My Brother-in-law who lives in Utah has recently divided his collection of many iris. He has shipped some bulbs to me here in Halfmoon, NY. I was pleasantly surprised to find he had cleaned them, sprinkled with powered sulfur & wrapped each variety in news paper & placed each variety in a plastic bag. I have removed the plastic. I carefully unrolled the rhizomes in news paper & checked for dampness & rot. Found none. I then re-rolled & placed back in shipping box.
now what should I do?
would love to plant them but weather is, my opinion, too cold. Storing them in the garage may not be good as it sometimes goes below freezing. Storing them in the basement which is partially finished is too warm, 60-70.
some of these bulbs date back to 1800.
please advise.
thanks
Donna D.
The safest thing to do is plant them right away and cover them with leaves or a light layer of mulch.
That way they will get chilling they need without the risk of drying out over winter which is likely if they are stored indoors.