HELP! NEED ADVICE ON RE-PLANTING MY IRIS BEDS

I have decided to redo my Iris beds, because so many of my plants have too much soil on them. A lot of my Iris did not bloom I believe because their feet were covered with soil. It just seems the soil just cover them up over the winter months. Does anyone else have that problem? How do you prevent that from happening??

My question is, If I dig up all of my Iris, and replant, will they bloom next year? These are all mature plants.....

Deann

Some of your irises will probably bloom next spring if you dig and replant them this summer, but most probably will not. Best bloom typically occurs on plants that have been in place, undisturbed for 2-3 yrs.

Unless your rzs are buried under more than 1/2" of soil, I wouldn't recommend digging them unless the clumps are crowded or the soil nutrients are exhausted.

Laurie

I know this sounds strange, but mine seem to find their own level. last fall I transplanted some and threw a little soil over the rhizome and this spring they threw it off. couple a weeks ago I divided the rest and ones that got covered, they have no more soil on them.

Maybe that's the way to go. Good notion.

Why not just brush off the rhz. Just be oh so careful that you don't make a depression to collect rain around the rhz. that will bring on the dread rot.
inanda

Inanda.............I know your idea sounds great, but I have too many Iris to do that to.....If I had just a few dozen, I could, but my Iris garden is pretty good size and I must have over 100 Iris in there or more..............

I have over 70 (until the orders come in this year, LOL), and when I was fertilizing them in the spring, and cleaning the old foliage off, I just pushed off the dirt from over the rhizomes, like Inanda suggested. Worked out great. By the end of summer they will have dirt over them again, and I will leave that until spring.