transplanting bearded irises

hello. i live in arizona where it is very hot and humid right now. i need to dig up all of my bearded irises out of the ground. they will be transplanted in different gardens in the next several weeks. how far should i cut the leaves back to the ground?

thanks in advance for the help.

Even though I don't live in your type of climate I would only cut leaves back halfway. A friend in OK pots up irises which she receives & plants in Sept.

thanks for the tip irisma!

D, did you dig your babies yet? I pulled a few today I had in deep pots and cleaned/bleached/rinsed and divided/trimmed roots. They will dry for a couple days then I will plant them in new pots. They will go in the ground somewhere mid-September. The leaves will look rather ratty this time of year - most of mine have 2-3" of brown tips on the leaves. That's normal and I usually just cut them back to the green part...

hi kelly,

digging up a lot of them tomorrow. sounds like you did a number on yours today. : ) why are you not waiting until september to do all of this since you will just be putting them back in the ground then?

LOL - because they look so ratty right now. Plus, I had a couple of pots that the rhizomes were getting soft and was afraid it was rot and didn't want it to spread;o)

Already got new soil in the pots and I'll plant them tomorrow. Did you guys get a lot of rain? We sure did!

about 0.7". high was 83º at 10a. what a beautiful day!

Finally, huh?! There is a chance of rain here through tomorrow night but then we'll be back to the mid-100s... In the last three days my unofficial rain gauge shows a total of about 1.5". It was raining so hard in the middle of the night the rain hitting my window woke me up!

yeah, it sure was nice. a good weekend for sure.

Rained again last night here - lol... Good luck digging your babies today D!

(12) bags of garden happiness and there's still lots more to dig out...

Holy Canna D! You'e been busy I see;o)

there are irises and gingers in there, too. lots of queen butterfly chrysalis were attached that i didn't see until after the dig.

Cool! Wish I lived closer - lol.

Tucson, why are you digging everything? Somehow I missed that.

Again you guys are stealing all of our rain. Las Vegas needs to blow up that mountain range between you and us. There is also a mountain between the Columbia River and Colorado River. If it was dislodged or a channel built, the water would flow into the Colorado River, instead of into the ocean.

i know kelly! i am in the valley now and then. i will have to pay your garden a visit at some point.

hi sharon - i am transitioning to potted plants until i get a landscape plan for this place or another property. yeah, tell me about it. if mexico were to excavate a large section of its northern territory, the two gulfs would be connected it would be more humid and tropical in tucson. of course, our mexican brothers and sisters displaced would be granted free access to the US! : )

I got some of Sharon's Las Vegas temps, but ours come with humidity.....104 yesterday and today with more to come.....I have tons of iris coming anyday..........

no rain for weeks, none about to happen this time of year either

well, at least it's not a dry heat. that doesn't make the plants happy.

Dete, I use a pair of hedge type shears to cut the leaves about half-way down, and cut any dead parts off to prevent disease. When you get through digging yours, we have a couple of hundred that need to be dug and separated, and we need HELP! Oh well, I may have to give a whole bunch away as there is just too much for us to handle. I have that funny feeling, we're getting old. ^_^ Right now, since we have stolen Sharon's Las Vegas rain, it's too wet to dig. So Earl has a reprieve for the time being, since tomorrow is his 81st BD, I'll forgive him.

Hiya Donna. Tell Earl Happy Birthday! And tell him he can take the day off, just 'cuz it's his birthday - lol.

Thanks Kelly, I'll tell him. I thought about potting up a few rhizomes and bring them down to Mesa with us, but we won't be going to the swap this fall, so don't know who will be going that are close to University and Crismon. Earl needs to have cataract surgery on his left eye. And DS's hip replacement has been recalled, so he will probably have to go through that horrible surgery again. It never rains but it pours, I should get used to it by now.

I so wish you could make it to the swap! Maybe Dan or Rene or Lynn - they all live out that way.

Sorry to hear about your DS's hip - how awful to have to go through that twice! Earl will fly through the surgery - he's a tough guy - lol...

Well Earl, my birthday is Wednesday so we should celebrate together. Happy Birthday.

Wow, a Happy early Birthday Sharon! A lot of our friends are Leo's. Our friend, the lady that raises donkeys & mules, birthday was yesterday. And an old friend who passed away earlier this year would have been 89 yesterday. My Dad's was the 15th and MIL's was the 18th.

My son in Spokane has his birthday on the 5th of August.

early morning, mixed up soil for pots, packed them, and watered well. about 20 pots made ready for new iris coming. I need to make up more but will do in the next early morning hours

happy birthday to earl and sharon! cheers to years of happiness and fun in the garden...

wow! you have been busy sharondippity. love that name by the way! very clever.

Dete, Earl said thanks! And we wish you luck in all that digging, at least you don't have boulders to dig up. LOL

One of those boulders has my name on it.

Naw, you don't want any of those, they went to the dump. Not a one of them had any character at all. How about this one? It's not a boulder, but it's small enough to mail. I THINK! lol

No I am coming in November and I will come and pick one up. How long are you going to be away during the RU. I am staying over a couple of days. I have to see the rock wet. I am a rock NUT. Those rocks look very interesting but I want to see them in person. Maybe you can bring them down the hill and I can meet you and Earl someplace.

That sounds like a plan, cause I'm not sure where we will be by the time the RU comes around.

We will just have to plan ahead.

HAPPY
Birthday to you Earl and a super one to my adopted sister Sharon:)

Hugs

D

Thanks D, I think he likes the idea that someone besides the family thinks of him. ^_^