Cult: Transplant in bloom (was $0.02 on mart iris)
From: "R. Dennis Hager" <rdhager@dmv.com>
> This list is wonderful for all irisarians, but it is not a fair sampling of
> the plant buying public.
>
This observation has been made in this forum before, but I think it is
worth repeating. Every plant retailer knows it. People will buy plants
when they are in bloom. Azaleas sell very well, because conventional
wisdom is that they should be transplanted while in bloom. Tall
snapdragons (i.e. Rocket series) are often hard to locate at the garden
center, because they rarely bloom in the flat. They don't sell and the
retailer only gets stuck with them once. After the bloom, the customer
fails to see the value in the promise of bloom next year. I participated
in a woody plant auction recently. Most of the plants went at fairly low
prices, but a lot of French lilacs IN BLOOM sold at double the suggested
retail as announced when the sale started!
If there is a lesson for irisarians in this, it is that transplanting
should be allowed (encouraged) while in bloom! From my own practices, I
am sure that conventional wisdom that TB's should be transplanted
following bloom is based something besides horticultural evidence. Now,
I will admit that I am no expert on bearded irises, but I have a few
cultivars that grow like weeds. When someone visits my garden and
admires one in bloom, I reach down and pull off a rhizome, trim the
foliage back and hand it to them on the spot, all the while telling them
how to plant it. I have no evidence that it harms my planting, I have
shared my love of irises (now, isn't that what it's all about?) and they
usually live.
R. Dennis Hager
on Delmarva
where the TB's are blooming
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