Irises

Hi all

I have some lovely blue Irises in flower in my back garden.  There are twice as many as last year.  I would like to move them to other places in my garden.  When is the best time to move them?  And will they be ok?

Patsy

ive shifted irises successfully. The advice I would give is to divide them in late spring, dont plant them too deeply as they like heat about there feet

Wait until they've finished flowering, then dig them up. Discard the oldest pieces and then plant where you want them, making sure that you keep them on the surface of the soil. You may want to put small sticks next to them to hold them steady until they settle. You can also reduce long leaves by half.

I agree with Alina the reason i would shift them late spring is the conditions we grow in up here in the Highlands everything needs a chance to settle before cold weather sets in so we tend to shift in  late spring

I usually divide mine in late August/Sept every 3 or 4 years. The 4 varieties (bearded and sibrica) I have are usually flowering in May/June so I wouldn't move or divide them then

Thanks guys.  I will wait until they have died back and fed the bulbs, then dig them up and move them. 

Are we taking about rhizomatous iris, or bulbs?  Not that it makes a differene as to when you move them late Spring is certainly right, but although indeed rhozomes like to be out of the soil more or less, siberica bulbs do not - just a thought as you mentioned bulbs.

Last year I moved irises in mid-summer but made sure they didn't dry out too badly after being moved.  This year I've just finished doing it.  In both cases the irises (bearded) were in the shade and had no flower buds.  The ones I moved last year have almost all flowered this year.

Both the rhizome and bulb Irises can be moved after flowering. The bulb forms are easy to split the clumps up, burying at the same depth as before.

I have the rhizome irises in my garden and they don't mind being moved, in fact they will grow anywhere but prefer a sunny position.  They are one of my favourite plants and never fail to give a great show every spring.  For some reason only the blue ones seem to flourish, the yellow and the white varieties dont like my garden at all.  Anyone know why this is?

Could be eaten by slugs. Slugs eat every thing in my garden. Or did. I am afraid husband has declared war on them this year! He couldn't stand seeing me so upset when all my plants were eaten every year so far. A bearded iris we planted at the edge of our pond with feet in water did brilliantly.I though it was a common purple one when we planted it last year, but turned out to be  a large cream/white one. Monty would have been proud!