Now or in the fall? And when do you decide they NEED dividing? Should it
be done routinely just to propagate more each year? We had the most
gorgeous iris* come up in the garden and I want to make sure that THIS one
blooms profusely next year.

*purple and white marbled -- I really love it

"Dwayne" wrote in message
...
I have to divide mine every second or third year. When the "clump" gets to
be pretty good sized it is time to do it. If you let them go very many
more years than that, mine have quit blooming and died.

I divide mine after they quit blooming. I cut the "clump" in half with a
shovel, dig one of the halves up, cut it into 2 or more pieces again.
Then I replant, give them away, or compost them. If I don't do it this
way mine don't bloom the next year but the second year after
transplanting.

Could you post a picture of your prize. I have two purple and white, but
I wouldn't call them marbled.

Dwayne

Marbled is my word for them, I have no idea if that's the proper term or
not. I posted two pictures in alt.binaries.pictures.gardens under the
subject line "Marbled Iris". I hope that's the right group. If not, let me
know which one you want to access and I'll try to repost them there.

The photos look a little more blue to me than I'd like them to look. They
really are a rich purple, not blue.

Thanks for the dividing info, too.

Giselle

"Fragile Warrior" wrote in message
...
Now or in the fall? And when do you decide they NEED dividing? Should it
be done routinely just to propagate more each year? We had the most
gorgeous iris* come up in the garden and I want to make sure that THIS one
blooms profusely next year.

*purple and white marbled -- I really love it


Here is one of the best dividing sites I've seen for Irises.

http://www.rossde.com/garden/garden_divide_iris.html


Our Irises never seem to be real profuse the first year after but then WOW!
We are a little disappointed that this year we had a hard freeze at the
point where our purple and blues were to pop, but the peach that always run
few weeks behind are showing nicer than they ever have. At least we hope it
was just the weather that ruined the others' blooms.

Anyhow... try that link... it seems to have the best of many sites rolled
into it.





HTH, YMMV