Question
Dear Long Island Gardener,

My mother died last year in June.  She was a great flower gardener and loved irises and lilies, which she grew in abundence.

Mom and my mother-in-law didn't have a wide acquaintance, due to distance between their homes and my mother's long-term illness, but over the last 27 years they exchanged flowers, bulbs, plants, etc. back and forth through me on my visits.  Some of my MIL's favorite plants in her garden came from my mother.

The first week in June I'm going up to the mountains here in Pennsylvania where Mom lived to take care of some things at her home, and my MIL has asked me to bring her back some of Mom's flowers.  

Last year in June Mom's irises were in full bloom, and I expect the same this year.  How should I dig some up, and transport them 100 miles to my MIL's without endangering them?  I'd sure hate to go to all that trouble and find out I killed them.  :(

I'm almost certain they are irises and not lilies, but I don't know what kind of irises they are.  If it helps they're mostly purple and smell like grapes when blooming.  

Mom would be pleased that her flowers will still be enjoyed by my MIL.

Thanks for your time, and any help you can give.  It is greatly appreciated!!

Sincerely,
Linda

Answer
What a wonderful gesture for you to be able to do this for your mother in law.  How pleased your mother would be, and what an enduring legacy.  Let me see if I can help.

First, let's clear up the identity of these purple flowers.  Here are purple Siberian Irises:

www.allthingsiris.com/siberian.html

and the illustrated White Flower Farm sales pitch for various Irises:

www.whiteflowerfarm.com/cgi-local/search.pl?text=iris

Irises grow from thick tubers.  Very different looking from the big, round Lily bulbs that look like an oversized head of garlic, a bunch of cloves wrapped into one.

These sound like Irises that you want to move.

It is not the worst thing in the world to do this now, but it would be better to wait as long as possible after they are done blooming.  To minimize damage:

1.  Get your hands on a product called 'Messenger'.  This is a state of the art repair hormone that minimizes tissue damage.  It is NOT a fertilizer.  This is exactly what the doctor ordered when it comes time to put them back in the ground, which should be asap after you take them out.  That means having the trench(es) ready when you reach your destination, all hands on deck for the work, then Iris triage -- a big dose of Messenger to get them on the road to recovery.  Then wait.  The Messenger minimizes shock and accelerates production of new root hairs; without it, the plant has to get around to feeling the pain, and that may not happen for days.  By then it's too late.

2.  Take as much dirt around the roots as you can.  The soil holds symbiotic Fungi and other microbes that are already interacting with your Irises roots; better you should keep as many as you can, to innoculate your new site.  It would help to pre-cover your entire trunk with plastic so you don't have to slow down any of this work while adjusting to protect the car or trunk interior.  Keep the plants moist while they are out of the ground, to minimize root damage.

3.  Remove all flowers and buds before you uproot these.  You don't want the plants to waste an ounce of energy blooming this year; that should be saved for recovery.  Spring will come again.

That said, Irises are tough plants.  This can be done.  Odds are, you'll do that.

Siberian Irises bloom on Long Island around Mother's Day.  My brother yanked a clump out of a neighbor's garden one Mother's Day morning, threw them in a pot, and presented them to Mom that Sunday afternoon.  She never did know where those flowers came from, but she cared for them for decades.  Now they're mine.  There are today more than 100, and they stop traffic for 3 or 4 days a year.  Every Mother's Day I wonder whether that anonymous green-thumbed neighbor ever did recognize his Irises growing along our driveway, and never said a word.