Expert: Kenneth Joergensen - 3/25/2006

Question
Hi. My name is Charlene.  I bought a house in Zone 6 and am dividing Iris rhisomes (don't know what kind of Iris - they are non-bearded - purple) the old owner had in a border of the house.  I now have tons of them.  I dug them up on Friday and it is now Saturday night. I have them in a bag.  Should I bother planting them (i.e., are they ruined by now?  They are not in dirt and are in my kitchen, about 69 degrees, and dry).

Finally, although I correctly snipped/divided the Rhisomes, I am having a hard time planting them because most have roots that are longer than 18 inches! Should I snip them?

It would be so wonderful if you could help. Thanks in advance.

Charlene

Answer
I suspect they may be "siberian iris" (non bearded purple).


TB IRIS
The regular bearded iris has a fat rhizome. While I refer to them as "TB" iris, not all of them have beards. You can get iris, which form this type of rhizome, without the beard.

picture of rhizome here:

http://photobucket.com/albums/v345/kdjoergensen/gardening/iris/?action=view&curr...

copy / paste the entire link to your browser to view.
(if seperated on two lines in the text above, you need to copy and paste each line and combine them in the address or location bar in your browser, with no space at the break.

Example1:
bob+
cat

Should be:
bob+cat
happy?be

not
bob+ cat

Example 2:
happy&
bee

should be
happy&bee

not
happy& bee

(ok enough copy/paste lessons).


I do not recommend snapping the roots of iris with rhizomes (as pictured above). They are best left intact.
You can allow the TB iris to become dry, but it is best if you plant them as soon as possible and keep them moderately dry. You can put them outdoors in pots. They are fully winter hardy. If planting in pots, you can just tuck the roots down. They do not need to be straight.




SIBERIAN IRIS

The reason I suspect that you have siberian iris is due to fact that they often are purple, spreads easily and they do not have a beard.

The siberian iris does not have the same firm rhizome shape as the TB iris. The Siberian iris has a "wooden" rooty feel to it:

Picture of siberian iris root here:

http://photobucket.com/albums/v345/kdjoergensen/gardening/iris/?action=view&curr...

copy / paste the entire link to your browser to view.
(if seperated on two lines in the text above, you need to copy and paste each line and combine them in the address or location bar in your browser, with no space at the break)

Siberian iris roots should never be allowed to dry out. I recommend soaking the roots immediately in water and wrap them in wet tissue paper until you can plant. If they are still good I do not know, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

You can snap the roots of siberian iris (with moderation). Just avoid cutting too much back into the "woody" rootstock. The long loose roots can be trimmed severely (as also shown on the picture).