On Aug 6, 5:00*am, Cheryl Isaak wrote:
OK - here's the deal in as few words as possible. My existing bearded iris
bed is overgrown and needs to be moved and divided up. Worse, the location
has become filtered afternoon sun over the last few years. (bed has been
there, with semi-regular division for at *least 10 years.)

I'm thinking of just lifting them all up, dividing and cleaning and moving
them to an existing bed which has good drainage. I'd move all those plants
up to the old iris bed, where most of them will do fine until I finish the
great rearrange of the gardens. (As an aside, I'm thinning my daylily
collection, and otherwise changing the garden up.) New bed is unlikely to
become shady in the next decade.

My other concern, is since this new iris bed will be "front and center", it
will be boring unless I find some good companions that like the same summer
conditions.

So - Make the move now while I have the time or wait until it starts to cool
down and hope I have the time. Watering is not an issue.

Thanks

Cheryl

Hi Cheryl
I hope your foot is healing quickly. I had a similar foot that I
spranged: that is when you
bang it on the chair leg and sprain the joint, but no broken toes.
Hurts!
But takes just as long as broken to feel OK. Mine seems to be OK now.

Anyway, I dig (or did) TB iris anytime that I felt like digging them.
So I don't know
why you can't. I have Siberian (Caesar's Bro) and a Louisiana, 6
Pacific Coast Hybrids,
and a Dwarf Bearded that I love, but not one TB remains. Because of
the reason you
mention: they look great for about 2-3 weeks and then they look
AWFUL. No just boring,
but awful! So I gave
all mine to a friend down the street; she filled her front yard with
them and I go down in
the spring and say Oh how beautiful. Then when they look dreadful I
don't have to look
at them/deal with them etc.

I do love the little Dwarf Iris. It gets 8-10 inches tall, is a lovely
blue-purple, is fragrant,
and does not multiply very quickly. When it needs work the clump is
small enough to
dig/divide/discard old pieces/replant in no time at all. In addition,
it reblooms, and
people do not slam their door when I offer them a few. It's named
"Smell the Roses"

So I say Go for it.
Emilie
NorCal