Do purple and yellow "bog" irises NEED to be in a bog?

[parker002]

Last summer, I created two overflow bogs in my pond - one with cattails and one with irises.

As the cattails filled in the space, I started having problems with water wicking up the stalks of the cattails and out of the bog, causing the pond level to drop. I eventually dug up the cattails and replaced with some variegated grasses. Just did away with that bog altogether.

Now I'm having the same problem with the iris bog. I really love the irises, they're full and nice to look at. But I'm ready to shut off the pump to that bog so that I stop losing water. Will the irises die if they don't have a steady flow of water?

[devonjohnsgard]

Hey. This is looking like a question for Carl. I'm not sure as I've never had a pond like yours, with these type of plants.

He will be back Monday and might have an idea.

[Carl]

While I did not often use cattails, I did use Iris in most all my bog, veggie filters and I know exactly what you are referring too.

For me the simply answer was the manual labor of every fall through spring to go in and dig out the tubers in these ponds.
Some ponds were more of an issue than others. The deep, large ponds this was either rarely or never an issue, while the shallow/small ponds this was a yearly battle.

Carl

[parker002]

Yeah, since these are overflow reservoirs, they're extremely shallow. I may have to completely rethink what I'm doing.

[Carl]

One positive for me with these annual thinning of Iris tubers, was that I was able to save and re-pot these for sale to new customers.
In the end, I rarely had to purchase Iris for sale to new clients or store customers

Carl

[parker002]

Yeah, I don't have that kind of outlet for my overgrowth.

I think I'll dig them up and pot them. That way I can control them and keep them from growing right to the edge of the reservoir.