After I recently wrote that August and September are the time to transplant irises, I got a call from a gardener asking about transplanting techniques.

Since I have collected so many, first from my Aunt Martha (who is really my paternal grandmother's cousin, figure that out) via my mother, from my neighbor Becky (who got them from her sister), and from The Augusta Chronicle's outdoors columnist Rob Pavey, who had been on a flower rescue mission, I have a little experience with this.

I consulted a couple of my favorite gardening books, Month-by-Month Gardening in Georgia and The American Practical Gardening Encyclopedia, to ensure I'm somewhere on the right page.

It's a fairly easy chore, and if your irises are crowded, they will thank you with extra blooms in the spring. Here's how:

- Decide what to transplant. If a group didn't bloom well or at all, or you have some dying, then it's probably time to transplant and give them more space. Dig them up with a forked tool or use a trowel.

- Separate by pulling or breaking gently by hand. Each rhizome (the bulb part) you intend to replant should have a set of roots. Discard any shriveled or dead rhizomes. Cut off any dead roots (brown, shriveled ones), and trim the leaves back to two to three inches.

- Let the rhizomes sit (healing) for a few hours or a day.

- Plant. Spread the roots out so they have a good beginning, but don't plant too deep. You barely want to cover the rhizome. I give them a few inches of space. Go ahead and fertilize, but not in the planting hole, because it will burn the bulb. Top dress with fertilizer after planting, and again in October.

Follow up: Keep them watered, not soggy, but regularly, especially in this heat.

Reach Sandy Hodson at (706) 823-3226 or sandy.hodson@augustachronicle.com.

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