you, so I leave it to each of you to figure when it's safe enough.
Some spring cleaning now will go along way in helping you keep your plants healthy and pest free without the use of pesticides and fungicides and that's stuff we all need to avoid.
Happy gardening!
Please tell me these are last years pictures! Thanks for starting us all off on the right foot with care for our lilies and irises...even those of us living in the 'frozen tundra'.
ReplyDeletei'll be there soon....see some new growth peeking out this week!
ReplyDeleteThese pix were yesterday, Feb 27th. Yea Sarah!
ReplyDeleteHughman: I so enjoy your posts through facebook & your website-I'm one of those jealous northerners living in zone 4 (N Central IA) who just got a fresh blanket of snow this past weekend! Last year I was so overwhelmed with all the spring clean-up so, having a nice long fall decided to clean up my day lily beds-I hope I haven't shot myself in the foot & get winter/spring kill! I work a +40 hour week and then try to tend my many beds in the evenings & on weekends. Plus, the body just doesn't hold up as well on hands and knees in the flower beds as it did 10 years ago! Does Stout Farms have a spring/summer open house; one of my gardening friends & I try to do something special at least one weekend a month in the growing season! I drool at the gorgeous postings of daylilies & iris! Keep thinking warm thoughts for your cold gardening friends!
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