Bearded Iris, How to Divide and Replant By Carolyn Melf

This year's unusually long spring weather delayed the bloom season for many owers, including tall bearded iris. The fragrant owers are always welcome whenever they appear. The colorful owers bloomed in every color of the rainbow e cept bright red. Their blossoms were long las ng e cept for the day that was peppered with winds that turned into a tornado in the Valley. The poor petals were shredded but the stalks valiantly stood erect. Why Iris Like to be Divided nfortunately this year some varie es never bloomed. n closer inspec on, some of the plants were overcrowded. Generally iris plants need to be thinned or divided every 3-5 years. A single rhizome sprouts new rhizome o shoots many mes over the years, developing into a heavy crisscross clump, o en choked with old leaess rhizomes. Eventually the mass of leaves will e clude sun and air from the roots. This will lead to poor owering and o en weakens the plants making them more suscep ble to insects and diseases. When to Divide ividing is best accomplished in uly and August, which is also the same me plan ng should be accomplished. ld clumps may be thinned by removing the old divisions at the center of the clump, leaving new growth in the ground. e er yet, dig up the en re clump with a garden fork and li it from the soil. eparate the rhizomes with a knife or by gently pulling them apart. Retain the younger, healthiest 3"-4" long rhizomes containing ve leaves. iscard the plants that have a bloom stalk as well as those that are leaess, so or old. No doubt you will have more plants than you want to keep. Iris are known as the friendship ower, so pass them along to brighten someone else's garden. Here is the part to be enjoyed on a hot day---with a sharp stream of water from a garden hose, remove all soil from the roots and rhizomes. Trim roots to about 3" and trim the leaf fans to 6" to prevent them from falling when you replant them. As a precau on against disease, let the rhizomes soak for about 5-10 minutes in 10 bleach to a gallon of water. Then let the rhizomes dry before replan ng. How to Replant Iris are greedy plants and prefer to be placed in virgin soil or at least fool them by amending the soil with well composted plan ng mi . ig a hole that will allow each rhizome to be placed 1 "-24" apart. Place a mound of soil in the center of the hole; place the rhizome on the mound and spread the roots downward. Then cover the rhizome with 1" of soil, rming the soil. on't plant them too deep Plant addi onal leaf fans to face the same direc on. This way the rhizomes will all grow in the same direc on and there will be less crowding. Newly set plants need moisture to help their root systems become established. Water weekly if the weather is dry. Iris will bloom sparsely the rst year a er plan ng but will bloom well in the second and third year. forget to take me to smell them as you enjoy their blooms. on't