Advise appreciated and helpful

Never since I have begun iris gardening did I neglect my lovelies as I had last year (mostly related to health and work/vacation schedules). While cleaning out the basement I found a priority mail box and investigated. My loving husband had placed a box of irises in the basement and I forgot about them...

The rhizomes are firm and I doubt if I get blooms for 2 years or more, but please tell me if you think I'm wasting my time potting these up. I don't see evidence of disease, just dried roots and leaves.

Thanks,

Roni

Well really, Roni, how much trouble can it be to pot them up and see if anything comes of them? If there's still some weight to the rhizomes and they aren't completely dessicated, there's a good chance they'll spring back to life. It wouldn't be a bad idea to soak them in a bucket of room temp water for an hour or more before potting.

Good luck!

Laurie

And Roni, let us know how it turns out!

I've planted some pretty desperate rhizomes EARLY in spring and saw them bounce back. It took a while for blooms, in fact, there are some that have not bloomed yet. It's been a few years, but I'll wait. ;)

I've also planted the same in the late summer (division time), and they did not make it.

I'm not saying that what I did was a make or break thing, just my experience.

Best of luck!

That's what I wanted to hear, others experiences and helpful hints as to making it better. I can't believe I forgot a whole box! Of course, I don't think I'll tell you what else I found, ewwww. LOL

:) Trust me, I know the ewwwwww in boxes! LOL! :D

We all do our best, but sometimes we forget a box! It happens!

Another that helps with left over iris, when you soak them add a little epson salts...really works wonders. I have had ones look alot worse and believe it or not on an experiment I soaked some in plain water, others with ES and can you believe part of the ones soaked with ES BLOOMED the following year.

D

That I will try Dee. DH just arrived home from work and said oh I forgot... understatement of the year. Of course then he showed me another box! What did I do sleep the summer away in a drug induced haze? Boy, the least he coulda done was plant them....

I don't see your irises being any worse off than the ones sold in the stores in the spring that were harvested the previous year. I've always been able to get them going again. They are pretty tough (thank goodness!)