It is not my intention to say anything bad about Veseys, for we always order our veggie seeds from them and the seeds are always excellent quality. Plus their customer service is great and the people there are always super nice in my experience.
Hmmm Hazel what zone are you in? 4 or 5?
I find the plain bearded iris almost indestructible!!
Long story short... hubby and I met a stranger at the local garden center one autumn a couple of years ago. We didn't know him from Adam and he sees that we're speaking English and comes up to say that he has tons of Iris that he dug up and no one was wanting them and they would end up ruined.
So I took a chance and said we'd take them.
Well there was definitely NOT a ton, and I got a plastic grocery bag with about 20 rhizomes in it. Most were mushy, misshapen, and in general not good health at all.
Decided to plant them anyway that fall, let them sit over winter and see what would happen. Didn't fertilize at all, only took up sod, removed rocks and put the rhizomes in the ground. Next spring, got leaves, but no flowers. But the next season (which was summer 2007), we got this:
Now if that isn't hardy, I don't know what is.