I'm in zone 7 Maryland, for me Siberians start blooming the middle of May, a week to two weeks earlier than the Japanese Iris. The foliage of Japanese iris is overall more subtantial than that of Siberians. The leaf is wider and thicker, and has a fat, rigid mid-rib that keeps it from being floppy. It also stays a nice medium green the whole season (not as dark a green as Siberians). If your Siberian foliage held up well for you, there should be no problem with the Japanese. I have actually left the foliage on the whole winter some years and it was a quite attractive gray-brown, standing tall until I cut it down in February or March. They (at least my Japanese iris) set a lot of seed, and the pods are also attractive. Letting them go to seed hasn't seemed to affect the amount of bloom I get year to year. Sometimes I deadhead, sometimes I don't. But, unless you are particularly interested in seeing the results of genetic recombination, make sure to remove the seed pods before they start to split open - three or four years ago I didn't and I'm still getting seedlings all over the place. One of the seedlings was actually quite lovely (I somehow missed it weeding, and it got to blooming size), having gotten a deep purple color and flat, round form from one parent and a stripe/stippling pattern from another, so I kept it; the rest have gone to the compost pile... - Steve

planted them with the roots down ==>>> when you start with this premise.. you are 99% of the way to success.. lol ... in my z5 .. i wouldnt worry about the soaking part ... and as far as i am concerned.. with this plant.. you could have run it over ... twice ... with the car before planting.. and it will live.. whether or not you get a good flower show.. is dependent on the veracity of the stock you bought .. not what you did with it after ... [if it was some bigboxstore packed in a box plant, rather than a pot grown plant] you also said: I mixed in some composted manure and chopped up the dirt a bit ==>> when you start to understand that you were working the SOIL .. and that you had dirt all over you after you were done playing.. you will come to have a better understanding of what soil development is all about ... words mean things.. and help you to conceptualize what you are doing .. and where you are going ... you were amending the soil to aid in water movement and retention ... through the incorporation of some humus ... which also added some nutrients ... i wouldnt waste much energy.. worrying about this one ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

In general, the recommended time to divide/transplant spring blooming perennials is in fall -- that gives them sufficient time to settle in and re-establish before bloom season. Having said that, I've moved/divided Sibes successfully at all times of the year :-) In mild winter climates, you can get away with a much wider range of routine gardening activities......

Mertie, most iris including Siberica are warm-cold-cool germinators, giving most complete germination if they are exposed to a moist warm period before the moist chill. 2-4 weeks moist at room temp, 4-6 moist chill, then brought to warmer but still cool (50ishF) for germination and the moist periods must be in that order. (think Fall, winter, late winter to spring as what would occur if the plants had self sown and dropped their seed to the ground, you are mimicking those conditions) Where your seed has been exposed to a range of temps now, we still can't assume to know how moist they were - and they must be moist to overcome the dormancy. I'd sow (pots), and watch them. You might be surprised with the initial warm moist period to find some germination, happened to me with iris chrysographes a couple of years ago. It wasn't entirely a welcome surprise, I'd planned to put the pots outside for their chill and not care for them indoors for the remaining of winter ;)