On 21/05/2014 12:42 PM, Drew Lawson wrote:
In article
elfa45 writes:

I also had trans-planted (long ago and gifted from a neighbor) nine bearded iris
plants but only two produced any flowers. Maybe I should have added some plant
food/fertilizer?

While I have grown bearded iris for years, I have not experimented
much with the advice that I have read. That said, the advice I read
long ago was that bearded iris will not bloom if they are planted
too deep. The rhizomes should (I am told) be at least a little
exposed above the soil level.

Yep. They like to get some baking rays of the sun on those bits above
the soil.

It may be chance, but that is how I have always planted/replanted
them, and the only failure to bloom I've seen is in the plants this
year, which were transplanted much later than they should have been
last year. (One of four is blooming.)

They also don't like being crowded. If left too long before being
lifted and separated, they don't flower well. Additionally once each
rhizome has flowered, that rhizome won't flower again but it will
produce new rhizomes in the late summer and these will usually flower
int he following summer.