Separating Unidentified Iris.

despite a light rain sunday night, i felt compelled to tackle the iris* under the sunroom window.

at least, i'm very nearly certain that it's iris. however, there have been no flowers in the 14 months we've had the house, which makes identification difficult. but the foliage certainly looks like iris, and it is growing from rhizomes, which is what (most) iris do.

i think that the reluctance of these plants to bloom is due to the fact that they are grossly overcrowded. as in, the clump that i dug sunday yielded 11 "fans" from a space in which one would plant two fans.

removing the clump-o-iris took some effort. it helped (a lot) that it had been raining for days so getting the pitchfork into the soil was easy. even so, i was afraid i might snap the handle as i tried to lever the clump out. iris have tenacious roots. after 15-20 minutes of careful prying, i got clump #1 out in more-or-less one piece.

before tackling this project, i was concerned that i wouldn't know where to separate the rhizomes. once i got the clump out of the ground it was very easy to identify the individual fans. i just cut the rhizomes apart between fans, discovering in the process that the inside of the rhizomes is a very nice coral color (this is - maybe - a clue for the i.d.).

after separating everything and spending several minutes wondering what on earth i would do with 20+ iris fans (still have another clump to dig, remember), i replanted two medium-sized fans in the original spot and put the rest on top of one of my compost piles, covering the rhizomes well with partially-finished compost. some of these will find a home in various corners of the yard this weekend; the remainder will perhaps find homes with friends.

based on what i've been able to glean from the internet and the knowledgeable folks at the gardenweb iris forum, i probably don't have dutch iris (they grow from bulbs, not rhizomes) or bearded iris (rhizomes are white inside). best guess is that they are either louisiana iris or spuria iris, both can be grown here.

i also know that they are not african iris / butterfly iris (dietes bicolor). i have some nearby and the foliage is distinctly different - the dietes leaves are much narrower.

* there are two clumps in the bed below the sunroom window, each slightly more than one foot square