…with the iris. That one by the bridge had to be pulled before it shoved the bridge over—
The roots/rhizomes are about the size of large Irish potatoes, and getting in there…gasp…was a bear.
I started modestly with clippers to take off the leaves on one side.
I graduated to a spade, which I attempted to get underneath the clump and lift. No-(bleep)-way. It wouldn’t budge.
I got the big mattock. This got a few out and began to break up the clump…or at least…5″ of it.
I got the little mattock. This got a few more. I began to get to the center of it.
Back to the big mattock, using it as a lever with my entire body weight…no joy. Wouldn’t even budge.
I used the big mattock pick-end, and broke it up some more. I have now a mound of iris on the patio. I tried hooking the pick under the clump and pulling to try to break it up. I am in danger of a fatal accident, if that thing should give way totally—because I’m poised above the rock steps—but no joy. That thing ain’t moving.
Finally I take after it with the pick, deciding mortality among the iris is better than my own—and broke it up enough I doubled the size of the pile. I got rhizomes out as thick as a man’s wrist. I have now gotten that one iris clump dealt with: we will pick three good rhizomes and replant.
I still have the clump at the OTHER end of the bridge. This one took me 3 tries. Each time I would have to come in, cool down, and plan the next assault. It’s been about 4 hours, intermittently. I have a pile of iris to be trimmed and clipped. I think THAT will be my next project, and let the other one wait a bit, for one thing so we don’t mix the colors up.
“They were fruitful, and multiplied,” sounds like! (maybe a bit more so than you would have preferred 😉 ). Be sure to let the cut ends dry before planting again…
Oh, yeah. They’re out there cooking on the patio—not as hot as most places. 76 lovely degrees with a lively breeze. I wish I could share this weather with those who are cooking right now. Our 4th is forecast to be 78.
Re the ‘fruitful’ part, these started as 1 rhizome back about 2-3 years ago. Now I have a bushel of rhizomes, some really monster ones.
Would the leftovers be nice to plant on your church neighbors lot?
Iris do turn into triffids-or become possessed by demonic borers in which case they become antitriffids. I hope that you are replanting them in a more easily cullible spot.
“….Now I have a bushel of rhizomes…”
You fail to mention the *other* bushel full of rhizomes pawned off on me, not to exclude everyone else who has taken them off your hands. Like rhubarb and Christmas fruitcake, propagating iris are taking over the world. 😉
I once had to remove bulbs from among the roots of a tree-type yucca. It was more like archeology than anything else: I was removing dirt from between and under the roots, then reaching in for the bulbs. Didn’t get all of them, as I recall, but retrieved most. (It was not as picky as digging up nutgrass, though. That really is difficult, because the roots connecting the ‘nuts’ are very fine.)
@ OSG…I call it guerilla giving! Back when I had large vegetable,flower gardens I had friends who locked their cars when they visited for fear of what they would find in the back seats when they left!
I think I am on a learning curve regarding iris. Last summer we divided up a pathetic clump of yellow flags into five equally pathetic clumps and planted them around the edge of the pond. We had one lonely flower stalk with two flowers on it. This year the clumps are bigger than the original with a profusion of blooms. I know we will have to divide them eventually but do we need to worry about them going through the pond liner? SEE? You are not only a great writer, but a go to flower lady too!
Iris roots don’t penetrate, but the rhizomes shove. They’ll fill a spot, given time, then begin to die at the center of the clump. When you plant iris, you put them in a triangle, with the ‘toes’ of the rhizomes at the center, and the green part outward. They will grow outward from there.
Smartcat: those yellow flags are real spreaders. They may not go through the pond liner, but they will do their best to produce a monoculture around the pond. You really want to have them where you are not planning on interplanting with anything else.
In my yard an eruption of porcelineberry (ampliopsis) did slow my clump down – but then I was contemplating getting a flamethrower to get the vines under controll!
Yellow flag Iris has been declared a noxious plant in Oregon, I believe I saw, over what it does in wetlands. That means it can’t be in commerce. Sounds enough like where CJ planted it. (“English” Ivy is another. Portland even has a “No Ivy League”! 😉 )
I’ve a few conatiners of diminutive native Iris tenax, no more than a foot tall. 🙂 I’ve seen it grow natively on roadside cuts, which suggests it doesn’t mind dry summers, given our climate.
“Yellow flag or Iris pseudacorus is a class C noxious weed in the State of.
Washington. … the edge of ponds, lakes or slow moving streams or rivers.”
I’ll take some rhyzomes (corms?). I started out with one lonely rhyzome of little yellow iris in 2001, and they are slowly but surely taking over my rose bed. Most all the bearded irises won’t bloom the first year after you plant them.
“…we will pick three good rhizomes and replant.”
Sounds like the job Zeus gave Sisyphus.