Generous Replacement Offer

I don't know if we are supposed to talk about specific companies here, but I just found out that Schreiner's will replace any plants that don't make it through the first year. And that is all of the rhizomes I ordered from them last year! My hope has been restored! I think I will plant them in pots this year and put the pots in a cold frame over the winter.

Do not put your iris in a cold frame, they need the cold to grow, leave them right out in the elements.

Schreiners are wonderful people. They stand behind their rhizomes as well as Mid America, I am sure others do too, but know these do for sure, I have had it happen.

I planted about 60 to 80, Who counts, last fall in a new bed. Some came from trades at our So MN RU. Others came from Iris Co-Op right here on Dave's. I don't remember exactly when I planted, but it was September. All but a couple grew. About half have bloomed. Now that blooming is nearly finished, they are putting out lots of growth.

My motto, "Don't pamper things, stick them in the ground, they will grow!"

Bernie

I would not ever put iris in a cold frame.
But, anyway, do you know why they died?
If you don't figure that out, you are likely to lose more...

The first year I sold bearded irises at my home nursery, I potted them and put them in a cold frame. Other than a little mouse damage (bait for mice!), they did well. The next year I tried some sinking the pots in a row in the ground. They did well too. So I haven't bothered with the cold frame since, but I had good luck with it.

If you have to have them in pots, over winter, and you have reliable snow cover, I've found the best way is to just sink the pots in a row in the garden, at least half way down.

I do think for sales the ones in the cold frame bloomed a little earlier.

My new babies all had soft squishy rhizomes this spring. I had planted them in raised beds when they came last fall. Don't really know what happened to them. A couple years ago I saw deer running through the bed in the early spring melt; that probably didn't help them any. And for some reason my raised areas seem to level off and bury rhizomes.
The cold frame I was thinking of would just be a covered box out in the open, the pots sunk into the ground, and a cover so they wouldn't get the rain, snow, etc. and keep the deer off of them. I'm sure they will still get plenty of cold ;>}

I'm sure that would work, but do bait for mice. They can do terrific damage, eating the rhizomes.

As I said before, though we have almost 300 inches of snow, and have never had any rot. And it's sloooooow to melt in the spring. I think it's all drainage.