I had planned to turn a neglected corner of my large yard into a big iris bed. So when my local Iris society has their annual sale in June, I bought about 25 iris bulbs, friends gave me some, I dug them up from a neighbor's yard (with permission), and ended up planting about 35-40 bulbs in Aug-Sep.

I've changed my mind. We are now going to put a sprinkler system in that will allow grass to grow in that neglected corner. And I just don't think I want to take on the job of managing such a large bed. This yard needs a lot of work.

My question is, can I move those plants now? I'm in zone 7b. I hate to lose all of those. Several have leaves. Will they be ok to dig up and store in the garage until spring? Should I wait until spring to dig? Or replant now? Hold for fall?

Thanks for your advice.

As warm as you are "zoned', I'd say, "move em' ".....they should do fine.

I have lost a few, planted late. You will be taking a chance. If I had to do it again, I would pot them and put them in a protected spot. I have many in pots, and most of them are doing well. But the later I received them, the worse they did.

Thank you for your responses. Potting them is not really an option.

Think I'll leave them alone until summer, then move them. That may cause some discussions with my better half, as what grass is there will look bad. But he'll just have to live with it.

You don't have to pot them. Plastic coffee containers work fine. Brush off most of the soil. cut off all dead parts/leave out, to air dry a bit. Get some glossy magazine pages and crumple them up to fit in the can with the rhizomes. The glossy pages will not mold like newsprint. But does help stabilized the humidity. Don't pack them too tight you want to shake the container and have them bounce a bit, then tighten it up with some magazine pages. Make sure top growth is all cut back. 45 degree angle is good. Take a peek now and then it will give an air change. They will sleep and as the days get longer you will see new growth in roots, fine air roots and humidity will condense like micro dew on them and top growth will begin new growth at the same time. The plant will be telling you they know the seasons periodicity in the container without sunlight. No holes in the container. Keeps insects out. Most iris are grown with too much soil, they actually do better with less and have less problems. We you see this occurring it is time to plant.

Interesting post, frogfan. Must try.

Great.