I'm at Shriners iris gardens with Ben
Shriner and then you are actually what
generation of Shriners here I'm fourth
generation - wow that's really exciting
so a long history of Shriners here so
you know we've never come for Gardener
time come to learn how to divide and
replant irises you're gonna choose just
all about it okay so you have this big
clump here so what do you got so this is
a clump that's been in the ground for us
just one year but typically maybe in the
garden this would look like a one two
year clump and this is about the size
they get so you get about four rhizomes
right here mm-hmm
Brooke that have been added to this one
right here so this one's produced four
okay and so that was the one the
original one was that one and it's made
all these in the ground and each one was
going to have a flower this year right
yeah so you can so you can see the bloom
stock on this one so this one is the one
that bloomed this year right there and
then these are the ones are going to
bloom the following year all right so
why do we have to divide this it's you
know I'm sure the bigger clumps in our
yards but why do we have to do that
every couple years so they'll spend by
resuspend most of the energy reproducing
themselves after a certain amount of
time unless you dig them up and divide
them so digging digging them up and
dividing them you'll get more blooms oh
yeah and that's what we all want exactly
and so here's this clump so do I have to
get a special knife or something to
divide all this or is it an easy trick
it's pretty easy you can do it with your
hands you can or you can do with a knife
if you're going to do it with a knife
you'd want to cut into the spent rhizome
so making a cut right there right there
like so and we're not gonna use that one
that's gone
no that one you have this new increase
here so if you wanted to plant this one
back you could but you want to get bloom
from it for a few years and if you don't
want to use a knife you can always just
break it with your hands so you just pop
them off like that so that's one two you
can take the bloom stock off
then you have for man now we have these
four plans what's the next step okay so
you can trim the leaves off and you can
either do that again with a knife so you
can just trim them off about like three
inches or so like that or you can do it
with your hand again you making this
really easy circle like that okay yeah -
all right
you can tear off the dead leaves like
that okay I'll do that and so while
we're I'm doing that you're gonna tell
us about what we got here with the soil
okay so you probably want to add a
compost to your soil work it in clear
out any weeds and then you're ready to
plant you want to make sure to before
you replant that you get all the little
increases such as this oh the tiny ones
okay you want to make sure you have all
those out because if you leave those in
they will grow like few years you have
maybe a different color blooming in the
middle of like a purple blooming in the
noble white iris and it's probably
because you look you forgot some of
these small increases oh so you want to
plant them maybe a different place or
you can just compost them yes
all right now is there a certain amount
of depth that you want these do wanna
bury em do you want to on top of the
soil
won't they want to sit right on top so
put them on here nice soil you want to
be roots in the back spread them out a
little bit
mm-hmm just put the dirt around and then
the rhizome will just rest right on top
there all right and I've always heard
that you want them facing a certain way
so what is that about well they have a
front and a back so the roots kind of
spray out in the back here okay and this
would be the front so when you plant
them you could plant them whichever way
you want and the front would be alright
I'll be right here so these ones are
facing them the grass bed there okay and
then I see that you also package
fertilizer so what do we use that now -
yeah you could use that now so we use
six ten ten and you can just sprinkle
around he tries out we can do it now
when you plant and then you can do them
about a month before they bloom all
right in spring so usually when the tool
start blooming you could add the
fertilizer oh that's a good reminder -
and so this is the time really to order
irises so you're in full production of
filling orders so really you can go to
the website and order all kinds of
beautiful irises yeah Shriners Gardens
calm
and you can order now through the end of
September and you can still plant by the
end of September - yeah that's perfectly
okay you want them in the ground six
weeks before the typical first frost so
Western Oregon and it September before
ah well you heard it from Ben he's got
all this information so you can go to
the website shiner cyrus website and
order your iris and maybe get some
fertilizer too because they package it
really for the IRS and you can get them
in your garden this September the
September and you'll have blooms next
year and if you have any other questions
they send information with the packages
or you can call the office and they'll
answer any of your questions that you
have about planting your iris Ben you
made it really easy thanks so much thank
you
you