New gardener needs help! Iris moving....

[sleepy78]

Hi! We've just bought a new house and there is a beautiful (small) garden with lots of plants (meaning it's completely overgrown). I'm slowly weeding it out bit by bit but there are lots of lovely plants to keep - I'm just in the process of trying to work out what half of them are! So I'm sure I'll have a lot of questions for the experts on MN...
Here's the question for today - can I move some fully grown Iris plants? We're going to knock a wall down and they will be squashed! If I can, how do I manage the bulbs/roots - they seem fragile, and when's the best time to do it?

Easy to move irises, but wait until after they have flowered.

Dig them up, and if it is a large group split them, then just replant them in their new position, not too deep. Some people the cut off the leaves half way down to reduce moisture loss, I have never bothered.

remember to plant them with the top of the rhizomes showing, they will not flower otherwise (apologies if you knew this already). Most of them also prefer full sun.

Brilliant - thanks so much - I'll do that (and no, I didn't know that bienchen - I'm a very enthusiastic beginner!)
What about roses? Can I move them too?

By the way, looking at your names, do you both have connections with France or is that a coincidence? I live there, hence the curiosity!

roses can be difficult to move if they are fully established. You are more likely to damage them, but if you have no choice then it's worth a try, make sure you give them plenty of water when you replant them and if you can add some garden compost or well rotted manure.

Ok, thanks again - I'll try to leave the roses where they are.

You can move roses but this is best done in the dormant season (late autumn/early winter). I am assuming you want to move a shrub or bush rose but the process is the same for a climber (just more cumbersome with the overhead growth).

Prepare your new planting spot for the rose first. Dig a hole at least two foot wide and deep. Sprinkle in a little bone meal. You can also buy sachets of mycorrhizal fungi (also called rootgrow) which are helpful with getting the rose established again. Do your late autumn prune and then dig out the rose with as much rootball as possible. The more of the root you can dig up with your rose, the better. Don't worry if some of the root is severed.

When you replant, if your soil is poor mix some well rotted compost or some gardening compost in with your excavated soil. Make sure you plant the rose in such a way that the old soil level is at the same height as the top of the planting hole. Backfill the hole and firm the soil down ideally by gently walking on it. This gets the airpockets out. You probably have to add some more soil to bring it up to level.

Water well in, you need a good puddle. Check by feeling the soil and make sure that the rose does not dry out, this is especially important if the new spot is near a fence or wall and does not benefit from rain as much as open ground and if we have a dry winter.

Prune again at the end of winter/early spring just as the buds are breaking and feed with a rose food in April.

Yes I'm in France (85).

Don't know anything about roses though.

Ok, duly noted - I'll try to leave the roses, but if they have to move, at least they'll have a chance of survival now! Thanks everyone.