If you have a blank space at the front of a border where you are considering planting some bearded iris, consider planting garlic instead. All varieties are pretty trouble free and have beautiful foliage until late summer when they are ready for harvest.
Starting in June they start sending up curling bud stems known as scapes. Before the scapes become tough, simply snap them from the plant using the same technique one uses to determine the tenderness of asparagus. The scapes are delicious when sautéed, but do not consume all of them. Leave one or two scapes on the plants to produce seed for next year’s crop; they can be removed in August when you dig the bulbs. At that time, simply take the individual teardrop-shaped seeds and plant them 1/2″ deep with the pointy end facing up. They will grow into individual cloves by the end of the year and will form bulbs the following summer at which point you can repeat this process again.
