I live in southern Iowa and received a box of iris a week and a half ago. I haven't been able to plant it because it's been raining tons and now tonight we are under a freeze warning. I still have tulips I haven't been able to plant either.

hi kim welcome to the iris forum. you can do either of two things depending on your personal circumstances. you can store them in a dry root cellar as long as it doesn't freeze down there, where air will circulate around the rhizomes so they don't get damp and moldy. (not piled in a big heap on top of one another). or you can pot them up, place in a windowsill with light, keep them relatively dry until you can plant them in the ground when it warms up in spring. i am assuming the ground freezes in your area?

i think others in this forum might give you better advice from experience? i live in a totally different climate than yours, but i would probably do the former than the latter, if i lived in your area. good luck!

Kim ~ to the Iris Forum!

I'm sure someone from your area will chime in an give you some sound advice. I live in California and we have no rain all summer, and just a few drops so far this fall. Right now we are under a high wind advisory, and our power company shut off the electricity in order to prevent a fire.

Kim,
Another option is if you know someone from a warmer climate that you could send them to. Then let that person pot them up for you and then they can send them back to you next summer. It's just a thought, but it might work.

I'd agree with shizen ...
definitely pot them up, but keep them in a place that will get cold but not severely so. Possibly mulch the pots with leaves or pine boughs, or keep them in a enclosed space with some air circulation. Although iris are dormant, as far as leaves and rhizome development go, there still can be root activity, developing and growing, so potting them will give them a chance to continue to root establish until you get them into the ground come spring time, or after all danger of hard, deep freezes past. As shizen said, water just enough to keep the soil barely moist or as needed.
I'm in eastern Oregon, and although we don't get the precip you do, it does get cold here.

Hi Kim,
I had bought some irises one year clearanced from walmart and the time had already past to plant them outside in Indiana. So I stored them in a crisper drawer in our garage fridge all winter and potted them up in the spring. Didn't lose 1. They all grew. I'm going to do it again this year because i can't stop buying the good deals on ebay

Reesy ~ to the Irises Forum!

That's a good idea if you have the extra refrigerator.

reesy to the iris forum.

Welcome both Kim and Reesy!

And another to both of you.

Another You've come to the right place--lots of friendly people who offer excellent advice on growing irises.