Love all of them, but Going Big Time, Celebratory,, Border Skirmish, Star Turn, and Heavenly Host are my favorites!

I got all of them except In The Loop and Vow of Silence this summer. I can't wait to see them in bloom. Also got Oil Painting and Spiral Galaxy. Do you have pictures of these also Brad?

I have two of those Brad; "Going Big Time" and "Border Skirmish" (both from my local Iris Society). I also picked up "Oil Painting" at the same time. I would love to have "Rare Coin".

As to my "issues" with Joe's intros. I did lose a few last year to the rot which hit all my irises equally. So I could toss them out of the conversation. My main experience is with a group I got as a "Host Garden" for the DVIS (Delaware Valley Iris Society). I hosted the following Ghio 2011 intros:

Cardinal Rule
Dazzle
Engagement Ring
Enjoyment
Famous Last Words
Polite Applause

I have had these for three bloom seasons. Here is how they have performed. All stayed in the same spot until this Summer.

Cardinal Rule 1, 3, NB
Dazzle NB, 2, NB
Engagement Ring 1, 6, NB
Enjoyment 1, 1, NB
Famous Last Words 1, 2, NB
Polite Applause 3, 1, NB

NB = No Bloom Stalk

I don't take much from this. Engagement Ring is a VERY good increaser and should put on a nice show this upcoming Spring. Cardinal Rule and Polite Applause are average growers and the rest have struggled (I think that only "Enjoyment" has survived and is in a pot in my TLC nursery).

Bubble Bubble followed the same course and may be lost.

I have not used much in the way of Winter protection, but do have some natural protection. In the past I have had alot of Pine needles, but had to get rid of two trees and only have two left. My iris bed alone the driveway does get alot of Oak leaves curtesy of the wind and a neighbor. Normally, I have about 1/3 of my garden that was transplanted/moved that year (so starting over again); never really had an issue with failure. So anything associated with last year must be viewed as an outlier.

My reclamation project along the fenceline means that every single Iris there is either new, or transplanted from somewhere else -- over the course of the past two years. I don't know how many Irises are planted there -- a couple hundred, no doubt -- and I have lost only one. It's no coincidence, I don't think, that the pecan and maple trees on that side of the house drop their leaves which then blow into those Iris beds. I leave them in place over the winter, and rake them out in the spring.

The leaves and to a lessor extent, the pine needles help alot with frost heaving on newly planted rhizomes. I mostly leave them in place and remove in early Spring.

I did loose a few last spring to mold, not nearly as much as Brad, but when I analyse where the losses occured the most it was in two beds. Both of which were heavily eaten down by rabbits. There was also a lot of rabbit droppings left around those areas. One was near my house in my micro climate, but on the end where the wind kept the snow cover off it a lot. The other was one of the two rows I have near the veggie garden. They chose to eat one bed down to the rhizomes, and left the other one alone. That one had a fairly good snow cover for much of the winter. I didn't suffer any total losses in that bed, as it's an older established bed. None of the other beds were affected much, I did have two other plants affected by mold a bit.

I have a lot of maple trees, so when the wind blows the leaves around in the fall, I leave them in the beds until spring. Some beds get a lot of leaves, others get none. Both affected beds were not covered with leaves. I'm not sure you can draw a lot of conclusions about what happened from this observation. I do wonder if the rabbit droppings caried some bacteria that was harmful.

My favorites of that group--the first one Heavenly Host and the last one Vow of Silence--are tied for top spot. Third would be Rare Coin. I keep putting on that one, then taking it off, then putting it back on again. Each time it goes back on the list is because of those photographs, Brad.

EDITED: Oops, this part goes on another thread.

I don't know anything about rabbit droppings but I am sure they are high in some nutrients for plants. That could have made those particular irises more susceptible to mold.... and being fresh may have made a difference. Interesting, Tom. From the posts so far, leaving fallen leaves on irises overwinter seems to be a good practice. The winters here, with only a few exceptions, are mild and we usually get a single snow every other year so clearing the leaves off gives me a jump on spring. I think I will leave them on the beds this year. I did lose six nice Lantana plants, most of the tuberoses and a few other plants. Several other plants came back but they are tiny..... like a new start. Perhaps the leaves will protect them too. Thanks for posting your gardening practices in regards to the winter ground cover.

We prefer the light pine needles. Leaves can hold water leading to rot.

Thank you, Lucy. I need a source for pine needles. I am spoiled from growing up on a farm and being able to get anything you needed from the land. Now I live in a lake community and space and natural recourses are scarce.

My pines are dropping needles like crazy this year so all my gardens currently have a pine needle treatment. I put some small pine boughs over the rhizomes last year, and had my first case of rot, so I might just leave it as needles. Still need to clean out some willow oak leaves from the gardens because those really hold water. Then I will put the needles back.

That sounds like a good idea, Leslie. I am going to try and remember next spring to ask everyone how their irises fared based on what groundcover they used or the lack thereof.

And that also sounds like a good idea Bonnie! I will be curious too.

When we did the entire garden, we got pine needles from our next door neighbor. they didn't mind & their trees are right next to our border.

If your ground doesn't freeze very far down I don't think I'd use any mulch. It's best if the ground freezes, then the cover keeps it from thawing and then re-freezing which is hard on them. I think they are just fine if they freeze and stay frozen. JMHO

I have only seen the ground freeze here several times in my life. Even frozen puddles of water start to thaw at the edges where they touch the earth.

In that case I wouldn't cover them with anything. That would just hold in moisture and I don't think that would be good. Now my friends in Arizona I tell to cover them with mulch to protect them from the hot sun, and they do fine.

I had some MDB's in pots last winter and I had lined the pots up along the north edge where the yard drops steeply into the reserve. I wanted to make sure they got a good cold winter. well, it rained on them and it froze and it rained on them and froze to the top of the pot then it sleeted and freezing rain encased the pot. I wound up with basketball sized balls of ice you could almost see through with a pot of irises inside. I had to use a hammer to break the ice blocks. Most of them bloomed in the spring.

We never have frozen ground. I mulch everything because of the heat and drought.

Cute picture of your dogs Debra!!