Started Blue Flag Iris at the wrong time — lessons learned

I planted Blue Flag Iris at entirely the wrong point in the growing calendar and spent the first few months wondering what I'd done wrong. overrunning the pond surface in productive warm summers didn't help matters. Once I understood planting in aquatic baskets with specialist pond compost things improved substantially.

cooling visual effect and microclimate benefit in summer is what makes this plant worth persisting with. In a natural wildlife pond with naturalistic marginal planting it finally looks as good as I'd imagined. first leaf pads emerging at the water surface in spring redeemed the whole effort. If you're starting out: do your timing research before you plant.