I wish to grow amazing iris any tips for a grower in the southwest

there are several iris members from your area, perhaps they will chime in?

I'm sure they will!

Josh: I have been growing Irises for about 7 years now. I wont say I grow amazing Irises but they grow good enough. Probably the only thing I have seen that I have to do much different than most the country is I do have to be careful what gardens I grow the SDB/MDB's in. I have to put them in a garden with only part day morning sun.

Also, almost all my Irises start getting brown tipped leaves in the hottest parts of Summer from the heat and in extreme cases one or two might lose all its leaves. But in the fall they resume growing well, start hibernating again in Winter and then in Spring emerge with lush beautiful foliage and flowers.

That said, my bloom rate ranges in the 45 to 60% range per year. I have not been able to join a local Iris club due to family schedule conflicts but still hope to at some point. But if you have time, I would say they or their websites will give the best local advice.

Josh: Also I am fairly new to this site. (1 year) so you may have been on here before and I missed you but if not... The expertise on this site in general is amazing and Me and my Irises are blessed by all the wisdom shared here. They have sure helped me grow more amazing Irises than what I had before watching this forum.

I think it is Blue J. Iris that is moving all (or most?) of its iris stock to El Paso and expects to be open for business in 2018. Josh if that is the case you will have a wonderful iris vendor near you. And to the iris forum. Stick around and let us know all about your progress.

Does blue j iris have a website

Yes. On this iris forum at the top if the first page is vendors. In that thread the first page has the listed alphabetically. Click in the Blue J link.

I have some friends in the Phoenix area and I sent them some irises a few years ago. Everyone there said it was a waste of their time to try to grow them there. The soil was so bad there that they dug huge holes and filled them with top soil. I recommended that they cover the rhizomes with mulch to protect them from the intense heat, and plant them where they would only get morning sun. They have had some success with them, at least until last summer when they had record high temps. They lost a few. I think she waters them every other day. I am going to send them some more this fall, around September when the temps are cooler.

My Dad grows iris in Sun City, AZ. They bloom really early spring before the high heat, and get some shade from the house for part of the day.

Stout in Oklahoma, and The Shady Spot and Hillcrest in Texas are other "local" vendors for you that have iris used to your climate.

I am in North Phoenix. I try to grow Iris every year as I just love the beautiful flowers.I have had luck with them with the exception of this year. They only bloomed for a short time but some beauties. I need to know how I go about saving them from the heat. Should I put them under an umbrella, which I do with other plants, or bring them inside? Seems I have to replace them very year.

Jpratt ~ to the Iris Forum!

There are some other members here that have similar growing conditions as yours. I am sure that they could share their garden experiences with you and give you excellent advice.

If I were growing my irises in a hotter climate, I would not leave the rhizomes so exposed to the extreme heat. Actually, one local iris garden buries her irises about one inch deep. Also, if you have a space that gets morning sun and afternoon shade, that might be helpful too. Do you have an irrigation system?

There are some Iris, that are already well adapted to extreme heat. Some tall bearded, may not do so well, in that kind of climate, but some species actually tolerate the high heat, quite well, including severe drought in summer. Maybe some aril-bred Iris might do well & check vendors with a climate like yours, to see what they have available..

Josh, you just may have to cover them up, when there is Monsoon rains, but still allow for air flow, between the roots/soil so air can flow adequately. So they remain dormant & apparently, your planting time ought to be somewhat later, towards September or October.

jpratt01 - I live in Zone 10b and my local iris nursery advises that the rhizomes are just covered with soil to prevent them from being scorched by the sun.

I live 15 miles west of Phoenix. Last spring a friend gave me several blue iris plants that she had been growing for many, many years under a giant mulberry tree. I planted some under a huge Palo Verde tree and some under a pygmy date palm to see which would survive. As everyone knows, we had record high temps this summer (2023). It looked like the irises would not survive. The leaves shriveled up and browned and I trimmed them off. It's now December and all the plants have flushed beautiful new green straps! I'm anxious to see if they bloom this spring! I've never grown them before.

Robi ~ to the Iris Forum!
Please do keep us posted, and take pictures if you can.

Robi!

Robi.

I've been growing an heirloom variety, William Setchell, for 6 years and I've seen a fair few people growing them in the old part of Phoenix without care or fussyness. They have been in several locations having moved with me. Last year ('23) I suffered significant losses, the rizomes had all been covered by 1/2 to 1 inch of light soil, first time I had ever planted them that way. I pulled everything up I could save. Stored it for 2 months while I amended the soil, then plopped everything very haphazard back into the ground in early October. Then my aunt gave me a few of her Cayenne Capers plus a yellow offspring that appeared. I dropped those into the bed later October and left them uncovered per usual. Phx had December and January rains, I did not water. Low and behold the Cayenne Capers started blooming mid February with William Setchel about 8 days behind that and then week or so after that the yellow seedling from Cayenne Capers shot up and is still blooming plus I'm starting to see other plants showing spikes including some dwarf I haven't seen bloom since 2016. So my take; I'm not sold on covering the rhizomes completely. I think dappled midday shade is likely healthier for them. I've had them planted on every side of the house at this point but a midday sun break is helpful. They will get brown tips in summer. Mine did the best in loose compost and soil mixture with a weekly watering.