Pot culture for Japanese Iris--advice for a beginner

Hi!  It's Heather again.

My best friend Karen recently moved to Delaware and wants to do some
gardening.  The problem is, all she has is a balcony.  According to Karen,
she gets lots of sun there.  I was wondering if Japanese irises would be a
good plant for her to grow.  She loves the look of them (remembers seeing
them in my mother's garden) but is really a beginning gardener.  What I need
is some basic, down to earth advice to send her.  For instance, what kind of
pot should she buy?  What kind of soil?  Can the irises be taken inside as
houseplants or should they spend all year on the balcony?  I read in
McEwan's Japanese Iris book that you need to submerge your pots in water,
and he suggested using a child's swimming pool.  Does anyone have a good,
balcony-sized alternative to suggest?  I thank you in advance and I'm sure
Karen will thank you too.  She is looking forward to brightening things up
around her place and would love to raise some Japanese irises.  

Also, do you think Siberians would work as well?  If so, please send some
directions for raising them in pots.  Karen is planning on raising some
glads in a pot--has anyone done that?  Any ideas, suggestions?  She adores
glads!

again, thanks in advance!

Heather Bruhn
********************************
Paul L. Bruhn            plb123@psu.edu            Heather McCune Bruhn
Pennsylvania, zone 5 (almost zone 6 but not quite!)
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