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I was listening to the "Easy Garden" on radio this morning. It used to be "Garden Hotline" with Ralph Snodsmith. Mark said, in answer to a caller, that this is a great time to divide Iris. He also suggested letting them dry out for 5 to 7 days after digging them up before putting them in the new spot. I will start mine today. He also said most people had fewer blooms this season, most likely because of the environment. Also the reason for most people having fewer blooms on lilac.
iris are very easy to divide. they are very shallow- at least they should be. Mostly I just lay them down and barely cover any existing roots.
September is the time to take a fork to uplift them. use a sharp knife or just snap away the offshoots from the mother plant. if you use a knife you have to dip it in clorox between cuts so you don't spready disease.
Like all mothers at the end of the summer, she is tired and wants her little ones off her back. Just discard the mother or central growth and replant the little ones.
This is hard to do for beginners-kinda like pinching out new growth on annuals when you bring them home from the nursery. But it is necessary for fresh new growth. This doesn't need to be done every year but it helps every 2 or 3 years.
Check you don't have little holes in your tubers. these are iris borers and can cause severe damage. I suggest just tossing any with that damage.
If you see a garden with crowded iris, stop and offer to divide in exchange for a few to take home. Most gardeners are eager to share their bounty and knowledge. A bit of bone meal or bulb booster when planting helps.
I have divided my iris several times but not quite as often as 2 to 3 years. I usually give them a chance to bloom a couple times and wait till they seem a bit crowded. Here in Maine I try to do it by late August or early Sept. so they will have time to get established before our first hard frost. One clump I divided and placed behind my garage, mostly shade area, did very well that first spring and had about 16 flowers. The next year there were none and this year there were none. I think I will be digging that one up this week and dividing and placing it in a sunnier spot.
Mine will have to wait until my veggie garden stops producing. We have iris all over. This spring I divided the iris and day lillies and they look like they might need to be divided again.
Like all mothers at the end of the summer, she is tired and wants her little ones off her back. Just discard the mother or central growth and replant the little ones.
Seriously? You sacrifice the big plant and replant the little ones? I'm not sure if I can do that-it would break my heart! is it because the big plant won't bloom the following year? How many years of bloom can you expect if you don't divide at all? this is so sad!!!
Yes it's true you "retire" the big central Mother rhizome. The first few times it is difficult- just like pinching out the growing tips of so many plants which grow better after that difficult task. The central rhizome will put out many babies over time but it gets very crowded after awhile. I guess 3 or 4 years is about the limit.
When I was getting my degree in horticulture we had to do things like this
1) pinch out growing tips- very difficult for me as a brand new gardener
2) pinch all flower buds off nursery plants. This taught us to not buy anything in bloom and how pinching just makes a plant bushier- boy that was hard.
3) break offshoots away from mother iris rhizome and plant beds with only the babies and another bed with only mothers. The difference was amazing
4) plant shrubs in trial gardens with burlap left on and then with burlap cut away and then 2 years later dig them up to measure which had the most root growth. very interesting. This was also done with some plants having additives to soil and others without.
Daylillies can be moved and divided almost anytime they are growing. When they are dormant and there is no top foliage it is hard to know where you are digging. But I often dig and divide daylillies while they are in full bloom to make sure I like color combinations.
I also like to wait till fall to plant new daffodils under new daylillies as the dying foliage of bulbs is hidden by the new growth of daylillies.
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