Ed, no advice here, just empathy. I'm in Central NY too. Sorry about your babies. Its disheartening when they get that far along and something like that happens.

I'm sorry too, has happened to me too, but generally this year has been pretty good for iris here. Less heavy winds than normal have kept them standing up, cooler weather seems to have let them bloom longer. I lost bloom stalk on one iris, it curved out crazy & got hit by the lawn mower. Of course, it was the only stalk on a new to my garden iris. Ain't that the way it goes? I guess we've all been there though :)

What an annoying thing to happen.
kay

Yup. My roses were blasted this year. I hate the wind.

I wish I had a nickle for every time I said, 'I HATE the wind.' I hated the wind even berfore I started gardening. Thanks, it's nice to know I'm not alone.