This is part of Heath’s Did You Know? series of posts.

Gardeners – did you know that you can cause problems in your home if you cut Iris blooms and use them in floral arrangements?

Why is this? Because when an Iris bloom is cut from the plant, within 48 hours it will begin to liquefy. That’s right. Liquefy.

Here I present reference image 1.

As you can see, the Iris bloom has begun to melt, and is dripping down the green needles from another plant in the vase. Think of this liquid as all-natural purple food colouring. Everything in its path will turn purple, and even bleach has a difficult time removing the stain as evidenced in reference image 2.

Here you will note the purple staining on the fireplace mantle. Even after a treatment of bleaching product, the dark purple stain remains in the wood.

Please be cautious if you have Irises growing in your garden, and I recommend you leave them where they are and choose something else for your home floral arrangements.

Cheers!