Such beautiful flowers as irises are loved and widely cultivated by florists and gardeners in various natural and climatic zones of our planet. There are many varieties of this plant, adapted to a variety of conditions, and on their basis breeders have created delicious varieties.
This article will tell you about the different types of this flower, the peculiarities of care and reproduction, as well as which pests and diseases of irises,
Who gave him a name?
The famous ancient Greek philosopher and healer Hippocrates named this flower for the variety of its colors in honor of the goddess Irida. It was she, like the rainbow, connecting heaven and earth, proclaiming to people the will of the gods. In addition, in the ancient Greek language, “iris” meant, first of all, a rainbow, and then the name of a flower. In the XVIII century, the natural scientist Karl Linney, who created a unified system of classification and plant names, retained its ancient name for the iris. Before telling about what diseases and pests can affect irises, we briefly dwell on the biological characteristics of this plant.
Botanical Description
Flowers such as Iris, better known to gardeners as brewers or iris, belong to the Iris family. As a rule, these are perennial rhizomes, but corms are also found.
In our strip, the most common rhizomes of iris, rather unpretentious in care and moderately watery. Garden iris forms a thick rhizome, located shallow under the ground and quite often protrudes from it, with a large number of thin filiform roots. The flat leaves of this flower are dense and quite stiff, covered with a whitish waxy coating of the xiphoid shape. In most species of irises, they grow in the form of fan-shaped bunches.
Irises flowers, planting and care of which is carried out in accordance with the characteristics of the plant, bloom from late spring to mid-June.
Flower Features
For all types of irises, the flowers are arranged on a strong and strong peduncle. In most cases, the flowers are solitary, but are found in small inflorescences. Coloring can be very diverse - from snow-white to almost black. Today there are varieties whose flowers are painted in two or even more colors. Such an iris flower consists of six, and sometimes three petals, the inner and outer lobes of which differ in shape, size and color.
After flowering, the plant forms the fruit - a ribbed trihedral elongated box, in which there are about 20 large seeds of a brownish color.
What are the types?
Foreign breeders and flower growers subdivide all iris plants grown in gardens into 13 main groups, although some believe that there are about 17 of them. In our country, it is customary to subdivide garden forms of kasatika (iris) into the following 10 main groups:
- bearded;
- Siberian
- Japanese
- remontant;
- arylbreds and aryl;
- spuria;
- Louisiana
- Evansia;
- plants of the Pacific coast;
- little known.
Such a classification is really needed, but in ordinary life a simpler and more understandable division of all rhizome irises into two groups is accepted: bearded and non-bearded. The most common in the gardens are large, exquisitely painted representatives of bearded irises. These include many varieties of the so-called German high bearded irises.
Unlike bearded irises, on the lower petals of which there is a “beard” of contrastingly colored villi, bearded beards do not have such an ornament. The following types of irises belong to this group:
- Siberian (I. sibirica);
- marsh (I. pseudacorus), it is also called false-air;
- Japanese (I. japonica);
- Louisiana (I. Louisiana);
- spuria (I. spuria);
- Californian (I. californian).
We will try to briefly characterize each of the listed species.
Iris barbata
Bearded iris is the most popular of the entire iris group. Today, there are about 35,000 varieties of it, and every year there are several new ones.
This flower got its name because of the delicate villi located on the lower petals. In many varieties, the color of the "beard" contrasts with the main color of the flower, consisting of six petals. The height of the bearded iris is divided into three groups:
- High - more than 0.7 meters;
- Srednerosly - from 0.4 to 0.7 m;
- Low, whose height does not exceed 40 cm.
Coloring of flowers happens both monophonic, and combined. The group of bearded irises includes Iris germanica.
Siberian kasatik
Unlike the hardy and unpretentious species of Siberian iris, the varieties developed on its basis have a higher need for warmth and light. Plants of this group can grow up to 1 meter in height. The leaves are narrower than the bearded, and have a lighter color. Varietal representatives come in various colors and bloom in late spring. You can choose varieties so that flowering will continue until the end of July. Diseases of cultivated and varietal irises are not terrible for him, and he is rarely affected by pests.
FalseAir (swamp) iris
It reveals its golden yellow, with small brown "strokes", flowers in late May - early June. This type of iris grows well in shallow, up to 40 cm, ponds, as well as at their borders. It develops well both in the sun and in partial shade.
In the middle zone, such types of irises as California, Louisiana, Japanese and spuria are rare, since there are few varieties adapted to our conditions, and they are, by virtue of their rarity, not cheap.
Irises flowers: planting and care
When buying irises, it is necessary to clarify what kind of species you are acquiring, as this affects the choice of place for landing. Most modern varieties of both bearded and non-bearded irises prefer sunny, warm places protected from the wind. However, species such as swamp, smooth and bristly, are water-loving plants. Smooth and swamp irises, as well as varieties bred on their basis, are recommended to be planted in shallow water of artificial reservoirs, and bristly - on flooded shores or in humid lowlands.
The remaining species of irises are planted in the middle lane in spring or autumn, with the end of summer being considered the most favorable period - the first weeks of autumn. Before planting the rhizomes of these flowers, the soil needs to be dug to a depth of 20 - 30 cm, and phosphorus-potassium and nitrogen-containing fertilizers and humus should be added. After irises have been planted, leaving in the open field for them consists in regular watering and top dressing, removing weeds as necessary.
These plants need to be planted every three to five years, as individual fragments of the rhizome are displaced to the surface as they grow. Because of this, the area of nutrition decreases and they cease to bloom. It can also lead to the development of iris disease.
How to propagate?
These perennials can be propagated both by seeds and vegetatively. The seed method is used during breeding and plants obtained in this way bloom in 2-3 years.
A simpler and more affordable way of propagating irises is vegetative, in which the rhizome of the mother plant is divided, and then the resulting plots are planted in the soil. It is best to transplant and share this perennial two to three weeks after flowering. Plots are planted superficially and slightly obliquely - so that the top of the rhizome is above the ground. Too deep landing can provoke the development of the disease of iris flowers and even cause their death. Plants obtained in this way bloom in the first year after planting.
Signs of disease and control measures
Most plants of this group are quite resistant to diseases, but with adverse weather factors and various damage to the rhizome, the following iris diseases can occur:
- Heterosporiosis (septoria) , manifested in the form of different-sized yellow spots, randomly located on the entire surface of the leaf plate. With the further development of the disease, the spots become brown and merge into one. The plant looks weak, blooms poorly, and the leaves dry out. Heterosporosis develops with a lack of calcium and phosphorus in the soil. Also, its development can cause prolonged rainy weather and the associated high humidity. From this disease of iris flowers in the early stages, spraying the plants with a 0.4% solution of colloidal sulfur or 0.3% copper chloroxide helps .
- Bacteriosis (wet rot) is the most dangerous disease, as it develops quite quickly. The first "symptoms" of this disease are the drying out and yellowing of the leaves. Then the base of the “fan”, and then the rhizome is affected by rot with a characteristic unpleasant odor. The cause of bacteriosis may be improper landing - excessive deepening or too dark and waterlogged place. At the first signs of damage to this disease, you need to dig up the plant and remove the affected part of the rhizome. To process the place of the “operation” with potassium permanganate, and then with any growth stimulator. After this, the rhizome is well dried, and then planted separately from other plants in dry soil, trying not to bury.
- Fusarium With this disease, the iris continues to grow and even blooms, but here the leaves turn yellow first and then turn brown. To prevent the development of this disease, before planting the rhizome, we disinfect it in a 0.2% solution of baseazole for half an hour. If a flowering plant is affected, then under the rhizome we water the same solution of foundationazole.
- Leaf spotting may appear due to bad weather conditions. The first signs are spots of different colors and sizes on the leaves. Having noticed them, immediately spray the diseased plant with a 0.3% solution of copper oxychloride or 1% with the composition of Bordeaux fluid.
Pests of flowers
Diseases and pests can infect irises. Among insects, these are:
- Medvedka, gnawing rhizomes with pleasure. To combat it, you can use special granules, baits, digging them into the ground around the irises.
- Cassatic (winter) scoop. The caterpillars of this insect feed on rhizomes, and adult individuals gnaw the bases of peduncles. Such an attack promotes the development of bacteriosis of irises. During the period of active growth of flowers, it is necessary to spray them with wormwood infusion: in 10 liters of boiling water lay a glass of wood ash, a tablespoon of any liquid soap and 300 g of grass. The container with the solution is closed and left to infuse for 5-6 hours. Immediately after that they are used for spraying. You can also use various biological products sold in specialized stores.
- An iris flower girl , outwardly resembling the most ordinary fly, spends the winter in the ground, but in the spring she crawls out and lays her eggs in buds. This is how irises are affected. Diseases of the buds and their death are due to the larva inside and actively feeding. The affected bud rots and, of course, does not bloom. Specialists recommend treating plants when leaves appear, as well as at the beginning of the budding stage with special insecticides. Affected buds should be immediately cut off and destroyed.
In addition to the above pests, irises can be affected by slugs, May bugs, wireworms, various types of thrips and nematodes.