Re: RE: CULT: How Late is too Late?

In a message dated 10/29/2006 8:54:10 PM Eastern Standard Time,  
ddbro@sbcglobal.net writes:

<< Traditional wisdom says you need to have iris in the  ground 30 days 
before a freeze in order for them to do well the next  year.  [. . .] My question 
was/is 30 days before your first freeze or 30  days before a hard freeze?  Down 
here there is a big difference between  the two.  Our first freeze is 
traditionally on Halloween.  However,  our hard freeze is not until late December, 
early January.  

A lot  of locals have planted their iris in December with little to no  bad
effects.  Has anyone done any research on  this?>>>


I am in zone 7 Virginia--- urban-- latitude 37+ degrees N-- and  I generally 
expect temperatures around freezing to arrive October 20, more or  less. 
Around here we transplant spring blooming perennials and deciduous  shrubs in 
October and November, and transplant trees  and evergreen shrubs into January, or 
until the stays  frozen. We often have warm weather well into December, but by  
the middle of the month the days are very short indeed. I finalize my own  
garden work before Solstice. This suits my garden, and my temperament,  which 
likes to putter with research in the winter, not plant  irises. 
 
The traditional wisdom here--by which I mean what I was tought by  AIS movers 
and shakers in the area---is that whereas one can  transplant bearded irises 
any time the ground is not frozen--- which is, I  believe, the canonical 
position--- for us the last *good* transplant date is  October 1. *Good* meaning 
plants should settle in and live with no  more than the usual losses.I don't 
think I recall anyone ever  suggesting there was a horticultural benefit to very 
late planting.  

I've never pushed it into  October, but experience, personal observations, 
and  various distressing stories, suggest that this date  is sound 
 
I redid one bed this year in late September--dug, divided,  and replanted the 
same day--and the settling in has taken longer  than usual. As Griff notes, 
it has not been a balmy month here, but there  has been plenty of moisture and 
sun. 
 
There are variables in the mix, of course, among them whether  the rhizomes 
are fresh or have already been out of the ground for  months; whether one is 
replanting one's own, or something that came in  from a distance; whether the 
iris is healthy, and one  that typically takes division in its stride; whether 
the  sun is lost on the iris bed as the seasons shift and the days grow short;  
whether the dirt is any good, etc. etc. 
 
But you know all this.  
 
Simpleminded as it sounds, I'd guess that, in the last analysis, it  is all a 
matter of how long those conditions which are essential  to the transplants 
getting down good roots will remain present  in any given locale. 
 
I hope this is useful to you.
 
Anner Whitehead
Richmond VA USA 

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