Viewing post #861034 by caitlinsgarden

crowrita1 said:Caitlin, I'm not sure if you are into 'oldies', or the more modern ones, but, if memory serves me, you're not too far north of me, so our climate should be pretty similar. The "historic" type iris that seem bullet proof almost everywhere......Lent A. Williamson, Coronation, Ola Kala, and the I. germanicas, all seem pretty rot - proof , bloom freely, and put a lot of color in the garden. A step or two newer on the scale, would be Champagne Waltz, Debby Rairdon, Earl Of Essex, and Immortality....the last two are rebloomers that are quite reliable , for me, AND seem to be "extra hardy", as well. The "new" iris.....lots of ruffles, and such, ....are ones I haven't grown long enough to say much about, but....one sure way to find out, is plant some ! Most all of the dwarfs, and medians seem to have an extra dose of hardiness built in, and seem to thrive well, here in 5a.

Thanks, Arlyn. I am in NE IA, zone 4B. I love the historics, and I am thinking of playing around with hybridizing diploids with pbf. So yes, those are my backbones, along with sdb's and some MTB's.