Iris net: planting and care in the open field. Description and variations

Iridodictium is a bulbous plant growing in the mountains of Transcaucasia, as well as in the highlands of Central Asia. A small genus with 11 species.

Iridodictium is not as common in our gardens as crocuses or daffodils, but very attractive and not difficult to care for. Also known under the names of iris snowdrop or iris mesh.

In the period of its early flowering, iridodictiums reach only 10-15 cm tall, then the leaves grow to 30 cm long, and in the middle of summer they die off.

Bulbs ovoid or round shape about 2 cm in diameter, covered with mesh scales, which are renewed every year.

Each bulb of iris - snowdrop gives one large flower. The colors of the flowers are lilac, purple, blue, white, yellow with spots and stripes.

The perianth of iridodictium consists of 6 leaves: three internal and external.

Like some iris, the outer segments of the perianth have an orange or yellow stripe, which turns into a white spot.

The beard of the iris net consists of yellow hairs. In some varieties of iridodictium, the flowers have a pleasant aroma.

The use of iridodictium in garden design

Iridodictiums are well suited for planting in rockeries or rock gardens, and the bulbs are better placed on the south side of large stones.

Can be planted in the cracks on top of the retaining walls. In addition, the plant is suitable for forcing, starting in January and the entire period of winter and early spring, as well as composing compositions together with hyacinths, crocuses and primroses.

Location and planting of iridodictium

Good development requires sunny places. Large bulbs of iris reticulum are planted to a depth of 8 cm, and small ones - 4 cm. The distance between the bulbs of iridodictium should be 10 cm. It is best to plant the same way as crocuses - in groups of 10 bulbs.

The soil

Irises - snowdrops need a slightly alkaline or neutral, well-drained soil. On moist soil grow poorly and get sick.

Iridodicia care

While the leaves are green, in early summer, the bulbs are fed with small doses of mineral fertilizer, they are watered only in drought, and they are composted for the winter period. Without a transplant in one place, the net iris grows 5 years.

After its flowering, the plant requires more heat and dry habitat, so it is necessary to protect it from the rain and cover it with glass.

You can also dig up iridodictium bulbs and transfer them to a dry room until the beginning of October, then plant them again in the ground, dug them to a depth of 6 cm. Where moisture remains, it is best to dig the bulbs before winter comes.

Iridodictium multiplication

Seeds and vegetatively. Iris bulbs - snowdrop planted to a depth of 7-12 cm, it all depends on their size. The bulbs are dug in June, when the foliage turns yellow, not waiting until it dries.

They are dried for several days at a temperature of 23 degrees, cleaned and stored until August at the same temperature, further until planting at 16 degrees.

Large flowering bulbs sometimes fall into small bulbs that do not bloom. If this action does not stop, the only way out is to buy flowering bulbs annually.

To obtain iridodictium seeds carry out artificial pollination. Sow the seeds immediately after harvest, then good shoots appear next spring.

Seedlings swoop down on a bed, and after a few years land on a permanent location. These bulbs bloom 3 years after sowing.

Iridodictium varieties retain their characteristics only during vegetative reproduction by daughter bulbs; signs of iridodictium species are also preserved when seeding.

Watering iridodictium

The presence of moisture in the soil is important during the formation of buds. After a harsh winter, it is usually sufficient and no watering is required.

Among the bulbous perennials occupy a special place   net irises, they are so expressive in springtime that they attract attention for a long time, even in spite of their tiny size. Let's see what kind of plants, when and how to plant bulbous irises, as well as how to use them in garden design.

Bulbous iris iridodictium: description and varieties

In the catalogs of flower companies, the name “iridodictium” for small-bulbous irises is not often found, and this is not surprising: for a long time Net irises   (Iris reticulata) took their place among the irises, they were singled out in a separate genus quite recently. It is still easier for the buyer and the seller to pronounce the “iris” than to get used to the new name.

In iridodictiums as in rhizomatous irises, three petals (inner perianths) are directed straight up, and three perianths are down. They are much smaller than rhizome irises, reaching about 15 cm. They bloom briefly - 10-15 days, depending on the region of cultivation it is March — April. They are also suitable for forcing the March holidays. There are blue, purple, purple varieties with beautiful bright spots on the lower perianth, here are some of them:

  • Camtab
  • Clarette
  • Joyce
  • Alida
  • Pauline
  • Royal blue
  • Harmony
  • Katherine hodgkin
  • Wetworth
  • J.S.Dijt

Iridodictium: planting and care, photos of small irises in the garden

Net irises are well suited for calcareous soils, so they can often be found in alpine gardens. Planted bulbs to a depth of 8-10 cm in sunny submerged areas of the garden. As well as crocuses, planting iridodictium bulbs on the sod is possible. In this case, they try to let the onions grow ripe, and only after the leaves have dried out, they mow the grass.

Onions are dug and divided not often - not earlier than 5 years after planting. Take out the bulbs from the ground after drying leaves and stored in the shady place of the garden until the autumn. Onion irises are best planted in late September and early October. Since net irises grow in one place for a long time, do not plant the bulbs often, let the children develop.

It is also possible spring, or rather early summer planting of bulbs for sale. Then you need to wait until the end of the growing season and plant plants in the garden together with a clod of earth. Hurrying with the landing should not be - they were driven out in greenhouse conditions and the early planting of bulbs in the cold soil will be stress for them.

Irises from bulbs in landscape design

In addition to alpine slides, iridodictiums are appropriate in the foreground of any flower garden with well-drained light soil. These are very early flowers, they finish the growing season by June, so they are suitable for any stylistic design of the garden. Their winter hardiness is higher than that of the Dutch irises, that is, they are good for regions with a harsh climate.


The magnificent blooming of garden irises can be admired endlessly. In addition, this plant is characterized by unpretentiousness and able to decorate the garden, even not too experienced gardener. The main nuances of cultivation, timing and method of planting iris net are discussed in our article.


Iridodictium reticulum is one of the most popular types of bulbous plants. In a separate form, they are highlighted relatively recently, so in the catalogs of companies selling flowers from can be found under different names. Most often, they are designated as small-bulbous irises, you can also find the name "Juno" and "Xirium". All these plants belong to a small family of bulbous irises, but they have characteristic differences, especially important when grown.

The main types of bulbous irises:

  1. Net iris, iridodictium or reticulum. Miniature plants (from 10 to 15 centimeters high), the vegetative period in which coincides with the popular primroses. Differ in frost resistance, do not demand special leaving. Flowering lasts up to two weeks, after which the plant growth accelerates. The stem extends to 20-25 centimeters in height, after which it gradually fades and dies.
  2. Iris pearl or Juno. A relatively rare type of bulbous crops. Unusual inflorescences appear in mid-April, and since June the onions are dug, calibrated and dried. Re-landing is held in September. For the winter, the place of growth of Juno is rolled with spruce branches and dry branches in order to avoid freezing of the plants.
  3. Dutch Iris or Xiphium. The most common, but differs fastidious "character." Most gardens are grown as an annual. To save the bulbs for the next year, you must dig them up and store them in a cool place. Temperatures below 10 degrees below zero are detrimental to these plants. Differ in a diverse palette of colors.

There are many varieties of iridodictium, so you can choose the appropriate shade or size of the plant. They are often used for spring forcing, as well as a home flower, but the maximum decorative effect is observed during group planting in a flowerbed.

Landing rules

Acquired toffee onion bulbs will decorate a flower garden and plant landscape only in case of preliminary soil preparation. These plants are light-requiring enough, so in the shade of tall bushes will develop poorly. In addition, they do not tolerate soil moisture, and therefore, it is necessary to consider a drainage layer or water drainage. In the damp ground or when the groundwater is located close to them, the onion will simply rot, so it would be ideal to plant irises in loose sandy soil with additionally applied fertilizers.

How is the landing:

  1. Normal garden soil is diluted with a sufficient amount of sand and peat. If necessary, liming and drainage for outflow of melt water is carried out.
  2. Irises feel good on elevations. Alpine slide is suitable for landing. At the same time planting are located between other plants, whose growing season begins late.
  3. The deepening of the onions should be carried out at the rate of two heights of planting material. Moisten the soil before planting.
  4. For a more decorative effect, group landings are most often used. Plants do not interfere with each other, while retaining moisture in the soil and develop quickly.
  5. Landing sites should be noted in order not to forget to dig up onions for storage.
  6. Planting of the net iris in autumn is carried out a little later than tulips (approximately in the middle of October). The depth touched will be a little more - from 7 to 10 centimeters. From above, the soil is covered with a non-woven cloth, or mulched with dry branches, leaves and spruce branches.

More information about planting iris net in open ground will tell the video clip.

Further care for the iridium

Knowing the features of these flowers, it will be easy to grow them and multiply in your own area. In the wild, these plants are found on the belt of the mountain ranges of Asia. In addition to good light, this climate provides the flower with abundant spring precipitation, arid summer and wintering under a large layer of snow cover. Such rules should be adhered to while ensuring suitable conditions for planted irises.

Fundamental rules:

  • Active watering during the formation of the stem and buds. It is important to observe the frequency and water the plant in small portions in order to eliminate the risk of onion rotting in the ground.
  • After the plant has faded, and the leaves only begin to turn yellow, it is necessary to dig out and dry the onion well. If you delay with the terms, they can be damaged by inkblot. When dark spots are found on the bulbs, such material is not suitable for further planting and can be a source of infection for other bulbs, so it is thrown away.
  • To store the onion iris can be in a cool and dry place until mid-autumn. This procedure will allow the plant to relax and gain strength before wintering. If the bulbs are not digging, the plants will inevitably shred or die in the case of a rainy summer.
  • Autumn planting provides early flowering of the crop, so when warm spring days come, you should remove the winter shelter and water the landing site well.
  • Top dressing is carried out as required with complex fertilizer beds. The plant loves the soil with a neutral or slightly acidic environment, so the rest of the "flowerbed inhabitants" should be chosen according to this principle.

Growing this flower does not take much trouble, and early flowering will bring much joy to the owners of the site. That is why the bulbous irises are gaining more and more fans, and thanks to the wide color range of petal colors, you can choose any version you like to your taste.

Application in landscape design

Like most primroses, the net iris is planted with other plants. In view of the fact that irises usually bloom in early spring, it is impractical to give a large area to these plants, it is better to use them as garden compositions when designing alpine slides and flower beds. To do this, they are planted in the foreground, in addition, often used as a pot plant and for spring forcing. See the options for decorating garden beds with your own eyes, and also draw a little inspiration for your own designs.

A popular garden flower - net iris, the main characteristics, planting and maintenance of which are discussed in our article, you should definitely plant on your site. Unpretentious and hardy plant will delight the owners with flowering every year. In addition, iris onion can be successfully used for forcing. The timing of planting and the main subtleties of the care of bulbous net irises are discussed in our article.

Our grandmothers, growing garden strawberries, or strawberries, as we used to call her, were not particularly worried about mulching. But today, this agricultural enterprise has become fundamental in achieving high quality berries and reducing crop losses. Someone may say that it is troublesome. But practice shows that labor costs in this case pay off a hundredfold. In this article, we suggest you get acquainted with the nine of the best materials for mulching garden strawberries.

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Spring flowers are the most desirable, they are associated with warm sunshine, the early coming of summer. Apparently, this explains the great popularity of irises - since the beginning of May, lush buds of all shades of the rainbow have opened up on the flowerbeds of suburban areas. A huge number of species (about 800) allows you to pick flowers in the right combination and together with other plants create amazingly beautiful compositions. Let us consider in more detail how the bulbous irises are planted and cared for.

Irises are not particularly demanding, but there are several points that should be considered. They are not recommended:

  • overmoistened soil;
  • mineral-poor soil;
  • constant shadow.

Planting on an artificially created slope serves as protection from excessive moisture. If groundwater comes close to the roots, a small elevation should be constructed with a slope to the south and arrange the drainage system. To do this, it is enough to raise a bed of 20 cm and ensure the outflow of rainwater.

There are several ways to plant irises: single, bush, group, free sowing. Flowers with large buds are used for a single planting, with small - for group

Sample flowerbed with irises: 1 - Hyacinth Purple Voice; 2 - tulip Flashpoint; 3 - New Baby narcissus; 4 - Iris reticulated cantab; 5 - Scylla Siberian Alba

Irises like sunlight, but some of the time can be spent in the shade, so it is advisable to split the flower garden in a non-shaded or slightly shaded area. Before planting, the soil is enriched with organic fertilizers, then carefully dug up and loosen. Manure is usually paid in advance, about a year before planting.

Ideal soil for bulbous - lime. An alkaline reaction is provided by lime, chalk, or eggshell, which have been digged into the ground during digging. It is better to dilute the sandy soil with humus, ash and about 40 g of superphosphate (calculated per 1 m²) will not be superfluous. Clay, on the contrary, it is better to dilute the sand of a large fraction and add a little humus or compost to enrich.

You should not be limited to traditional beds, located in places of rest and along the paths. The original flower bed stump looks much more attractive!

Place of planting flowers can not be changed for about 10 years, hybrid varieties - 5 years. The ability of irises to grow rapidly leads to a deficiency of nutrients in the soil, as a result of which a change of place is required, that is, the transfer of a flower bed.

Autumn - time planting bulbs

First of all, we invite you to watch a video on the topic:

Features of planting depend on the variety. In temperate climates, iridodictiums, Turkish and Caucasian, as well as their hybrids, take root well and survive the winter. We choose a dry, open place and dig shallow pits - up to 7 cm. We fall asleep the bulbs so that the soil adjoins them loosely, and it is better to add some sand to its composition. To protect plants from fungal diseases, purchased bulbs are pretreated with Fundazol or Benlat. In the summer, after the death of the stem and leaves, we separate small daughter bulbs, which are necessary for further reproduction.

For decorating flower beds, use one or more varieties of irises. A variety of colors allows you to create compositions of rare beauty

Bulbs varieties "Juno" are of large size and the presence of fleshy, annually updated roots, which should be handled with great care. If the roots disappear, the plant will die. The best period for planting onion irises in open ground is the last week of September or the first decade of October. The bulbs are gently lowered into the pits, so as not to damage the roots, and sprinkled with a layer of earth up to 6 cm thick.

The hole for planting should be relatively small - about two heights of the bulb, therefore, for small onions of irises the depth will be from 4 to 7 cm

Summer preparation is that the bulbs are dug out after the withering of the iris and dried in a room with a temperature of 22-25ºС. The second option - cover the flower bed with a film, protecting it from rain, until the beginning of October. Further reproduction of Juno produce or daughter bulbs, or seeds, which are sown in special boxes. Boxes with seeds, like bulbs, must be dried. Shoots appear, as a rule, in the second year.

The distance between future plants when planting can be different: the minimum is considered a gap of two widths of the bulb (as a result a thick bush is formed), the maximum is up to half a meter (usually single irises with lush buds are planted this way).

Using a plastic basket for growing

In the supermarket you can buy a simple but very convenient basket for growing bulbous crops.

In order to remove part of the sod, we put the plastic basket on the desired area and around the circumference with a shovel or scoop draw a contour to a depth of 12 cm

Carefully remove the separated piece of sod, and deepen the resulting hole by about 20-30 cm to fit the basket completely

Pour fertilizer on the bottom of the pit, then set the basket. Fill it with a dense wet layer of fertile soil and plant bulbs

Fill the planted bulbs with a thin layer of earth and return the seized piece of sod back. Thus, the bulbs will spend the whole winter in favorable conditions.

The basket is convenient in that it can be easily removed from the ground and moved to the room for drying, together with the planted bulbs.

How to care for irises?

In addition to timely planting and preparing the soil, care is needed for the plants during their flowering: early irises begin to bloom in May, and later irises begin to bloom in June. Competent care for bulbous irises consists in regular feeding with fertilizers and protection from pests. Another point of care for flowers - watering. During the rainy season, the irises should not be watered, and in dry times moderate irrigation is necessary strictly in the evening.

It is important to choose the right color varieties. For example, Siberian irises are considered the most frost-resistant, so they easily tolerate winter in northern latitudes.

Mineral fertilizers

In the spring, after the snow melts, we wait until the top layer of the soil has completely dried in order to add fertilizer. Ready-made solutions and dry universal mixes, for example, Reasil or Good Power, will do. Put the required amount of top dressing in the upper layer (or just scatter on the surface of the soil around the bulbs), then carefully loosen, trying not to hook the roots.

One of the three-stage options for feeding hybrid irises from the first year of flowering:

  • nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus (2: 3: 1) - in the spring on dry soil;
  • the same composition, but in a different proportion (3: 3: 1) - at the time of bud formation;
  • potassium, phosphorus (1: 1) - 1 month after the beginning of the flowering period.

Regular and properly dosed dressing guarantees high decorative qualities, rapid development and long flowering. One of the most important periods in the life of a plant is the formation of flower buds. Fertilization at this stage provides a lush, full bloom in the next year.

It is not necessary to make independently complex fertilizer for irises, the store sells ready-made bulbs in two forms: solution and dry mix

Watch out for the amount of nitrogen. The excess of this substance causes "fattening" - a process when leaves develop remarkably, but flowering is completely absent.

Preventive Pest Control

Most often, irises have a disease of the roots and bulbs - bacteriosis, which causes decay of individual parts. The plant is dug, the diseased parts are removed, washed in potassium permanganate and transplanted to another location.

How to determine the disease in bearded irises? Usually a healthy plant has a bundle of 7–9 leaves, whereas in a patient no more than 5 can be found. A problem occurs with the formation of flower buds. For treatment, the plant is dug, cleaned from rot and insects, treated with an antiseptic. If the irises are affected by thrips, the natural wax on the leaves is disturbed.

Prevention consists in competent preparation of the bulbs for the next year - removal of the old stem along with leaves, peduncles and flowers, in which harmful insects may remain.

Traditional care for irises guarantees their unusually bright flowering and the possibility of creating unique flower beds.