irises are the most beautiful flowers
but they're quite fussy plants and I've
certainly lost a few over the years here
we're going to have a look at how to
keep your irises in brilliant flowering
form every single year and I'm talking
to Matt Jackson garden consultant with
land and heritage these irises which um
are in the beds in Culpeper garden at
Leeds Castle have been surrounded by P
gravel because they're very very shallow
rooted and because they like sitting
with their tubers out in the Sun it
keeps them baked dry it keeps them
freely drained and it stops slugs and
things munching at them they don't like
it therefore when they're underneath a
layer of mulch or leaf litter in the
border so what we try to do is we
identify a nice patch of the irises and
surround them with the gravel which has
several really good purposes one there
are a number of little pests and bugs
that don't like being in gravel or
climbing across it because they can't so
freely get to things find sort of
horticultural grit is also quite good
for this purpose also it keeps the
drainage good around the tubers and the
shallow roots which are on the surface
in fact you could so it keeps the
drainage good it keeps them hot and in
the Sun but it also has the added
advantage that when your hoeing through
the border and doing various bits of
work and maintenance your eye is
constantly aware of the fact that the
irises are here and you don't want to
hose through the roots and chop them all
off so it keeps them in you know really
tip-top form and shape and they will
stand a far better chance of succeeding
if you take that approach be when the
rest of the border starts to wake up we
can already see bulbs coming through at
the back there there's a rose having a
winter rest just here
there will be herbaceous things all the
way around so the gravel kind of
disappears into the general life and
busyness of the bed and you don't see
you don't see it also because of the
foliage from the irises being much
fuller so it's some you know it's it
blends in very well indeed
thank you Matt I'm going to go out and
clear around my irises now and then add
pea gravel around the rhizomes or roots
I should probably have done it a few
months ago but it will help at any time
of year if it's your first time here do
subscribe there are links in the
description below plus a link to Matt
Jackson and Landon heritage will do
gardening tips and reviews every
Wednesday and garden ideas and real
gardeners on Saturdays and if you have
any gardening problems you'd like me to
cover please do leave a comment below
thank you