gemini_sage said:Lilli, doesn't Tempo Two ship between February and April? If so, I'd go for the later shipping date and plant them in the garden. I don't really understand the frost warning, when planted in fall they're going to get frost some weeks after planting. 
Perhaps frost on a newly planted rhizome is particularly damaging?
Yes Neal, as I understand it, they ship to Europe and other cold countries in April and to warmer places in February.
The frost warning is because the rhizomes are used to Australian heat (our winter is their summer) and they are likely to really suffer from a late frost and where I live, we can get those well into May. The irises we plant in the fall do not usually have to turn their seasons completely around, so I guess that makes them less fragile - but even then it is my experience that rhizomes planted in late summer do better than those planted in late fall?
Edited to add: I was thinking of just planting them out, because it would be easier and irises are tough, but then I really want them to not just survive, but to thrive and if potting them up is likely to help, that is what I'll do. After all, one advantage of not having 100s of irises, is that I can spend more time pampering the ones I have.
