Bearded iris

I saw some dried out bearded iris at the nursery for 75 percent off....from this past fall's supply.

Do you think if I soak them really well they would come back?

Thanks, Lavanda

No, absolutely not. Save your money for postage, many of us will be dividing our Iris after they bloom!!!

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for telling me!

Best time to transplant is soon after blooming, around July or August, and definitely before mid-September, so they can get established and bloom the following spring. They need to be divided about every three years, so there should be iris to share. I'd post again around the beginning of July... remind me and I'll see if I can put a box together for you! John

Good advice -- wish I had read it earlier. I had gotten some irises from e-bay and they were all dried out upon arrival -- Since I had never ordered irises before, I thought this was the way bareroots came. I am hoping that they will snap up and do something as the weather improves.

What I was told years ago, and it works!

Is that you can actually just toss them out onto the ground in any pattern you wish and they will take root and do well.

I dunno if it because of our heavy clay soil or what!!! but it works!

I had always craved them from a child when we lived in the tropics where they dont grow, so when we moved up here, iris
were at the top of my list....and I read about how you plant them on a little mound with a trough areound that ,etc etc etc. so planted the first ones that way....then found about the throw method whch works just as well in our clay!

Just a little extra info!

Well, that's a new planting technique! Must have something to do with your soil. I plant them by digging the hole, making the mound, spreading out the roots, but leaving the top half of the rhizome showing (like a duck in the water). The rhizome likes to have the sun on it, and prevents rotting.

Yes, pardancanda, that is the technique I was familiar with too.

But....if it aint broke, I guess I wont fix it!

I know that's how I do it too but year before last my nieghbor dug some and left them in a bucket. I saw them lasr Spring and ask if I could have them. He said, sure.These iris had sat outside in the bucket all winter. Well, I planted them and they grew fine. Maybe this year they'll bloom.

MG- were they blanketed with snow or anything eose that might keep them moist?

Or were they all dried out?

When I decided to remove a TON (well, just a trailer load) of iris from a planting bed near our house, I dug them all up, carefully planted half of them for my MIL, (prepared the bed, loosened the soil, carefully arranged the tubers, and topped them off with good "bulb soil", making sure the tops weren't covered, etc.) They did great for her - bloomed last year like nobody's business.

I kept the second half (she didn't have room for them all) and plunked them on top of the ground along our back fence. They too have done well as far as growing each year. They haven't bloomed as well, but they don't get full sun. Maybe now that MIL wants more irises, I'll dig up a bunch more and take them to her...

I'll have some to divide this year too.

I've got a few that are growing in the greenhouse floor, LOL. I set them there last fall with intentions of planting them in the garden, well, life got in the way. They rooted themselves on the floor and look great, LOL.