At 02:41 PM 6/21/2006, you wrote: >They are incredible. It states on the Society website that aril's are just >as hardy as bearded iris. Any zone 3 growers out there, or close to? Our >wettest month is usually June but I do have some very dry spots in the new >yard. "Arils" actually means the original desert-dwelling species. Those tend to be more temperamental than bearded irises. "Arilbreds" on the other hand, especially the quarterbreds are indeed just as hardy as bearded irises. At least in most gardens (I guess you can't always say "always")! On the ASI yahoogroups forum there are some Zone 4, 3, and 2 growers in Canada who have been trying to grow arilbreds for a couple years now. A couple of them are finally reporting success with bloom. They seem to survive fine in the northern climes, but bloom has been a bit of a challenge. There are at least 2 Canadian hybridizers currently working with arilbreds. I'm not sure what zones they're in, but I visited one of them in Guelph (I think it was) a few years ago. Dennis in Cincy