SPEC: setosa habitat

I wondered if anyone who grows species iris knows whether iris setosa is
capable of growing above tree line. I have never seen them that high,
but have a mountain climbing acquaintance who swears he ran across a
patch on a mountain slope above tree line in a protected place. I'm
having a hard time believing him (I believe he saw PURPLE flowers, but
that's all I believe yet). 
He said there was a ridge about 2 miles away I could probably land a
plane to access the patch, but I don't want to risk dinging up my plane
on some iffy terrain unless there is a reasonably good chance the plants
ARE iris (then the risk might be worth it).
Someone told me last year that Hinchinbrook Island in Prince William
Sound (in Alaska) had a lot of wild iris. I was really excited about
going there because it would be an isolated population of setosa, being
on an island. As I flew in to land on the beach, I saw wall to wall blue
flowers along the bluff - it was beautiful. When I got to the bluff, it
turned out to be a huge colony of Lupines. Very pretty, but I was
disappointed. Anyway, that experience has left me cautious of following
non-Iris growers recommendations to scale mountains or buck tides to see
an iris patch they think I might like.
You can reply off-list to my e-mail address if you like. 
Kathy Haggstrom
Anch, AK
Zone 3 (Nice stable weather here-no more El Nino. I hear about the
terrible weather everyone is going through in different states, and
really feel for those involved. I'm hoping there aren't any iris
catastrophes.)
hagg@alaska.net
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