u/Next-Honeydew4130

I just hate when I look towards the kitchen and there’s a WALL in the way. Best way to open up a space.

I’ve never seen a mud wasp before!!! She’s so excited about her little nest it’s contagious. Just building as fast as that little wasp body can go. Apparently… not aggressive and not going to bring 1,000 wasps to the yard?

TLDR my hypothesis is TB Dreamcastle and its offspring TB Emma Cook and TB Melodrama have genes that make for highly frost-resistant buds and (later) flowers; so does TB Prairie Sunset.

Photo: Beyond Borders plant May 17 2026 Elmohr display gardens Colorado Springs

I got really interested in Iris buds & flowers that survived a drought spring and hard frost this year. Where I live 5b/6a there is a display garden with something like 200-300 iris plants. On April 18, 2026 the overnight temperatures at that display garden went down at least as low as 19 Fahrenheit, anecdotally to 16 farenheit. On May 17 I visited the display garden to see if anything survived (the buds & flowers ofc - the leaves are fine). There were NO FLOWERS except on Beyond Borders and a dwarf iris or two, which seemed unbothered by the late frost. Today I looked again and Beyond Borders was still a standout, looking great.

Out of curiosity I spent the day looking at the ancestry of all the plants that looked good with healthy BUDS listed below. Numbers 1-9 have a common ancestor: TB Dreamcastle through Dreamcastle’s offspring TB Melodrama. Beyond Borders is descended from Dreamcastle both through Melodrama AND through Dreamcastle’s offspring TB Emma Cook.

Prairie Sunset is totally unaffected by the last frost. It turns out the one cultivar in my list that is NOT descended from TB Dreamcastle, which is the otherwise unexplainable Cowboy Cut, is descended from none other than TB Prairie Sunset.

Descended from Dreamcastle via Melodrama:

1. Mosaic Madness
2. Camera Ready
3. Penmanship
4. Ignition Point
5. Flight of Bluebirds
6. Midnight Idol
7. Arctic Burst
8. Island Hop (has a crumpled bloom + a new very healthy looking bloom stalk with beautiful buds)

Descended from Dreamcastle via Melodrama AND Emma Cook
9. Beyond Borders (by far most exceptionally frost resistant buds/flowers out of hundreds)

10. Prairie Sunset (1936)

Descended from Prairie Sunset (which has a few named ancestors)
11. Cowboy Cut (actually has a lone fairly okay looking bloom)

That said, anyone got a Dreamcastle rhizome?

Note: some of my personal irises survived because I covered them to protect them from frost. No

This is such a pretty, cheerful little bloom! Zone 6A, second year in the ground, first bloom!

Not the showiest picture but really interesting. I bought it for the foliage and it is in fact very cool. This is the bud, and I included a pic of the plant as well.

TB Iris Indecisive from Paul Black 2023 intro

Spots are from a late frost

These guys made it through a couple of bad late season frosts. I have a list of others that did not make it, so these are especially loved this year and it’s the first time they’re blooming in my yard! Enjoy! I think they’re kind of unique color combos.

1. Fruit Punch Delight. SUPER BRIGHT
2. Halloween Halo. Perfect white iris without being too white imo.
3. Reckless Abandon. More brown irl than I like but it might grow on me.

Also some frost damage I think.

1. Class Ring. Intense contrast between white and deep red-purple.