{Disarmed} Re: OVERWINTERING IN ALASKA

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Barbara Null in Tyler, Texas here.  I wound up ordering SHAKER'S PRAYER, EWEN, MARY something, KOBANA, and KAMAYAMA from Iris City and got a generous amount of plants so I planted some of each in 3 different places, one of them being in pots in a sunken kids wading pool.  It held too much water so I used a spading fork on the bottome and I guess will now fill in with dirt as I want it to retain slightly more moisture than the surrounding ground.  I have 5 sunken pools in which I grew Japanese iris with great success until this summer when armadillos invaded the pools.  I only was able to rescue a few as they had lain upended on the ground a little too long before I discovered the damage.  Just as soon as I make a philosophic statement like "I have learned to just live with armadillos" they do something worse.  Yesterday I got a clump of CHANCE BEAUTY from Bill Wells and wife and will put it where my 3 siberians grow best in the ground.  Actually I think CESAER'S BROTHER must be a breed apart as when I first ordered siberians I put it in what turned out to be a very inhospitable place, an unworked area of clay and iron ore which turns to brick in the summer.  It survived and multiplied and now I have it everywhere but have only managed to grow 2 others.  As I was planting in what I consider my ideal area, I spied a couple of fans of siberian iris emerging where I had planted some a few years ago (from the same order containing the 2 others),  so I dug it up and planted it in a slightly more sunny area.  It was originally at the edge of a dogwood tree which has spread considerably.  I will now search more carefully for evidence of growth of a couple of others from that area that I planted amongst daylilies.  Am so hopeful of growing a few sibs as they have their own special charm.  In our hellaceous summers here most go dormant as do the spuria (which are now coming up).  CESAER'S BROTHER stays beautiful year round, however and is at l east 4 feet across in its favorite spot.  As for aphids, I usually give them a blast with a hose on other plants; I am a complete novice when it comes to Siberian.

Barbara Null

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