Iris Order : Spring Hill vs Schreiners

Hello everyone,


I thought I would post this pic to show people who are new to ordering TB Irises. Before I knew anything about irises (I called them German Irises) I had ordered 10 or so irises from Spring Hill Nursery.

After learning about TB Irises on this forum and all their wonderful varities I ordered from a reputable company, Schreiner's, who was the only company I found still shipping at this time.

The picture shows 2 TB Irises from Schreiner's on the left, and 2 TB Irises from Spring Hill on the right. They are different varities, but you can see the difference in quality. I have learned my lesson, and will only order from reputable companies who specialize in irises.

By the way, I loooove Schreiner's!!!! I ordered irises at the end of Sept., and recieved my order today via UPS. They were packaged very well, and arrived in excellent condition. All the varities are marked clearly with most of the tags (as shown in pic) being picture id's with the name and height displayed.
The amount I ordered allowed me to choose 1 bonus iris. I chose Winter Waltz. When I recieved my order I had FIVE extra bonuses for a total of SIX BONUS IRIS!!!!! I am way pleased with all the extras, and they have earned themselves a repeat customer!!!

Danielle

Schreiner's look freshly dug. The others, hmmm.
I learned my lesson years ago ordering from Michigan bulb. 10 years I fought their "Bonus" plant. They sent an invasive as a bonus. It was about the only thing that did grow!

Bernie

Bernie, Is an 'invasive' a weed? I've never heard that term before! :o)

Schreiner's most definitely is the finer rhizome. But even they should have left a longer fan of leaves. From what the experts on our forum states, and know this to be true, the leaves give the rhizome the 'food' it needs until they develope their root system. Five to 6 " fans are best. The snow will be gone by Saturday and will try to take some pictures
to show this comparison 6 to 8 weeks down the line.

Sharon

Yes, I know there should be 6" of leaves, and wondered about that while unpacking them. I have read up a lot on irises. Some of the irises shipped from Schreiner's had 6" leaves others only 3". They all look healthy with many other new increases coming up off the sides.

The bonuses I recieved are: Evening Tidings, Got the Melody, Jazz Solo, Laced Cotton, Tumalo Sunset, and Winter Waltz.


Danielle

It was some kind of Vetch, but it is usually planted of steep ditch banks to keep them from washing out. Shouldn't be planted in a flower garden. It spread by roots like quack grass.
The Iris I planted last year from a co-op, looked about like the Schreiner's. I planted them the end of Sept. & they did great. Most bloomed real good this past spring. They are very large now & increased plants.
One question, should a person cut the leaves back some, or leave them as is ?
Bernie

No need to cut back green leaves if not deseased. Cut back if transplanting a plant to prevent water loss. You will find that some leaves turn brown & they can be removed--new ones are forming.

The issue of leaves, no leaves, long leaves or short leaves does not take into account
the length of time from digging to planting or time of season when planting. The irises
from Schreiner's were probably dug in July or early August. Looking at them, it is
obvious they are dead so it would make no difference whether they were an inch or
a foot long. They are dead and cannot serve any useful purpose. The SH irises are
probably leftovers from last year since they appear to be dry. Does not make a lot
of difference if they have been out of the ground a month or more. They both will live
and prosper if given a good planting.

Every time I have cut the leaves on a growing iris, they begin to slowly turn color and
die. Usually, new growth begins in the center of the cut fan and, within a couple of
months, they look like new plants.

I have seen a major difference in growth when freshly dug fans are trimmed to about
8 to 10 inches and replanted. They seem to resume growth almost immediately and
do much better than a dried one.

The big difference between Schreiner's, or any other responsible vendor, and Spring
Hill, Michigan Bulbs, Lowe's and Wal-Mart is with the former you know what you are
buying where the latter is wait till it blooms. With the half price sales and extras, the
junk irises are nearly the same cost as the premium ones.

Heaving and rhizomes blowing over from high winds are local problems that increase
with later planting. In my area, now is not a good time to plant irises since they do
not have time to develop a decent root system. I like to have mine in the ground by
early July even though it sacrifices some rhizome size which, in my limited experience,
does not make a difference one way or the other. In fact, I have had more problems
and slow growth from the extra large "yams" than the thumb size. The very small
new increases are an exception but they will grow.

Another good point which interest me. Do the 'yams' have more potential to go on and produce blooms the first year,
or does it not make any difference once they have to adapt to MN compared to OR or TX, etc.? I believe Roni can attest to, when we swapped in Sept., MN can also grow very nice rhizomes. We just have more of a struggle with the Winter conditions. I have also learned that even when you receive smaller rhizomes, they very often catch up by the end
of the year....IF! (LOL) they have the leaf strength to feed the rhizome.

I love experimenting! Anything I can do or try makes it that much more fun! Have I told you the story about using Alfala
cubes? My DH bought 50 lbs. for me. Are cubes the same as pellets? I've been making the 'tea' and now I'm experimenting with using the straw remains to cover some of the rhizomes to see if that may be a good insulation. Just my luck that a deer will come along to eat it.
Sharon

I notice the roots on the Spring Hill Iris are almost non existant on the far right and the other all brown. SH has some good roots on them. I have never had a bad Rhizome from Sh. The SH ones I got in Sept,. have longer and nicer leaves. Completely green and fresh and huge healthy roots.

I attached a picture of the first order from SH. That is the irises minus the two in the above picture. When I recieved my shipment they had left out a Best Bet iris. I immediately called them to let them know. They shipped me two bad looking Best Bets that are in the first pic with the irises from Schreiner's.
Even though I had said they left out one they sent me the bin order which normally contains two. They are like that as I had ordered a jumbo sun bag which a few items had died out of. Instead of sending me the dead plants again they are resending me the whole bag again.
I realize the SH Irises may not be the variety I bought, but I am okay with that. I will just order irises from a reputable source. I have ordered garden phlox from SH and had different colors shipped to me.


Danielle

OH YECK. vetch! my friend saw that in a plant catalogue and ordered it. the photo made it look so very nice. BOY did grow and spread everywhere. she spent a fortune on weed killer to try to get rid of it. found out it was classed locally as a weed.

an invasive is any plant that will easily, readily, and QUICKLY grow out of the bounds you want it to stay in. we are not talking about a tree that grows another foot or two up each year. we're talking about plants that spread out and aggressively compete for food and water resources. Thus they will with ease crowd out their neighbors - a LOT of their neighbors - and take over. we're talking plants like Kudzu. that would be the best example of an invasive plant. another invasive is Bermuda grass. Iris pseudocorus is invasive in a water enviroment. clover in my iris patch is an invasive - it will kill the irises. some megaplant places actually sell invasives to the unsuspecting public. better quality plantsmen are starting to advertise they will not knowingly sell an invasive.

those "yams" are called rhizomes. in bearded irises, they are on-the-ground stems and must breath, so we don't bury them fully. Like a yam, they are also a food storage system. once an iris blooms, it spends all it's acquired energy to clone itself, growing "increases" all along it's rhizome. since the rhizomes tend to be somewhat pie wedge shaped, the increases form a rounded clump. when the babies, the "increases" are large enough, they will bloom, then go about making their own babies. from the "nose" of the rhizome, the iris sort of grows backwards, toward the fan area, and new babies form there, at the base of the fan, first. but they will form all along the rhizome.

the bloomstalk comes from the center of the fan at bloomtime, so anything that damages the fan too much sets the plant back, but oldgardenrose is right, even without a green fan, it's possible for the iris to grow. I doubt those from SH will bloom this spring. I'd bet $$ that the Schreiners's will! given decent culture, they're almost certain to. I doubt very much these were dug in June, but they probably stopped digging first of September, so these have been out of the ground a while.

photo of a bit of Schreiners display garden 2007

I'm so sorry! had my ENCIS meeting yesterday, and I'm always having fun if I'm talking irises! you can tell me to shut up now......

Bonjon...I love to talk irises, and I am eager to learn. It has been kinda slow on here so I was glad to see an informative post.

I don't expect the SH irises to bloom their first year either. I learned my lesson, and will not order irises from them again.

When I planted my 40 TB irises on Friday which took me 3 hrs I aganized over how I was planting them. I was very careful in my planting of them. I hope I did alright!! My DH threw out a little more leaf compost over the empty half of the iris bed, and though he swears he didn't put any where my irises are I know he did. I noticed several of my irises had been covered with compost, and some of the tags had been covered. I swept that off, and have been checking them everyday to make sure they are doing well.

I can't wait to see which ones bloom next year. I already told DH not to lay the extra mulch over the empty half of the bed as next year I want to add more iris :) I think I may have a favorite flower along with my roses, of course.


Danielle

have to say my previous experience with spring hill, not for iris but flowers and trees, was not too great, so I would not order from them, Schreiners is world class, you can't go wrong with them.......

I ordered 27 irises in 2008 from Schreiner. All bloomed this year except 2, which were seedling bounus irises that will bloom next season. I ordered a bunch this year also. I have bought my irises from Schreiner since the 80's with no problems. I have also bought a few from Cooleys, but prefer Schreiner. No one can compare with Schreiner for the quality of their irises, and customer service. Their rhizomes are huge. You can contact them with any iris question and you will receive a reply. They will also replace an iris with your next order, if you lose one over the winter, or by some chance they sent a wrong one.

Below is Ziggy that I ordered in 2008. Love it!!

I can't wait to see what blooms next year from Schreiners. Your Ziggy iris is beautiful, and it is on my list for next year. I read on the Snowpeak site that Ziggy is a reported rebloomer for zones 6-8.

One thing I have noticed about Schreiners is that they are overpriced. I'm not sure if that is because their rhizomes are bigger as I haven't ordered from any other companies yet. The same iris offered throught Schreiners is half the price elsewhere. On almost all my iris I ordered I paid double the price. I really can't complain about the 6 bonuses I was given. I'm not sure if it was because it was at the end of the season I ordered, and they were trying to get rid of extras? They were very generous which I really appreciate.

I have been looking at Dg's member Dee's website, Snowpeak. I have been making a list of irises I want to order next year. I am thinking of ordering from Snowpeak, and Winterberry next year. I will have to see when I get the Winterberry catalog, but will definetly be ordering from Snowpeak. I may have to place an early order as I see most of the irises I liked were sold out this year.

Danielle

it is quite a treat when something blooms a few years out, I always say that's why I bought that.... it is always a wonderful surprise......

You know that Shreiner's has a large customer list--many of them wholesale so they get their income that way--their help costs a lot of money so they must get it back through sales. When you have several hundred acres to deal with, it takes a lot of help & care even when using machinery.

Flower_addictnc From what I receive from Schreiners in true-to-name irises with huge rhizomes, it is worth every penny. The bonuses you received is standard with this company. I received 5 bonuses from them this year, due to the amount of $'s I purchased, not the number of irises I bought. Of the 5, I got 2 that were introduced in 2009 but not available to the public yet. Another from 2008, and 2007, yet another 1994. One Spot Starter (Schreiner 2007) sells for $45.00 in their catalog. I got it free. Also, they have their sales, which is when I buy. If you order $80.00 worth of irises, you pay only $40.00 plus 1 bonus. In other words, you pay half price on every iris you buy. Really, you can't beat that!!

And as irisMA stated, it cost them plenty to care for all those hundreds of acres they have. This company also is a major hybridizer of irises.

Having said all that, I'm sure there are other companies that sell great irises. I just happen to be very satisfied with Schreiner so see no reason to change companies. It isn't worth the few dollars in savings. When you get rhizomes from other companies, then compare and decide. Don't base your opinion on price, base it on the product you receive.

I don't see this company being overpriced in their irises. They also have varieties that no ones else carry.

If you add up the total it would have cost you if you bought those bonus iris, you'll see that you are well ahead.

Yes, Ziggy is a rebloomer in warmer climates. Not in my zone 4.

Shreiners is #1 in my book. Have never had a bad shipment from them. This yea I did not order but 5 Iris and was under the amount for a bonus by 2-3$ but they still sent a huge beautiful one. Now how is that for service.

blomma, your comments reminded me.

the first year I discovered iris growers other than Cooleys, I ordered from 3 other growers as well. The plants arriving where all over the map in quality and then in growth.

the next year, I again ordered from 4 growers and then tracked and rated the growth and bloom of all the plants, The ratings were put into a spreadsheet. At the end of the bloom season, I did a data sort and analysis by plant source. (I mixed them all together when planting.) Cooleys' performed best, followed by Suttons', then Schreiners'. The fourth (small) vendor's performed badly.

The following year, I ordered from Cooleys, Suttons, Schreiners, and added Keppel, Aitken, Comanche Acres, Woodland, Malevil, Snowpeak and a private party. This time I tracked condition at receipt as well. That was a bad year for Cooleys and Schreiners, their plants arrived dried out. That was also the first year Cooleys' didn't outperform them all. I was particularly impressed with the condition on receipt of Keppel's, Snowpeak's, and the private party. But even the worst receipt condition and worst growers grew well enough. That year, Suttons' grew and bloomed the best. [Aitkens' continue not to fare that well - his crosses don't seem to like it in my garden - but I have seen his plants doing very, very well in other gardens.]

I encourage y'all, if you start collecting many irises, if you attention, you'll start noticing which breeders' stocks and who's intros do well in your garden, and what kind of quality you can expect from a vendor. What does well in one garden may not do well for you, and vice versa. You may even notice a particular line of breeding that doesn't like your garden! Irises cost a lot of $$ when you start collecting. It doesn't make sense to keep any but the best growers and bloomers.

Dee warned me, if an iris performs poorly, the space is too valuable to keep it. There's always another one I like that can take it's place!

I should add in (though my story was already too long) that 2008's purchases all did very very badly, and we lost many older plants this past season, so that data got tossed. Health prevented me from making but a few purchases in later September for 2009. Looking forward to trying out some new sources in 2010! starting with Tempo Two!

bonjon When you rate irises from different companies, you have to consider each variety seperately. A fair test would be to purchase the same iris from different companies, then see which one grows and blooms the best. Not all varieties bloom the first season after planting. However, I will say that Schreiners tend to do so.

I think a lot of it depends on---not the size---but the maturity of the rhizome. Even then, some will refuse to bloom the first season.

My daughter ordered plant last spring (2008) from Royal Dutch Garden. I got tempted and had her add an iris named Twice Thrilling, and 2 varieties of daylilies. B-I-G mistake. They sent the orders so late in the fall and the iris rhizome was soft and no green leaves. Her plants didn't do any better either. They did finally replace them, but with the same low quality. My iris is still struggling. Does show some green now. And, I'm not sure about the daylilies.

Another company, though ok for daylilies but not irises, is Gilbert H. Wild & Sons. I ordered daylilies in 2008 from them and they all bloomed this summer. The iris Beverly Sills is still struggling. The rhizome was small to begin with. Still not large and didn't bloom. I got tempted to order due to their sale catalog. I learned my lesson with irises. I will stick with Schreiners.

Below is another from Schreiner purchases in 2008 and bloomed this year. 'Toucan Tango' (Kasperek 2000) a beauty.

blomma, you are right to some degree. That's why I rated all the irises, and only looked at the conglomerate of all irises from a company, not just one iris. What tends to come across, especially when I order MOSTLY that growers own crosses (except from the ones that don't have many of their own yet, like Snowpeak), are trends. I tend to also order at least 20 irises from any one grower, so that's a decent sample size.

bonjon:
Hmmm.....ok you win but I will still stick with Schreiner. LOL!

However photos speak louder than words.

Mesmerizer (Byers 1991) Purchased in 2008 from Schreiner.

Edited for spelling



This message was edited Oct 21, 2009 9:21 PM

Blomma, toucan tango is outrageous!!! Totally gorgeous. I love the simplicity of of Mesmerizer. On it are those called spoons? I love irises that have that. It is like an extra flair.

By no means am I knocking Schreiner's. I am completely happy with my purchase with not one complaint. The iris I planted earlier this month have greened up, and are looking good.

I ordered a mix of their Summer Sale which I didn't know included the Evening Tidings bonus. Also, I ordered from their Red Star Quality Discount where I qualified for one bonus. I picked Winter Waltz. I ordered $241 worth before the discount which than I paid $195. It didnt qualify me for the four extra bonuses on top of the two I already had. I added up the total of my bonuses which is approximatly $250 worth!!!


I am interested in seeing what Winterberry offers. I may order from three different companies next year, who knows :)

Danielle

Danielle

Yes, those are called spoons. I love the uniqueness in irises whether it is in color or spoons. Love also the stripes ones and bicolor. Not fond of those with one color, except the almost black ones.

I also got the Evening Tidings as a bonus plus Tumalo Sunset (Schreiner 2009), Miss Moonbeam (Schreiner 2009) but will be surprised if these bloom next season. If you have the catalog, there is a photo of each one with a Seedling code. I have found that these seedlings take 2 years to bloom. The bonuses I received in 2008 were the only ones out of the 26 varieties I ordered that didn't bloom. They will bloom next season. Keep that in mind so you don't get disappointed next season.

Here is another unusual iris purchased in 2008. Grape Snakez (Kasparek 1999) fragrant

Blomma, oh no stop giving me all these ideas of more to buy next year :)


The bonuses I recieved were: Evening Tidings, Winter Waltz, Tumalo Sunset, Jazz Solo, Got The Melody, and Laced Cotton. I believe they are all seedlings except for Laced Cotton. Seems like we recieved a lot of the same ones. Good to know that they likely won't bloom the first year. Too bad as they are all gorgeous as are a lot of the seedlings they offer. Pretty enough to wait until next year though. This is something for me to keep in mind next year when ordering.


Danielle

Those that you order will bloom the following season. It it is the bonuses that most likely won't.

Here is another for you to drool over received in 2008

Light, Camera, Action (Baumunk 2000) Love it!!

The 2 main companies you use are great. Since we mainly grow medians we like Mid-America & Superstition as well. Winterberry often will send 2 rhizomes as they have to compete with the west coast larger ones. No one can really compete with those for size. I am carefull with Sutton, not because of the quality of plants, but their TB lines are not as happy here. Again we will go for their SDBs. It is quite difficult to have a certain plant which does will over the entire country. Those that do, Dusky Challenger for instance, are at the top of the popularity polls. It is strange that 'Vanity' is still the most popular pink TB here. It is borer prone, but grows so well that it outgrows their damage. Also it has poor foliage. Some of our iris club members are trying to find a pink which increases as well as Vanity without its faults. When you get addicted like we all are, growth results on different cultivars in different areas will be an interesting topic. We have cut back on TBs, just because it isn't our major interest. Another TB line which does well are those plants descended for 'Fogbound'. Everyone should do what is best for their own garden.

Schreiners is an excellent company. No question about that, but if you go to Gardenwatchdog, and do a search of companies, you will see our own Irisloverdee (Snow Peak) is rated number 1. And well deserved. On Gardenwatchdog, go to search in the brown at the top, and then to specializing in, and put irises modern, and then in the sort by field put rating, and you will see how the company is rated.

I personally have had great irises from Dee, Schreiners, Mid America, Superstition, Zebra, Blue J, and Winterberry.

I haven't purchased from any of the ebay sellers, but would not hesitate to buy from the ones who participate on this forum. We have a fantastic group here, and seeing how careful everyone is to keep their irises true to name, I would recommend buying from forum members.

I certainly do advocate buying from the hybridizer, if at all possible. We need to keep those hybridizers in business. But realistically you can't go buy just the ones each company hybridized, so a grower of general irises is needed when you're purchasing a large amount.

Superstition and Winterberry are both on my list this coming year. irisMA, I have a coupon for their KarenJones I keep forgetting to cash in! Don and Ginny are just so much fun. I never get my orders in on time with Winterberry, LOL, you have to order early with them. They are in our Region 4, Danielle, and not too far a drive from us so it's worth a field trip come bloom season. I'm alway buying coupons for Winterberrys at our conference auctions. There's also a fabulous private iris garden in Fredericksburg area you should see!

Ruth Barker highly recommended Superstitions. A lot of our local iris club members are finding Duncan's and Tasco's crosses performing extremely well here. Golden Panther is outstanding in my garden.

Despite our rain/rot problems in fall 2008/spring 2009, the order from Mid American last year was gloriously gorgeous on receipt and took off like gangbusters. they are on my list for next year. Paul is being really sweet helping make suggestions on parents for me. I'm a devoutee of Dee at Snowpeak, too, my 3rd year with her. She's been teaching me since 2007.

then again, ^_^ pollyk is on my list for next year, too! so is Ensata!

Blomma, I think the reason your bonuses may not bloom the first year is your zone -- floweraddict being in NC will probably get bloom the first year. I almost always do. As stated above, it really depends more on where it is planted and the climate around it. Sutton's always do very well for me -- good bloom and increase. Cooley's, while having the biggest rhizomes and beautiful flowers, don't increase well for me and have the greatest amount of rot. It always amazes me when a huge healthy rhizome, planted right next to a smaller, less "mature" one, will just sit there and decline which it's little neighbor grows and improves. But they do! irisMA, did you get Pinkster from Sutton's? I did, and it put on 25 increase the first year! It bloomed like crazy this year, and last night I counted 44 fans! It is a bright pink SDB with blue beards. I will try to attach a pic!

MissIrisbert what a beautiful flower. I love the color of the beard gorgeos color combo.
One of my favorite thing about irises is how they glitter in the sun like covered in diamonds. I love everyone's pictures. You know the saddest thing is that I have never seen an iris in real life!!! None at all of any kind, not even Dutch or TB. sigh....I just love them from the pictures. I will get my fix come spring though. I will be out there with a camera snapping away. I think the DH things I am crazy.....


Danielle

well Ms Addict ........You outta love this one

the pic is not doctored, the light just caught it right, thus the sheen om Joyce Terry this spring

Yes I bought Pinkster--I am working on hybridizing pink SDBs, so anything which can be thrown into the mix is useful. I was afraid of rot when it came, as the rhizomes were like potatoes, not too good for this climate. However they (2 plants) behaved like gentlemen. We suddenly had a week of 90 degrees in April which bothered the flowers, one was stuck in the spathe when trying to open & the falls were pinched in the middle, but I think that was the weird temp. SDBs don't like hot weather when they bloom. Not as many increase as you have, but doing well. Larry Lauer's 'Small Town Girl' is a salmon pink, but that also looked good, although not as fast an increaser. I also bought Mike Sutton's 'Little Sighs' which increased but didn't bloom. You have to give new plants some slack when they make such a great change in climates.

Sharon that Photo looks like Joyce Terry has Satin Petals, Beautiful.

Oh my gosh. Yes, Sharon, how beautiful.

This message was edited Oct 22, 2009 9:31 PM

It's awesome! Almost like God's holy light shining down.

Of the hundreds and hundreds of iris pictures posted since last summer, the picture
of Joyce Terry would be my all-time pick of the crop. Stunning.