Irises can grow flower-free for many seasons and because of many different reasons. Anything from not enough sun, planted to deeply, improperly watered, overcrowding, etc...For this particular case I would suggest that the issue may be something else. To me it sounds like a soil nutrition issue. If the leaves of her Irises were slightly yellow, I would suggest that the soil is nutrient poor. If the leaves are deep green and flourishing, I would suggest that the soil has too much nitrogen in it. Sometimes when plants have too much nitrogen available to them, they go into a vegetative state (a vegetative state means something different for plants...this means they produce new leaves and stems, but do not produce flowers). Of course there's no real way of knowing for sure unless a soil sample is sent to a soils lab for analysis. If it is assumed that too much nitrogen is the culprit for a lack of flowers, I would recommend leaching the soil and then fertilizing with a low- or no-nitrogen fertilizer. I would also recommend a fertilizer that is relatively high in phosphorus. This should induce flower initiation.

A fellow EasyBloomer had a question about her Irises. She has divided her Irises for many years. Roughly two years ago she divided her Iris and gave some of the underground stem to a neighbor. Her neighbor has had several years of blooms whereas her Irises have bloomed only once in the first year after the last division. Her question is: Why aren't they flowering?

As for your tulips and another complimentary plant, you can go to your reading that you took for your earthbox that has tulips being recommended. Then click on the All Recommendations tab. To the right of the webpage, you will find filters that will allow you to trim down the recommendations. I would look at different bloom seasons or click on winter interest to specify when the plant is "interesting" at different times of year. Of course your choices really depend on where you live. There are some dogwoods that have beautiful canopy architecture that really shine when the leaves drop in fall and winter. The American Cranberry Bush is another example of a shrub that is known for its winter interest. I assume you have the Ginkgo for its beautiful fall colors and the Paulownia for its astounding early spring blooms. I hope this helps and feel free to contact me again if you have any further questions. --Robby

Hey Alonzo...This is a very complex topic you brought as there can be many reasons why you would want to intercrop species together. The primary reason would be to improve the soil composition and nutrient status of a soil. In your examples you pair up trees with herbaceous annuals and perennials. Normally these types of complimentary pairings are more suited to benefit the herbaceous plant. The trees usually provide the smaller herbaceous plants with a bit of protection from strong, drying winds, maybe a bit of shade and they may even increase the humidity around the plants by drawing water up with their deep roots that the smaller herbaceous plants cannot reach. In your case you are growing in earthboxes, which are not that deep so that the difference in root depths between the plants may not be very different at all. In fact the size of your earthboxes may become restricting since both your Ginkgo and Paulownia will get very big. Paulownias are known to be very fast growing trees, whereas Ginkgos are slow growing. Both however get BIG. Eventually you may want to move those trees into the ground, unless you plan on keeping them in a "quasi-"bonsai state.

P.S. -- I wanted to mention that some people call the Bearss Lime the Bartender's Lime, but technically the Key Lime is the Bartender's Lime. Bearss Limes are still the go to lime for margaritas though.

I hope this is helpful. Let me know if you have any other questions. Good luck and I hope your limes produce margarita quality fruits!!! Cheers...Robby

Your Meyer Lemon usually takes 3 to 4 months to fully ripen, but this is in full sun. I would suggest that it may take a similar amount of time, but your fruits will not be as large (and possibly some fruits may abort; this is all assuming that you are unable to achieve close to full sun conditions in your home). Meyer Lemons will turn slightly orange when they do ripen.

I am impressed that you were picking off flowers to induce larger individual fruit growth. This is a fairly advanced maneuver and many gardeners may think it is counter-productive. My advice to you for your indoor Citrus plants is SUN, SUN, SUN. Give those little plants as much light as the geography of your home allows. I would strongly recommend placing them in a South facing window (if not a South, go for a West facing window). The Sun is low in the Southern sky in winter, and as it passes throughout the day, it will shine right into your Southern facing windows. Also, be sure to not over-water your Citrus. Citrus cannot not handle extensive moisture for long periods of time in the rootzone. Their potting soil should drain well. If the pots are sitting in trays to catch the runoff, be sure that the pots are not submerged in water in the tray for long periods of time. My lime tree is in a container, which sits in a water collecting tray. I drilled a hole in that tray and caulked some plastic tubing into the hole to drain off any excess water directly into a rain gutter.

Hey Harry...I have a little potted lime tree (Bearss Lime to be exact). This is the type of lime that some people will call the bartender's lime since it is typically used to make margaritas. The fruits are generally good to be picked about 3 months after the bloom. With many Citrus you will know when they are ripe by their size, rind color and by tasting a fruit or two before harvesting more of the fruit. Unfortunately, limes do not change color, but they stay on the tree for a long period of time. If you notice that they are not changing size and that several months have passed since the bloom, then chances are your limes are ready to harvest.

As for what to grow next in your townhouse, I would first recommend using the EasyBloom Sensor this spring and summer to see what would grow in various locations throughout your home. We have a fairly shady spot in our office. We used the EasyBloom to recommend a plant for that location and it told us to grow a Lipstick Plant there (http://easybloom.com/plantlibrary/plant/lipstick-plant). That plant is taking off! It's fairly low maintenance and from where I'm sitting in the office, I can see that it still has flowers all over it. It's in a hanging pot and its stems, leaves and flowers drape down the sides of the container. It's rather beautiful. I hope this is helpful. Let me know if you have any further questions. Good luck! Robby