Congratulations to our own Polly

Thank you so much, Todd!

Congrats Polly! How awesome! I just knew you would be a smashing success!

Polly, how many Louisianas have you tried? I'm finding them amazingly tough, and even hold their own quite well under dry conditions. I planted a couple of 'Black Gamecock' at the edge of one of the ponds here on the farm, and it has gone completely nuts! The species JI I planted there has been extremely happy too.

Neal, thank you!

I've tried quite a few Louisianas. We get super growth, but not super blooms. I think we must be right on the fringe of where they will bloom well.

Black Gamecock is one that does bloom well. The others I get a smattering of blooms. And I know I'm growing them under the right conditions.

Being further north, the only Loiusiana that blooms for me is Black Gamecock as well, but I can't say it is prolific in zone 5b....I get a few blooms enough to warrant keeping it.

Rochester NY is the same zone as we are, and they have the Iris Friendship Gardens, a beautiful garden of Louisianas. But where it sits in definitely a micro climate in Highland Park, way down in a dip. And they are grown in raised beds, whcih surprised me.

I'm going to have to try them different places, and see if I can come up with a warmer area in the yard that might work better. They have some lovely cultivars of LIs.

I have 2 species spurias that came back and bloom a lot (ssp. Halophila and monnieri). I have 4 more that I'm trying (3 in a wetter spot and one in the same as the species). We will see!