No perennial garden is complete without irises

FARGO — Did you hear about the gardener who mistakenly called Sunnyside Cemetery instead of Sunnyside Garden Center? When the gardener asked how deep to plant iris, the old undertaker who answered said “Well, yesterday I planted Mabel, and we always go six feet under.” The iris is well-named after the goddess of the rainbow, and few perennials can match the wide-ranging assortment of colors, including white, yellow, blue, purple, lavender, orange, rust, brown, black and near-red. They are truly the orchids of the flower garden. Irises belong to a...