What to Do When Bearded Irises Don't Bloom?

Planting Depth

• Look at the ground where the bearded iris rhizomes are planted. You should be able to see the rhizomes slightly. If they are buried, you've planted them too deep or mulch or soil has covered them over time. Try to move the soil away from the base of the plant to expose just the top of the rhizomes to sunlight. This may help encourage your irises to grow well and bloom.

Water Before Blooming

• During the spring and early summer months before your bearded irises are blooming, you should water them enough to keep the soil moist. However, don't water them too much that the soil becomes soggy or super saturated. If your bearded irises are not bloom, start to water them and they may just start to bloom a bit later than normal.

Photosynthesizing Sunlight

• In order to bloom, bearded irises must be given adequate time to photosynthesize sunlight into energy which the plants use to grow and bloom. For this reason, bearded irises grown into too much shade may not bloom. Transplant them to a sunny location. In addition, if you cut off the foliage too early last year, they may fail to bloom this year. Therefore, leave the foliage in tact all season until fall, giving bearded irises the most amount of time to soak in the sunlight. Then, cut the foliage back in the fall after it browns and dies due to a hard frost. They will hopefully bloom next year.

Needs Dividing

• One common reason bearded irises may not bloom is because the garden is too crowded. Bearded irises self multiply and when plants are fighting for the same water and nutrients in a small space, they do not bloom as well as they used to. Wait to divide plants until early fall. Cut off the foliage, dig up the plants, wash the rhizomes and cut them so each section has at least one healthy section of fans and replant. Then replant and water.