Iris bucharica

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Last year I bought a small pot of Iris bucharica bulbs from a well known DIY store. As is often the case with plants bought from these places, care instructions are generally lacking or non existent.

On further research I found that I. bucharica belong to the Juno group of Iris most of those are said to be finickety. I. bucharica is said to the the easiest of this group but also need some exacting care.

Although hardy enough, they are native to the Afghanistan region so will cope with the cold: it’s the water, or lack of it that seems to be important. One thing my garden is never short of is water. I knew then that their best chance of survival was to keep them in a container.

Seen here flowering last April, along with a close up of the flowers. You would be forgiven for not immediately recognising the foliage as that of the Iris family but there is not mistaking those flowers, that’s for sure.

Unlike many Iris – these are in fact bulbs rather than rhizomes. When flowering was over, I gave them a feed of weak tomato feed then relegated them to the cold frame. Of course at this point in the year (May) I did not know how glorious our summer was to be!

It was important to reintroduce watering in autumn and allow them to experience the cold. This was done by bringing them out of the cold frame and leaving them exposed to the rain and cold. Which they have done for the last 4 months.

I was pleased to see that over the last couple of days, new shoots have begun to emerge.

I suspect that these are early due to the very mild weather we are experiencing. I will keep a keen eye on the temperatures and if we are to experience prolonged frosts, they will be popped back into the cold frame until it passes.

Apparently their fleshy roots, which they keep year round, are very delicate and care needs to be taken when transplanting! Depending on how much these have bulked up from last year, they may not need potting on until next year.

• 4 Feb, 2014
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