Jap. Iris from trade - plant right away

I just received a couple of Japanese Iris (NOID) in a trade and am curious if I need to get them in the ground ASAP. There aren't any rhizomes, just roots that were carefully wrapped in moist paper towel, plastic baggie & newspaper (still moist when I got them). The bed where I plan to put these isn't quite ready yet, so I'm wondering if it would be OK to put them in a pot (12" or other size) until the bed is ready (hopefully in a couple weeks), then transplant. This is my first time to grow irises & one of my first plant trades ever. I did receive a couple of TB Iris rhizomes from another DGer recently, but these were dried rhizomes & I was told it would be ok to keep them in a cool, dry, dark place until the bed was ready. Just doesn't seem like that would be the case with these japanese roots/fans. Also - should I sterilize them at all before planting. If so, how?

Here's a pic of them.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Keep them well watered and you can put them in a pot until you are ready to put in the permanent bed. Ensata Gardens have a very good culture sheet that you can download from their site.

http://www.ensata.com/HTML/GeneralPages/culture.htm

If you want to drool a bit, try this one

http://www.ensata.com/HTML/PlantPages/japanese_ac.htm

Thanks Mittsy! :)

I can't add much to Ensata info, they are the Japanese Iris experts.

If you are only going to wait two weeks before planting, you can keep them right in water. A bucket of water, under a tree will do. Cover them about 1/3 of the way up with water, and change every couple of days, otherwise it will get incredibly stinky.

If you do pot them, I would recommend putting the pot into a pail of water to keep it wet at all times.

What you have are rhizomes. They just don't look the same as a bearded iris rhizome, much smaller, but right on top of where the roots come out is the rhizome.

This is a good time to mention, in case anyone didn't know, that the beardless irises, like siberians, louisianas, and Japanese must be kept moist at all times during the transplanting and shipping process. Recently I saw a thread where people were shipping them dry. That is totally wrong. They will have a huge failure rate shipped dry. The way your Japanese iris were shipped is absolutely correct. The beardless iris will do well in regular garden borders, but during the transplanting and shipping process they must be kept moist at all times.

You will love those JIs (abbreviation for Japanese Iris). Please post some pictures when they bloom!

Thanks for the good information about potting and putting in a bucket of water, polly.

This is what they'll look like when they bloom.

Yes, thanks for all the good information! I can't wait to see those blooms in my garden!!

Jennifer