BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Gardening Trimming Iris Leaves

We have iris plants along our front walkway and while they look lovely in the spring, in the summer and fall they just have giant leaves that get in the way and get mowed. Can we trim the leaves back at this point of are those long, floppy leaves still necessary for the plants' health?

My sister-in-law trims hers off, but I leave mine. The beautiful blooms come in the spring because of food that is stored in the rhizome (root)during the summer and fall. Those raggedy leaves make the starch that is stored in the rhizome. When you cut them off, you inhibit their ability to make food for the root to store.


It is important to have the roots close to the top of the soil, not buried too deep. As my husband found out, don't mulch! It kills the iris off! I still have some iris that I've had for 35 years.

OK thanks Connie, I'll leave them on. Yes I read about keeping the roots up on the surface

Iris leaves can be cut back in the late fall or early winter to about 6 inches typically in a fan shape. This can help save them from a killing frost and depending on your region this may be the time to cover your rhizomes. You will want to remove the mulch once spring arrives to prevent rot. Also make sure that you remove dead foliage any time of year.

This is great advice!

I used to have them by the walkway -



but last fall I moved them to be further to the right. This year I'm moving them again, to all be against the back wall, so they're neater -



that's halfway through the move project. They grew fine after the first move, so hopefully they'll hang in there during this second move.

I also put some of the relocating ones down by the mailbox so we'll see how they do!

I'll note there is mulch in all of these garden areas and the iris don't seem to mind at all. Maybe it's a type of mulch they enjoy

So we'll see how they all flower next spring.