Cynthia wrote: >Thought to be within the 100 mile or so distance from thr Texas >coast that discourages bearded iris cultuvars from thriving, altho >Iris x albicans, thought to have come here through the Spanish, who >probably originally received it from North Africa. It's reported to >traditionally have been planted in cemeteries, giving rise to one of >its common names, the Cemetary iris (or, White Flag). Sterile, but >can be found almost everywhere in Central Texas, sometimes in >pastures where there is no longer any hint of a house. In Spain I photographed a large colony of Iris x albicans in what is now a vacant space near ruins in Ronda, apparently a medieval Muslim cemetery, where it had grown on and on for centuries. I've also seen it in ancient olive groves in the eastern Mediterranean. About 30 years ago I bought this plant and found it far too robust for my protected bulb collection, then in frames, so I moved it to the open garden, where it flourished despite winter lows regularly around 15 F. Even though it isn't a particularly attractive plant, I brought it along to the new garden three years ago for its historical interest. As Cynthia noted, it does not set seed. Bearded irises in general can survive this way. Some years ago Brian Mathew, author of the particularly useful book "The Iris" (among many of his useful titles!), visited Portland to speak to our NARGS chapter, and we all went out to the Catherine Creek botanical preserve in Washington. At the site of a long-vanished homestead Dr. Mathew spotted a dwarf bearded iris that hadn't been noticed in any of the plant inventories for the preserve. As I drive around Portland in late spring I often see huge clumps of bearded irises that obviously haven't been cared for over the years but have flourished anyway. I'm tempted to ask for rhizomes of these enthusiastic survivors, though I no longer really have room for them. When I went through a bearded iris phase (as many of us probably have) years ago, I found that many of the newer cultivars aren't good garden plants, being intolerant of the competition that comes with a mixed border. Jane McGary Portland, Oregon, USA