Greg I am curious what you use for winter protection for your plants ? The good majority of his plants did well here and Last winter was a disaster for us here I lost more than half of my garden and not just Iris it was a total wipeout for Shrubs, Tree's, perennials and some conifers that I really liked. I originally thought my Iris problem was from using compost from a new source but after hearing about rot issues all over the country my thinking now is it was the extremes we hit last year. I know in Iowa we had the 5th or 6th coldest on record with very little snow cover during the worst of it so this leads me to believe it was a fluke year and hopefully we never have to go through it again. I think the key is some kind of winter protection for all of our plants especially the 1st year after coming from a warm climate from any where on the west coast they need to acclimate to ours. I am experimenting with different things this year still don't have the right answer for what will work the best for me but will keep a close eye on things through the worst of it this winter.
