Hi Silent Seed, I am not on the coast. We are on the east side of the Sierras and at 4,100' elevation. While we are not desert, we do have a dry climate. A few years ago I decided to do the "right" thing and separate the historic iris on this property and remove the wild rye grass that suffocates everything. I researched the directions for planting iris, planted accordingly and lost nearly all of them! I was just sick. Then I found that a few plants had overwintered just fine while buried under heaps of sod and soil. This made me think that iris need to be planted more deeply in this climate. Then I met two women who plant their iris 6-8 inches deep! Another woman, who lives out in the Nevada desert, plants her's about 4 inches deep. All of this made me think that maybe a pile of leaves might be a welcome addition. Also, this year I raised some dahlias and planted them out. Supposedly I am to dig and store them. This is not going to happen for many reasons so I figured I have nothing to lose from trying a thick cover of leaves. Directions for lily bulbs in this climate say to mulch. So they received plenty of leaves. I just went out and flipped up the iris leaves through the tree leaves wondering if sun on the leaves, but mulch on the ground would be a good combination. Maybe there will be some more comments in which case I can go back out and recover the iris. :) Colleen -----Original Message----- From: pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of The Silent Seed Sent: Sunday, November 25, 2012 9:12 AM To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org Subject: Re: [pbs] Iris Here in the Northeast, yes. But I don't know about the West Coast, since I imagine they are still growing ? ______________________________________________ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Do you want to receive my plant newsletters via email? santoury@aol.com The Silent Seed - Rare and Unusual Plants ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - -----Original Message----- From: Colleen <silkie@frontiernet.net> To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Sun, Nov 25, 2012 11:16 am Subject: [pbs] Iris Hi All! I have an unexpected large amount of leaves this fall, mostly large elm leaves, so I have been piling them on my flower beds as a mulch. Most of my Iris still have green leaves. Is it OK to bury them under leaves? Thanks, Colleen High desert, NE California, zone 5-6