CULT: after the massacre

In the 35 yrs I've grown irises here, this is the 2nd time I remember seeing fans killed back to the ground. As I recall, that year, most of the cultivars selected in climates where it does this now and then, recovered enough to bloom. Some plants never recovered (seemed to be killed outright) & eventually rotted. Damage seems worse this time, but a few things look relatively unscathed (i.e., HARVEST OF MEMORIES, some of the new Schreiner's stuff in pots).
Unfortunately, this year's massacre hit a little later in the season, & from observation, the hard freezes (below 25oF) that hit within 6 weeks <before> TB blooms "usually" open kill developing stalks even before they come out of the rhizome. It got down to 22oF here. My main bloom is usually the last week of April through the first two weeks of May, so...pffftt!
I have no idea if those times and temperatures apply to other areas. Be interesting to hear if any of you start seeing TB bloom in 6 weeks.
When foliage is killed this way here, I usually leave it alone for a week or so of normal temperatures, then pull dead leaves that come off easily to try to increase air circulation at the base of the fan. I'd recommend not cutting foliage - these poor plants need whatever surviving green they have to try to recuperate.
The plants that I covered with double layers of Reemay type plant bed covers look ok (especially compared to the ones I didn't cover!) - time will tell if it was enough protection to save bloom.
I felt like an idiot digging plants with stalks to bring inside, but now am glad I did - at least I will have some spring bloom & may even be able to make a few crosses.
Biggest disappointment is in my own seedlings that I did <not> cover - most crosses of my supertough kids with modern beauties that are not as tough here look pretty uniformly awful. Not killed to the ground tho, so it could be worse. Most of the uncovered ones were from the late planted crop last year (outdoor germinants, fall transplants), so were not blooming size. Silver lining, of course, is that this is why I started pollen daubing, trying to select for seedlings most resistant to this type of misery.
Donald, the last three years, you've been right at the apex of these spring arctic blasts, & we've only been hit by the edges of them, which didn't do much damage here at all, but this spring evened things out with a vengeance! I sure hope we don't get another one of these for a few years. 

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Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
East Tennessee Iris Society <http://www.korrnet.org/etis>
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
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