NOT to sound Contradictory.......

I know I have told many of my customers, that if plants need to be 'babied' I don't grow them. Live or you're outta here!!! That is my MAIN rule of law. So now that I am talking about 'covering' plants, thought I better do a little explaining. There is always an exception to every rule......right?

My iris babies.

Here is my story of woe.......it was 2006 when I planted about $2,000 worth of iris in ground that had been recently tilled in with oat debris. Bad move. That is where the trouble started....Well needless to say, the oat seeds were happy to be planted by the tiller, and immediately began to grow. So by fall, all you could see was oats and not much for growth on the iris, too much competition. Well August 26th brought the tornado, and I never set foot back in the field the rest of the year, not once! So the iris never got covered that year. I was hoping the oat foliage would help w/coverage. There was a big swath thru this 1 acre plot that didn't get any snow cover. About 1/2 of the iris died. Still not sure if it was the fact they didn't get established enough, being crowed out by the oats, or they were just too exposed with only one years growth (only a little) So this year, I an running a test. I selected 3 varieties of iris that I have large groups of, and I only covered 1/2 of that group. I'll let you know in the spring what happens. None other other field plants usually get covered unless they are are small and newly planted which I try to avoid. When you buy plants labeled zone 4, which is us, they should survive without any extra care. Sometimes, it's not really clear what zone a plant is for. One source might say 3 and another source 5. If you have tried and true plants, probably no need to cover.
It has been really dry lately, so if we don't get rain real soon, give your plants a drink before the cold weather sets in.