I'm glad I saw your post because I wasn't sure if it was alright to divide Bearded Iris before Fall.

In the next couple of weeks my father is having a back bed dug out with a tangle of Iris, Quackgrass and Sun Drops all held together by landscape fabric so the dividing time is forced.

I'll be dividing a LOT of bearded iris and trying to find a sunny place to put them all.

There are Iris stands as backdrop for rose bushes and the Iris blooms were spectacular this Spring

These Bearded Iris were originally in my paternal grandfather's garden in Newark over 60 years ago. My father has moved them from Newark to northern NJ where I grew up and down to Monmouth County in '79.

They have been shared with family and friends in 4 states and flourish wherever they get a sunny location.

When I divided a smaller Iris bed last fall there wasn't a borer in the bunch. Guess they're pretty hardy stock!

Sorry to go on but these Bearded Iris are like a cherished family heirloom.

Good luck finding a good home for some of yours.

I'll be thinking of you while I'm trying to find a home for all the ones I'll be loaded with after dividing my father's and cracking his clay soil to replant them. :)

I know what you mean about having flowers that you think of as family...and they don't even have to be generations old feel that way! Good luck with moving yours. They sound like they're loved.
The dozens of Iris I have actually came to me when we bought our house 3 years ago. We live near the Presby Iris garden, and I think they must have been buying assorted bags from them every summer, because I have at least 15 varieties. Some of them grow slowly, but some spread very quickly; hence every other year I give rhizomes away or mail them to my mother in Texas, where they grow even in crummy, sandy, soil.
Regarding borers, I did find them a few years ago. Disgusting. But I'll tell you, if you drench them in a liquid nematode solution during a week of rain, it will do you a world of good. I can't recall the variety that worked for me, but do a little web searching and you'll find it IF you ever need it.
Another reason to love Iris--they can take just about anything, and they'll always come back!