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I'm in zone 6B. I have some beautiful bearded iris that need to be divided and transplanted. I know that the best time to do this has passed, but what would be the consequences of my doing so now (i.e. prior to mid-September)? I really don't want to wait until next summer unless I'd end up killing them by doing so now.
I think the biggest mistake in transplanting iris is not doing it too late but planting them too deep. I think even in 6b you should be ok till the end of september.
I think the biggest mistake in transplanting iris is not doing it too late but planting them too deep. I think even in 6b you should be ok till the end of september.
Thanks! I know you have to be careful in that regard, but I really might not have remembered without your post.
I'm going to do it tonight. If all my irises are dead next spring, I'm going to hunt all three of you down and let you have it!
When we knew we were going to be moving from Atlanta to NC in about a year, I started gathering up all my daylillies and iris by color so I could plant them in masses and not have scattered colors throughout the garden. I waited till they bloomed, dug them up, threw away the mother rhizome and just laid the others down on top of the ground in the shade and separated the color groups with tree branches. Well, due to illnesses and surgeries, that one year turned into 2 1/2 years. In the meantime, the iris took root and even in the shade, with no real planting and absolutely no care, I had the most beautiful blooms I've ever had.
They are all nicely planted here in NC and I can't wait to see them this spring. The best part is that iris are one of the few plants the deer are not bothering. I guess when they have soft blooms I'll have to spray but they aren't interested in the foliage. I was told deer don't bother daylilly foliage but all my daylillies are chewed down to about 1 inch. I HATE DEER.
Well, they're all transplanted. We didn't actually divide them this time around, though. We just dug deep enough not to disturb their roots and placed them into holes of the same depth. I'll probably divide them after they bloom next spring and I can see which ones are which.
I have another question, though. Does anybody know why you're supposed to cut the leaves off to about one-third the height when you transplant them? We didn't do that this time. What effect does that have anyway?
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