When my Ed and I married many years ago, Pete and Myrtice Cooper were among the welcoming neighbors here in our community.

Pete was part owner of an Anderson roofing company, and Myrtice was a homemaker. Three of their four daughters had already gone out into the world seeking their fortunes, leaving only Mary Elizabeth, the youngest, at home.

The Coopers were good neighbors, and Mrs. Cooper was a good gardener. The blue and white, tall bearded irises Jenny Cooper Gentry gave me are from her mother’s garden, and I shall treasure them.

Almost all gardens of beauty, whether home gardens or large public ones, have irises.

There are many irises, including the tall bearded (which sub-divides into the tall, intermediate, dwarf and miniature dwarf), the Dutch, Siberian, Japanese and others.

The upright parts of the bloom are “standards,” and the petals that turn downward are the “falls.” The “beard” is the inch-long row of fuzzy hair on the tops of the falls near the stem. Most tall bearded iris will have three blooms on each stem. This stem should be cut from the plant when the blooms fade.

This is the time, July to September, to separate and replant your irises or to purchase and plant new ones. Few other plants are so easily grown. A testament of their hardiness is that one often sees isolated clumps growing in what was the yard of a house long gone.

If you are digging a clump, lift it with a pitchfork, separate the fat root parts (called rhizomes), leaving a leaf or a little green bud on each. Discard the old end part. Cut the leaves back to about six inches, wash the lump of rhizomes well with the hose and let dry.

Irises are usually planted three to five to a clump or circle, but you also may set them in rows. Remember that the new growth is on the end where the green leaves emerge so when planting in a circle, put the old end without the leaves toward the center of the circle.

Select a sunny, open site for your new irises. They

will grow in average soil but the better the care, the better the product. To a new bed add some well-rotted manure, a bit of limestone and bone meal. Dig that in well, then make planting holes 1ƒ to 2 feet apart. Make a little, long bump in the center. Set the rhizome on that bump and spread the roots out and down. Cover the roots and most of the rhizome, but leave the top exposed.

Your new plant will grow through the winter, begin blooming next May and continue for several years.

For the best bloom, divide the clumps every four or five years.

Juanita B. Garrison, of Denver Downs Farm, writes regularly about gardening for the Independent-Mail.