Frozen Iris

I've  been reading the New Year's Eve e-mail, and it's very festive and
amusing. It lifted my spirits a lot, but I'm still feeling pretty low,
unfortunately.
I have 65 pots of iris (setosa) overwintering for sale next spring
through a local Greenhouse. I had to dig them in Autumn, because my iris
field is inaccessible until after spring break-up, mid May at the
earliest, and I need them in the Greenhouse in April. 
I put half outside under snow cover, similar to their natural
conditions, and placed the other half in my crawl space entryway (a test
comparison for future reference). The entryway is apparently too warm,
because they have been trying to bust dormancy, even tho temperature was
close to freezing. I've been in the process for a week of lowering the
temperature there to force them back into dormancy, and was then going
to place them outside with the rest. This process works fine, but the
problem arose when I returned home last night after being gone for two
days, and found the entryway door wide open (neighborhood children
playing - lots of little hoofprints in the snow). Temperatures have been
15 to 20 below, and the pots are solidly frozen. I'm not confident
they'll be able to survive being frozen while they were out of dormancy.
I'm assuming the damage is done, and I'll have to wait until spring to
find out the results. I'm having a hard time living with that assessment
though. If they all die, it will wipe out one entire line I was working
on, and my best. 
I talked to the Greenhouse owner (an experienced Alaskan
horticulturalist), and he advised leaving plants as they are until our
natural springtime, with no further temperature changes to add to their
stress, on the off-chance dormancy had been triggered sufficiently to
help them survive. I have them under the snow now - spent my passage
into the new year at midnight shovelling holes in the snow, and feeling
worse with every pot I covered. His is a practical suggestion, tho, and
I will probably follow it, but I'm feeling pretty blue right now. I
can't believe this happened, and don't know whether I'm looking forward
to spring now or not.
I know it is different than most of you deal with, but I thought several
of you might have had to deal with an iris going throught freeze/thaw
cycles when it wasn't ready. Any input appreciated and may contain
knowledge I can put to use. My most important question, with my heart in
my mouth - have any of you had iris freeze while out of dormancy, and
return to the land of the living? I would sure like to see these come
spring. 
Enjoyed the "Glooscap" commentary. May I never be given that award.
Kathy Haggstrom
Anch, AK
Zone 3
hagg@alaska.net
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