# Gardening question, re: iris bulbs

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-question-re-iris-bulbs/302753>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 6, 2005, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-question-re-iris-bulbs/302753 "2005-05-06T22:22:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-question-re-iris-bulbs/302753/1 "2005-05-06T22:22:54Z")

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Last year I dug up my whole garden and had it roto-tilled. I replanted all my iris, plus put in some new ones. The older ones had gotten very crowded anyway.

Now they have all come up, the leaves, but only four varieties are going to bloom, and I have ten! The others _look_ healthy, just didn’t put up the blossom stalks.

Can anyone tell me if this is a result of replant shock? Will they likely bloom next year? I don’t mind the work I did, but I will miss the colors of those that wont’ bloom.

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**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-question-re-iris-bulbs/302753/2 "2005-05-07T01:43:35Z")

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I’m not much of a gardener so I don’t know why they didn’t bloom but I can tell you that when I transplanted some iris a cousin gave me it was several years before I got blooms. They had plenty of greenery though. Maybe it takes a while for them to establish roots?

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**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-question-re-iris-bulbs/302753/3 "2005-05-07T01:59:34Z")

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Mine took a year to come back and bloom after transplanting.

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**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-question-re-iris-bulbs/302753/4 "2005-05-07T02:32:23Z")

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Thanks, I feel a little better then. I’ll miss them this year, but I know they’re not dead, so I can look forward to next year.

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**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-question-re-iris-bulbs/302753/5 "2005-05-07T16:11:23Z")

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My mom’s didn’t bloom this year, though, although they did bloom last year and she transplanted them the year before! The funny thing is, she has purple, white, yellow,and pink, and the purple and one of the pinks bloomed, but the rest didn’t.

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**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-question-re-iris-bulbs/302753/6 "2005-05-07T16:34:19Z")

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That’s kind of like mine. Four varieties will be blooming, at least seven or eight more will not. Oh well, the one I paid ten dollars for last year is one that is blooming. It’s absolutely gorgeous, with four different shades of color in it.

I just hate waiting til next year! 😛