Re: Culture: digging irises up
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: Culture: digging irises up
- From: A* R* <a*@austx.tandem.com>
- Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 15:17:36 -0600 (MDT)
> But divide only every third year. Dividing too soon denies you the
> glorious display of blossoms. In my experience, third year spectacle is
> usually the best.
I need to move some of my second year irises this fall for design
purposes. Should I move them intact, or should I divide them since I am
lifting them anyway?
> Dividing too late allows the tuber/rhizome mass to get too large to
> manage when trying to remove them from the ground for separation. It
> also crowds the plants and inhibits blossoming. I waited 'til the
> fourth year in one bed and it almost took a crane to lift the mass out
> of the ground and a sumo wrestler to separate the mass into replantable
> tubers/rhizomes.
How big is the average 3rd year rhizome, and how many pieces does it
divide into? I realize this is a wide range based on cultivar, species
etc. but I'm just trying to get a visual picture.
> By the by . . . the rest of you folks . . . are they tubers or
> rhizomes. I always thought they were tubers. I'm open to correction.
> Or is this nitpicking?
It's not nitpicking. Botanically speaking, tubers and rhizomes are
different entities, both being underground storage vessels, but
differentiated from other such entities as corms and bulbs, as well as
from themselves. Look it up -- I think it would be in any basic
gardening book.
--
Amy Moseley Rupp
amyr@austx.tandem.com, Austin, TX, USDA zone 8b, Sunset zone 30
*or* amyr@mpd.tandem.com
Jill O. *Trades, Mistress O. {}
