How to Divide Tall Bearded Irises: Step by Step Directions
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While summer is normally the time to kick back and enjoy the literal fruits of your labor, there may still be a few gardening tasks lurking—such as that overgrown patch of past-bloom irises that need to be divided. Now is the right time.
Maybe they are too crowded, maybe they aren’t blooming as much as before, or maybe it’s been three to five years since they were last divided—all are good reasons to divide your irises. While there are hundreds of varieties of irises, these instructions apply to one of the most common varieties: the tall bearded iris.
Photography by Joy Yagid, unless otherwise noted.
Above: Bearded irises edge a narrow path at Tattenhall Hall in Cheshire, England. Mid to late summer is the best time to divide them because the plants are starting to go dormant. They are winding down from putting on a show in the spring and are building up reserves for next year’s show. Photograph by Clare Coulson, from Cult of the Bearded Iris.
Step 1: Dig up the irises.
Above: How overgrown your iris patch is will determine what tools you’ll need. A heavily crowded patch may need a garden fork to lift the rhizomes up as one huge mass. A trowel can get beneath smaller clumps. Whichever you choose, the goal is to limit damaging the rhizomes.
Step 2: Find the healthy rhizomes.
Above: Once all the rhizomes have been lifted out of the ground, brush the soil off of them. Assess what you have. Discard the mother rhizomes; rhizomes bloom only once, so you’ll want to replant with the daughter offshoots. Also toss rhizomes that are mushy and rotten, have iris borer damage, or lack fans of leaves (see below).
Step 3: Keep a fan of leaves with each division.
Above: Once you have removed the damaged and diseased parts, look at what’s left. You want to divide them in such a way that each section has a fan of leaves growing from it. Some may have buds where next year’s rhizomes will sprout. If the buds are on a section that has a fan, keep them with the fan. Don’t divide them. They are not fully formed yet and it’s better if they are kept with the section with the fan.
Step 4: Divide the rhizomes.
Above: The actual dividing is simple; you can snap them like a carrot, or use a sharp knife.
