Well, sure - the first iris I ever had were pallida that my neighbor
discarded in the ditch that had taken root there. I've had TBs survive
being tossed on the lawn as mulch or even being left on the porch
bare-root all winter. But that's not really a good garden performance
characteristic, as most gardeners aren't purposely trying to kill
them. Should your soil happen to be hydric, TBs will die. If it's pure
sand, they won't flower.
Many cresteds thrive in both sun and shade. For me, established
siberian clumps are immune to lack of weeding, while TBs stop
flowering completely after just a year or so and eventually decline.
Virginica can be grown in regular garden soil *or* in water that
freezes solid in winter - try that with a bearded. Most irises aren't
any harder to divide and share with a neighbor than TBs - they just
can't be allowed to dry out.
Sean Z.
Michigan
Quoting Diane Whitehead <v*@islandnet.com>:
>
> And why are bearded so popular?
>
> They are the first iris I remember from my childhood. We had two
> kinds: purple and cream, and I would take bouquets to my grade
> school teacher.
>
> They survived, no matter what. (We don't have rot and borers here,
> but the leaves do get spotted.) You could pull off one of those big
> rhizomes and give them to a neighbour, and they would thrive for
> them, too.
>
> I have bearded iris that have been growing in my garden for almost
> forty years. They haven't bloomed for the last twenty five of those
> years because the trees I planted shaded them, but they are still
> healthy plants.
>
> You can't beat those sturdy qualities.
>
> The siberians faded away in the shade. I have only two still
> surviving in a slightly sunnier spot.
>
> Diane Whitehead
> Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
