Lost a bunch this winter

After cleaning out some of my beds I see a ton of my TBs are rotting. We had the coldest winter I remember... and not much snow cover.

Anyone else experience many casualties?

This seems to be the first winter in 3 yrs when I *haven't* lost huge numbers of TBs (I lost about 150 TB cultivars each year for the two preceding winters), but this is also the first winter in 3 yrs that we've had decent snowfall. The cold isn't the problem. The lack of snow is.

Sorry you lost a bunch, Sue. I tend to be very philosophical about this. If an iris can't hack it here, I'm just as glad to see it die and relinquish its space to a better, tougher iris candidate.

Laurie
zone 3b
northern MN

We had good snow cover this winter & cold, but I only lost 2 Irises that were planted a bit late last fall. All the others look strong. Iowa is a good place for Irises--clay soil & dry hot summers.

Sue not this yr we had snow-but last yr i lots lots of them and other perennials to winter with freezing temps and no snow.
This yr i covered the iris n daylilies with straw just in case and I only seen a few that didnt make it!

i hate winter!

I hate rainy, hot summers. My clay soil holds the wet & encourages root rot.

Yes, I seem to get a fair amount of rotting every year especially on new plants. But these ones were all established and at least 3 years old. I thought they'd had already come through the tough part. I don't want to fuss with whimpy irises that I have to baby. My collection of beardeds is slowly diminishing ;) I'm not too upset over it... the extra garden space always welcome and I have no trouble filling it.

That's why I tend to replace my lost TBs with the tougher medians and dwarfs. Funny how the smaller they are, the stronger they are. I adore my MDBs and SDBs - trouble free little bloomers!

Laurie

My older heritage irises are the strongest--winds don't even blow them over. The new hybrids seem to be more susceptible to rot & problems. I have extra problems since I like to vary my companion plantings for all season color. I need to make sure the iris get enough air flow to stay dry & healthy. And then there's Walker--chasing rabbits & neighbors thru my flowerbeds. lots of Iris hazards.

My first Iris winter ............
................. I only lost 2 cultivars. But my collection is still small having just started late last summer.
It's so exciting waiting to see my new babies bloom. The whole bed was started new thanks to Wanda , Wally World and DG Co-Ops
...................The ones I lost were from Wally World bought before Wanda informed me how they keep leftovers year after year. Oh well, live and learn =)

Scooterbug,

Not only are the irises from home stores and "marts" often old and dessicated, but they are more often than not mislabeled as well. It's unlikely the irises you purchased from Wal-Mart would have ended up looking anything like the irises pictured on the package label. That's not to say you can't get some lovely irises from those types of stores, but they're better off grown as "surprise unknowns" rather than as accurately identified, registered irises.

Laurie

Thanks for the input Lauri,
................But the way I feel , even if they are mislabeled... as long as they are pretty I can't complain too much for the prices paid at the "Marts" . Altho there will be some dissapiontment if the labels were wrong.
..................I can stand that, I just ordered some special ones one line, whew!
.........................For this newbie I'll just go slowly up the money-ladder,thank you .............. LOL
AND pray for more co-op's
>^,,^< SB