clean up Iris unguicularis

2nd January 2022

Some plants need spring cleaning - but in the case of Iris unguicularis it can't really wait for spring, because the iris is going to flower in mild periods in January and February, and the evergreen leaves are taller than the flower stems. It doesn't seem very sensible in terms of being visible to pollinators, but perhaps in their native Algeria the leaves are grazed low by the end of the summer. At Hillier's Arboretum the leaves are trimmed off in the autumn, so that the new flower shoots can be seen; if you didn't do that, you can comb out the dead leaves (they come away easily) then chop back longer, damaged leaves. Keep well above the height of the fresh new shoots or you will lose the flowers.