Dividing Iris in February / March...

Hello all,

Be easy on me, my love of the world of Iris is a newfound one, so my collection
consists of nothing more than common purple Iris for which I have
no name. I've grown them for several years now, but just recently opened
my eyes to see there are so many others out there!

Just a few questions, don't laugh too hard. :-)

1.) If I divide Iris right now, will they still bloom this year?

2.) What is the botanical term for every day common purple Iris?
It seems everyone in this part of the country has at least one batch
of them somewhere on their property.

3.) Each year I grow seed pods, but the seeds appear too
thin to be viable seeds. Is this normal?

Here comes the funny part. One year I gathered a ton of Iris from
an abandoned home. The first year they did nothing. The second
year they all bloomed purple. The third year some were yellow, white,
etc. The fourth year a pink showed up. This year, who knows?

Am I crazy? How can this happen? Maybe, just maybe there were
seeds in the soil that took a few years to mature and bloom?

Many thanks for your help.

Wuvie,

No need to worry about asking basic questions. That's how we learn!

1) Don't dig and divide until after all danger of frost is passed, preferably not until after bloom. If you dig and divide before they have completed their bloom cycle, it's likely you'll interrupt (eliminate) bloom for this year.

2) The most commonly grown type of iris is tall bearded iris, and that's probably what your purple is.

3) Some seed pods produce viable seeds, and some are "air pods" that contain nothing but air and perhaps immature seeds. You won't know until you allow the pod to mature and then open it up to check the contents. A mature pod will start to split open at the very top. Iris cultivars do NOT grow true from seed, however, so if you want an exact copy of a particular iris, the only way to get it is to dig and divide a clump.

As far as the different colored irises are concerned, most likely all of those colors were present in the existing population you dug from the old homestead. It's quite common for irises to take a year or two or three or more to settle into a new planting before resuming their bloom cycle. I've had irises sit here for five years before blooming. It sounds like the purple you dug is probably the most vigorous and may very well choke out the others unless you give them each adequate space.

It is possible that some of your irises may be seedlings from the original planting, as well.

Hope that helps,

Laurie

To add to what Laurie said about the purple choking out the rest of your colors, I agree.

If you'd like to keep the different colors, I would mark the stalks with a weatherproof tag that states the color (that way you'll remember once the bloom has faded). When summer comes and they are dormant (about 6 weeks after bloom is safe), I would divide the clumps by color and plant them all separately. That way, you can retain the colors you have and not worry about the purple taking over.

If the seeds are viable, they will look like plump kernels of corn. However, they won't be yellow like corn, but a creamy brown. If you want to harvest them, watch them every day and cut off the pods as they start to split open. If you wait too long, the seeds will spill on the ground and you'll most likely lose them to birds. Then, dry them in an open container until they are shriveled and dark brown. You can then store them in cups in a cool, dark, dry place until you are ready to plant them. I usually plant my seeds in pots, but you can plant them right out in the garden if you'd rather. Here, I plant my seeds in October. About the time of the first frost is ideal. Like Laurie said, irises usually aren't true to seed. However, you may get some interesting new irises this way. They are more likely to look like "wild" irises, though. Especially if you aren't hand pollinating them with a purpose in mind.

If you don't really need the seeds, I suggest snapping the stalk off after the bloom is gone. The rhizomes have to put out a lot of energy in order to create seed pods, and this takes away from energy that they could be putting into next year's bloom.

Well, I hope I've helped. Welcome to the world of irises~but beware! Once you start growing one, you'll soon start wanting more and more! It can become a serious addiction and there probably should be support groups out there! LOL!

Laura

Oh, thank you SO much for the wonderful responses!

I was so afraid someone would reply with "Go look for yourself on Google."

LOL

Google may be of great help sometimes, but it is always nice to receive
personal advice like this, thank you so much!

I'm afraid the addiction you mentioned has already hit me. First it was daylilies,
then Canna, now I'm looking at Iris again. Sigh. :-)

We have a good amount of property, and I'm one who likes to fill in all the blanks,
so I thought the common Iris would be a good way to do that. There are so many
homes in this area with Iris I know have not been divided in years on end. As I
drive about the next town, I see the same patches of foliage year in and out,
but never any blooms, just a mass of very crowded foliage.

I'm just about tempted to offer division free of charge if
they will share the extras with me. That is why I asked about dividing them now.
As they are not going to bloom for lack of dividing all this time, I figure they can't
lose anything by letting me do it this spring instead of after what would be a normal
blooming session.

There are so many older ladies who can no longer work in the garden, and
I thought this might benefit all of us. We'll all get to enjoy the Iris, common it
may be.

Thank you so very much for your replies thus far and any which may follow.

:-) Karen

Karen~

I'm glad you found the info helpful. People here at DG are really nice. I've never been made to feel stupid for asking a question. It's a great community to belong to!

Laura

Karen,

Remember that an bearded iris rhizome only blooms once. After that it either dries up or grows babies attached to it's side. The babies can take 2-4 years to get to blooming size. Look for a previous stalk or firmness to decide which iris you are saving.

I'm betting your common purple iris have LOTS of babies and are strong survivors. Marking the different colors as they bloom will make it much easier to have clean color clumps. Have fun!

Thanks a million, all of you.

I'm sorry if I missed it, but I was wondering...in the event I move an Iris now,
will it still bloom this year?

If you dig, divide, and replant now, it's unlikely you will get bloom this year. If you want to try to dig and preserve this year's bloom, dig the whole clump intact with a large rootball of dirt (disturbing the roots as little as possible) and plant the entire thing in a hole dug large enough to accommodate the full rootball with dirt. If you leave enough of the original dirt around the rootball and don't divide the clump, it may not even realize it's been dug and moved and may go ahead and bloom for you.

Laurie

Ah, thank you so much, Laurie!

That is what I was wondering, if it 'knew' it was disturbed it might not bloom.

Thanks a bunch!

Laurie is right as usual. Digging as a clump with plenty of dirt leaves the blooms intact.

I'm cleaning my beds right now & trimming old leaves before the weather warms up. I leave everything intact to help hold the mulch on my beds thru the nasty winter winds.

I will be thinning some of my iris clumps in a few more weeks when the weather is more consistent. Warm yesterday, freezing tommorrow right now. I will remove iris at the edge of the clumps to make it smaller. Most of these iris will be going to the Iowa or Upper Midwest Round Ups or trades to friends. I like moving iris in the spring since the rains help them settle in quickly.