Bonnie and Arlyn suggested starting a thread to list your sturdiest Iris that flourish in the harshest conditions. Harsh for some of us means extreme cold; for others of us, it means extreme heat and dryness.

Having just gotten started with named Iris, I only have established history the two that were here when I bought the house. Can't tell you the name of them, but they stand up to anything a North Central Texas weather year can throw at them.

I think one is I. Germanica, a real oldie collected by Linneaus in 1753. [Dark purple falls, med. purple stds, bitone, white beard with some yellow nearer throat.] It can stand so much the environment can dish out. I suppose that is why it has endured. I would have to vote for it as an extremely hardy one. There is even a rhizome near a former factory here, been mowed, had building pieces on it when the building was taken down, had a scraper go over it cleaning up building scrap, yet it had one stalk this May!

I will list a MDB and a few SDBs first. I live in zone 7a. We have dry summers that bake the soil when even weeds die and winters that get into the teens and single digits only every few years.

First there is a MDB Trimmed Velvet. I got this one at the CAIS plant swap in the spring. brought it home and planted it in the hot sun. It bloomed in the fall and has bloomed every spring and fall since.


Here is Betsy Boo, SDB. Not an outstanding bloom but reliable bloom every spring and makes a nice clump. Requires no care and blooms in mostly shade or sun.


This is Making Eyes, SDB. Just ignore it and enjoy it in the spring. It can fend for itself.



Another SDB, Stitch Witch, that will take care of itself. It will bloom and makes a nice clump.


This is Sun Doll. Beetles nearly killed it this spring before I jerked it up and looked at the roots. I pulled the beetles off and stuck it back in the ground. I will be very surprised if it does not re-bloom this fall. It is looking good now. No treatment except to kill the beetles


I will list a few other classes later.

Fabian, Honorible and I. pallida are bullet proof in the northeast. They have lived on the property for at least 100 years and as many as all 7 owners of the property.

We no longer grow it, but TB 'Before the Storm survived under 4" of ice. Some people don't like it because not 'ruffly' enough, but I will take survival over ruffles any day.

Me, too, Lucy.

This is one I have drug around with me from pillar to post as they say and since I worked 120 miles round-trip from home it was more often neglected than not and yet would bloom through a pile of leaves every spring. I went out one spring to look for it and found it covered with wooden fence slats. They had been stacked against the shed right on top of it and two bloom stalks had snaked under them and up from the bare earth to bloom. This is not the only one that I have carried throughout but it is one of the ten or so noids that have survived everything.


Here is another

I planted Mary Ann's purple with white beard noIDs right near the entrance door so I get to look at them when I come and go. Let's see how they do in Maine. I bet they will be stupendous!

I'm honored, Linnea -- hope they do great!!

I love those fuzzy white beards.

There were 3 on the property when I moved here. I've got the names on the first 2
'Crimson King'


'Indian Chief'


NOID- close to 'Gypsy Lullaby' ??


A neighbor gave me 'Quaker Lady' not long after I moved here. It never disappoints in it's display.


Maybe more tomorrow...

My first choice for a Bullet Proof iris would be Eleanor Roosevelt....not the largest. or the showiest, and not the fastest increasing iris I ever grew....But never fails to bloom...and usually re blooms, as well.

I have heard ER is a survivor and can stand harsh conditions. I guess that is why she is still around. That is like some of my NoIDs. They have continued to thrive when others failed. You have to love them for their strengths.

You have seen my two bullet proofs before. The Quaker Lady that have been growing here since the 40's (prior owner planted them), and Acoma that has been growing here since the early 90's. Both are well acclimated and increase like wildfire. Of my newer iris - Footloose, Michigan Pride and Owyhee Desert appear to have some stamina.

That Gypsy Lullabyish NOID is stunning!

The NoIDs on my hill have survived without any care at all for 25-30 years. The only water they get is from winter and that's it. The ones I've dug up and replanted into new cared for beds have grown like crazy.

If anyone wants, I can repost the pictures of some of them again.

If you don't mind, Rob -- I'd like to see them again. I'd like to see ANY Irises, at this point!!!!

I'd like to see them again, too. They are beauties.