Question
I'm new at gardening so please bear with me...

I planted several iris bulbs in the early weeks of Fall 2008. They immediately shot up but no buds appeared... they are now still at the same height as they were in the Fall but the edges of the leaves are brown. They don't seem to be getting any higher so I trimmed the dead ends off. Can you tell me if there is anything to do to help them? I'm scared that they won't bloom this year since they came up as soon as they were planted in the Fall.

Answer
Hi Fallon,
Thanx for your question.  Irises grow from a rhizome not a bulb.  A rhizome is just a modified stem that grows underground from which the roots come.  Iris will grow in just about any soil and be happy.  I have never fed mine and they do well.  I don't recommend feeding them unless you just have to worst soil in the world and very little will grow on it.  Seriously!  You can sprinkle some bone meal on them in the early spring but that's about all I would do.  If you are feeding them, high nitrogen fertilizers will cause all green growth at the expense of blooms.  Now, it is a bit early for irises to be setting blooms.  For the German bearded irises the sword-like leaves will get rather large by May and you'll begin to see the bulges of the coming flowers.  Other irises like the water iris pseudocorus will begin blooming here in a week or so.  Siberian irises should be blooming in early May.  So, it is not unusual not to see any blossom buds just yet.  It sounds like the plants are growing on schedule.  Be patient.  You should see something in the next couple of weeks.  I hope this helps.
Tom