Info on moving a clump of irises
I love surprise plants. I've been in this house for six years and noticed each year sword like foliage kept sprouting up. And then this year, it flowered, I realised it was a yellow iris. However, I have different plans for the area they are growing in. I had planted Crocosmia in the area and they, the irises, are taking over. They are growing below a tree and the soil is fairly dry.
If they can be moved, I have a plan for them.
Is this time of year a good time to move them?
Do they fair well in pots?
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Irises are best lifted and divided immediately after flowering. They like to be in a sunny spot with well drained soil so their rhizome gets baked over the summer and makes flowers for the following year.
If you're desperate to move them now, water well and leave to soak an hour then lift them out. Cut the rhizomes into thumb sized pieces making sure each has a bit of root and a bit of shoot. Discard any that is rotten or has no shoots and roots. Trim the foliage back by half to avoid wind rock when you replant, burying the roots but leaving the rhizome slightly proud of the soil Water in well. Don't be surprised if you get no flowers next year.
You could put them in pots to over winter in a sheltered corner so they don't freeze but I wouldn't have thought it would be a good permanent place to grow them.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
Hi Tina in my humble opinion it is a great time to move both of those plants the ground is still warm and unlike moving in spring where you might damage some of the new roots your plants will have settled in nicely by then.
lift the iris plants separate them down if they are big clumps cut the leaves into a pointed fan around 6 to 8 long make sure that the rhizones are up on the surface and not buried and only cover the little tentacle type roots to anchor the plant there are plenty of you tube videos to watch for clarification
finally on the iris when planting make sure the rhizones face in different directions that way when the sun warms them up it will delay there flowering times.
as for the crosocmias you can cut them down and again separate the corms away from the mother replant back in small clumps which will give you more lovely plants hope that helps Lester
Yellow iris - could be iris pseudacorus. Really a bog or pond plant but it will seed itself and grow anywhere. It could also conceivably be a beautiful bearded iris. Do some online seaches and see which flowers match the ones you had.
For bearded iris follow instructions above posters have given, for I. pseudacorus just move to where you want, they are pretty much impossible to kill. If you let it get its feet into wet ground it will show you what it can do - it's a beautiful thug!
It's a hooligan! If it is pseudocarus be very severe with it.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw