A bit late in responding to this one due to flat out, metaphorically and in
any other way in the nursery,
I am getting too old for some of these antics.

We grow this Iris taxon here from wild collected seed and it is absolutely
rock hardy as one might expect from where it originates in the Central
Asian countries of the former USSR. Here I sow the seed of this and
related, genetic or geographic taxa either as soon as it arrives by post
or as soon as the pods are ripe. The seed is sown into 3 litre plastic
pots using any old seed compost and course builder's sand 50:50. The
contents are then covered with a fine course gravel and stood outside to
meet the full effects of the winter where temps go down to - 20 C but more
often between - 5 C to - 10 C for weeks and months, snow is pile on top of
the post when available otherwise well watered in, nil shelter. These Iris
require severe cold treatment to vernalise,