i am dividing my iris, and since I am planting them as soon as I dig,,should i trim leaves to the fan shape or is that just when you buy shipped ones?  I have seen pictures with them trimmed for planting,,and comments  saying leave leaves on for winter protection..what do you think or do?  thanks  ..d

The only leaves I remove is the dryed dead leaves..as I dived or move them.

I trim the back when I move just to prevent any more damage of broken leaves from handling.

thank u for replys..both good advice.  i had some re-bloomers I was moving so I did cut off flower,,just to hopefully get them established sooner..wanted to get them where I could see them better.  next year this time ill be walking to work and have bloomin white iris in my path!  thanks again

Help hopefully this thread is still read. Its about to turn cold here Theres an area of common ground next to my house with lots of trees and My soil is more clay and rock than anything can anyone sugguest what I should till the ground so that when I buy Iris that I would be able to grow them by my house I believe faces South West the side of my house is so hot to grow Iris. Any suggestions ???? My mom has better soil than I do to grow Iris.

can you till  around trees?  or can you build it up about 6"  maybe put some landscape bricks around,,,just fill with some top soil and walla,,,plant....I have alot of 2 tone purple with yellow beard ,fragrent, old time iris,,im just pitching..if you want some for postage  id send you some..dee

Phoenix, You would do best to build raised beds. This means making a boundary of wood - check what was used if pressure treated - for a minimum of 6" deep. I would go for 12" but that is just me. You can find the connectors for corners in many catalogs and/or some hardware stores carry them. This way, you are not having to deal with the rocks/boulders in the ground. If you have very rocky soil and then clay, you can save yourself a lot of work not having to dig down, remove boulders, which will most likely take all winter if you can work the soil. By putting topsoil and compost in the raised bed you will give the plants the best option to survive.

Your rocks sound like what my father spent all last winter dealing with. He used a square of hardware cloth and a bin to sift out most of the rocks in his garden. Where they bought their mobile home in a 55+ park, the soil is nearly all rock. It is on an ancient river bed. It took all winter but dig them out he did.

In your situation, I would do the raised bed. Be sure to investigate where the soil is from. If not careful, it can bring in nasty weeds which are very difficult to remove.

Raised beds work very well, you can also build them with rock. Please don't build them around the trees, putting 6-12 of soil over the tree roots and or against the trunk is a death sentence for the trees.