We are now officially MOVED! :)... and a question...

After 3 years of trying to get our house and property ready to move ourselves and our animals to our new house and mini-farm...we have finally done it. I hauled the horses over on the 8th (7 hrs of travel) and am just beginning to make some headway in getting things organized. Two irises were in bloom to greet us like a welcoming committee!!.

After getting settled in, I am hoping to do a bit of trading again. I can already see that my Lonicera's have layered themselves and my blue mound grass has seeded and new tufts are growing. The extras will have to come out. I have discovered some new places to plant! LOL! Around the mailboxes and the end of the drive and on the two sides of the entrance of our driveway...probably tall grasses and flowering shrubs or.... anyway, I have a while to figure that out.

Now...yes I have a question!

I have a rather large clump of irises that have quite large rhizomes where I planted just one small one a couple of years ago when I was doing the landscaping around the house. I looked at them yesterday and they are growing all over each other with the top rhizomes completely out of the ground. Obviously, I should have divided them this past spring. Now that time has passed, when is the earliest I can divide with the best survival rate and if I do, will they produce blooms next year? I think I know the answers...but...just wanted some other opinions.

Thanks to all for any replies and a special TY to those who were patient with me when my hubby kept changing our final moving date, I traded so little this yr due to so much travel back and forth between the two places, and my being so tired and slow.

...now we are on the Eastern Shore (Delmarva Peninsula) of VA 1/2 way between the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel and Maryland. Also 1/2 way between the bay and the ocean and no more shoveling snow off of a steep driveway, no climbing on the rooftop to get the leaves out of the gutters, and no more digging the holes to plant things with a pick/mattock through the hard shale!

Thanks again
Debbie
estrail1rider

Lol, I'm in zone 5 and still planting iris dug this fall. Just planted 95 today. Am hoping the move yet this fall will get them established enough to bloom in the spring. I must admit this is the latest I have planted but your 2 zones warmer than I am. Should work out fine, if still not sure and don't want to loose bloom could wait til after they bloom. Not sure if that helps. Kathy. Pix is a flatie named Amarylis.

Estrail1rider: I'm from Roanoke Virginia and lived there for 30 years. I planted iris year round without problem. Bloom buds are set and the bulbs should be on their way to a great springtime! Oddly enough, I have six re-bloomers in bud right now. Each has numerous buds coming. I have already had one bloom with nine spikes on 9/11. I have never had re-bloomers before. Very neat! bob





Epie Queen of the Night (Oxypetalum)

I had one rebloomer here last year and two that would still be blooming but the heavy frost got them this past week. My irises in Blacksburg grew so poorly (soil and shade) that I was lucky to get blooms at all. Lots of different irises now here at our new house (about 300+ cultivars) and they have amazed me with their growth! I missed most of the blooms the past 2-3 yrs because I wasn't here when most bloomed. I am really looking forward to seeing them this coming spring and summer.
Thanks!!
Deb

Please people, these types of irises are NOT bulbs. The bulbus ones are the dutch irises & the little reticulata. The bearded irises gro from rhizomes which are a food storage stem. That is why if you plant them too deep you don't get bloom.

No they are not. You are correct in your terminology. However, you are never going to stop people from using the term that they are most comfortable with and have used forever. Iris are sold as "bulbs" by many outlets. Though the term is not "correct", it will continue to be used.

Worried about planting them correctly; then 'why aren't my iris blooming?'

If you are referring to my question...They were and are planted, there was just too much shade at our old house but it did keep them going until I could get them moved to our new house. My father grew a lot of mine and kept them for me until he got too old and unable to do it any longer. He purchased and started collecting in the 1980's for himself after he had a stroke and became disabled. He told me he was saving them for me to have as well.
Living with the National Forest in our back yard at ur old house, most of our property was forested and our yard somewhat shady, in the hills of VA. Not likely to cut down those trees. Dividing was never a problem there except for my SDB's.
When we started moving to our new house 3 yrs ago, I started collecting in earnest. I have never seen my old iris rhizomes grow so fast or so big!!! What a delight our sandy soil is and a very sunny yard here on the coast.
Yep, I well know they are rhizomes but even I slip up and catch myself calling them 'bulbs' sometimes! Until you start talking to iris gardeners, most people do call them bulbs until they learn differently and get used to it. It is a cultural (social) thing and difficult to make yourself change.

I wasn't worried about you not planting them correctly, but the general gardener who isn't sure about it.

Horses? Back to equine form posts? Please do. My DGD is sudying 'Equine studies management'. She couldn't ride for a few months early this semester & was getting very frustrated. Back to it now.

Hi Deb, here in zone 5b, if I divide and plant an iris at this time of year, it will struggle and possibly die if i don't watch it carefully. Night time temps are now 20-30 degrees, so while it may be 30-50 degrees in the day, it gets too cold at night.

You might consider throwing a bit of extra dirt on top of you're worried about the rhizomes that are out of the soil....

...but I see that you are now in zone 7b, so you might be able to divide and replant of you really, really want too! &:-)
I would, however try to keep as much soil around your divisions as possible. I sometimes just break up a clump with my shovel and move them that way..... is it a Historic? They're pretty tough...

Naomi &:-)

Yep, my historics. What if I divide this spring taking only the rhizomes that are growing over the top and not disturbing those below. Do you think the ones left will bloom?
I have 4 other historics in pots and I think I will just sink the pots in the ground in the garden and move tho their new sites in the spring or maybe after bloom time in case they decide to bloom.
Debbie

Love our new house, soil and flat land!! LOL!

Hi Deb, the ones left below might not for a few years unless you spread them apart some..... they are old rhizomes and unless they create any new little shoots off the sides, you won't get any blooms.
I do often save old rhizomes that look healthy but do not have any babies growing out of the sides... after a few years, some create new plants.. I put them in my 'pity plot' LOL! I feel sorry for them and don't want to throw them away because they might decide to grow later. &:-)

naomimade: I find your "pity plot" very realistic and wise. I,too, have problems throwing anything away as far as plants go and often plant them in an out of the way corner. Many times I've been rewarded with off shoots or a revitalized plant. I treasure these even more!

Naomimade, Love your "pity plot"! What a great name-I hope you don't mind if I steal it-I always called mine a nursery bed as in nursing the plants back to health but yours is much better. I may even paint a sign but I will give you credit! MWhit

Please feel free to use the name! &:-) A few times I've lost ones that I've moved, and was saved by one that I took pity on. &;-)

We definately are iris addicts. I have a few broken color iris that I have been babying along for several years and they just haven't thrived. I brought them with me for the winter and hope that a chance to grow in sunny Cocoa Beach will give them a head start on growing. It's Batik, Kaleidioscope and Grape Snakes.

I am jealous of all of you that are getting that Spring flush already, but I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

Can't wait to see how the 60 TBI's I planted last Summer in the new bed do with my engineered soil. All the other plants did great until I found out that the little girls from down the street thought it was a swell place to play.

Sonny