If the summers here keep getting hotter I may have to resort to covering them. I now plant where they do not get sun from dawn to dusk but where the afternoon rays are blocked. I have friends who mulch over winter but that seems to make more problems in the spring rains than anything else here. I remove all leaves and iris debris and just let them go through the winter on their own. So far, so good. I did worry this last winter as some I had put in pots. I would go out to check when the weather permitted and the entire pot was a ball of ice. I had to break it off with a rock. I guess they like being covered in ice better than baking in the sun.
