Recommendations for SBI early bloomer please?

Hi, Iris lovers,

Haven't been on this forum for a year or two to post (only to I lurk!) , but now I am back into irises and need some ideas for an early blooming (with the late daffodils and dogwoods hopefully) pink to rose colored short bearded iris? Also an Intermediate that is in the pink family that is fairly early?

These don't have to be anything rare or trendy, just nice fine flowers and fairly unfussy to grow.

I looked on plant files but it's hard for me to tell which bloom the earliest, etc., so I thought I would go straight to 'those who know'! (-:

Also, if you know a good source to buy please mention it.

(It's fun to be back here and look at all your pretty iris pics, too!)

Happy spring. t.

It is very difficult to predict when an iris is going to bloom in a specific location or microclimate. Most hybridizers these days will specify where in the bloom cycle their introductions tend to bloom, but that's in their location. Some do testing in other areas, and some indicate that the iris blooms over a longer period or varies slightly.

I tried to plant mine according to when in the bloom cycle they would bloom, so I could plant them in drifts that would bloom all at once - didn't work that well.

Now, having said that. If you would like to find some names of some you like very much in their photos, I can check some out and tell you when the hybridizer thinks they will bloom. I have access to that info online.

Dmail Irisloverdee as she is a great source and has great plants. She of Polly K can help you figure out what you need and the color/size/bloom time.

Great to see you posting again...Here are a couple to think about
Bamboozle, Aquiver, and Bundle of Love.

D

Thanks for the tips, everyone. Those will get me started....I'm just looking for pink to purple "short bearded iris" that hopefully bloom on the early side. And Irisloverdee, thanks for your suggestions~~I do have Bamboozle and several others (unlabeled) in the garden already and they do well for me (knock on wood).

2nd question, then: Can someone show me how to search in "Plantfiles" for all the "Short bearded Iris" or the "Border Iris" classifications as a group so that I can go through them and check them out for the garden and see where I can buy them? (I can't seem to make the plantfiles search work for me unless I'm looking up specific cultivars). Thanks so much.

3rd questioin (I'm on a roll here!): Can anyone suggest a good Iris grower that stocks a lot of these short and border iris?? I know there's Schreiners but I kinda forget the names of the small but good family growers, etc.

Thanks loads. t.

Here is a shorter pink that I'm very fond of -- GLITTER REPINK. It's been in bloom for me for over a week now, along with my early and early-mid bloomers, and even though it's listed as 31" it has never been that tall for me. It's one of the 2007 introductions by Blue J Iris, and it's a rebloomer.

Another shot of GLITTER REPINK.

plum perfect is a good one to have

Your yellows are nice, what is the blue filler growing among them?

Snowpeak Iris has a nice selection of SDB's

Thanks again for more suggestions! Will check them out.

Sharondippity, I believe the little blue flower is Moricandia "Chinese Temple Bells". Some years I sprinkle the seed around the iris and eremurus. It makes a nice filler.

I bought the seed from Brent & Becky's Catalogue:

http://www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com/spring/productview/?sku=68-27

Read the end of this post to get a good idea of the terminology of what you will be asking for when you make your inquiries.

You will adore buying from Snowpeak, and she's got a great selection. Dee (irisloverdee on DG) is a doll to work with. She can really help you.

irisMA (on DG) is a specialist in the ones you want, too. The shorter, earlier bearded irises are, as a group, called "medians". Lucy specializes in medians. I think she sells. I KNOW she hybridizers them.

another place to get great medians, and they are hybridizers of medians, is at Mid America Gardens. They are in Oregon. (they started off in mid-america and moved to Oregon)
http://www.mid-americagarden.com/

You can also google for Chuck Chapman+irises. He hybridizes and sells great medians.

Terry Aitken is another hybridizer of medians, and he helps introduce to market several other great hybridizers medians at his small commercial garden "Aitken's Salmon Creek Gardens"
http://www.flowerfantasy.net/

Median Irises
There are several classes of irises within the "median" group. Shortest and earliest are the MDBs (miniature dwarf bearded). Then come the SDBs (standard dwarf bearded) which bloom a couple weeks later and are a bit taller. Then comes the IBs (intermediate bearded) which are taller still and have a broader range of bloom time, from with the SDBs all the way to with the TBs (tall bearded).

[There are also MTBs, which are miniature tall bearded, and the BBs, or border bearded, just to keep you totally confused!] But I think you are pretty much asking for MDBs, or early SDBs, or the earliest of the IBs. My mid season daffodils had just started blooming when my earliest SDBs started blooming.

Please note that I have some species irises that bloomed along with my earliest daffodils. But I don't know of many pinks ones of those.

They really don't bloom with daffodils here, but I think the standard dwarfs (SDB) & intermediate (IB) are what you want for early bloom. All the sources which have been mentioned carry them. Schreiners carries mostly tall bearded irises which are later in the seaqson. they do have 'collections' several plants as a group which brings the prices down. Check the web sites which you have been given for good plants. chuck chapman is late in getting his web site up for this year.

thanks tabasco, I do the same with larkspur seed here but I never have enough

bonjon and IrisMA, thanks so much for all the details and the list of sources. I will spend hours this evening pouring over the sites.

Yes, I think the SBI and the Medians are what I need. They bloom on the early side and I think they will combine with my late white daffodils (acropolis) and lungworts in bloom too.

I worked in our garden today and to my surprise many of my SBI came into bloom overnight and I realized that I do have several different kinds (7 different purples, similar but different!) already (but none pink, and I guess that color is rather rare in the SBIs from my cursory research). So I spent the afternoon dividing and replanting for our new bed around our new fountain and stepping stones. I will still be on the hunt for a few nice pink ones, though.

I love the median iris and have a few of those, too, and a couple are in bloom.

I had forgotten about all the different categories of the bearded iris~~in fact, I think they've made more divisions since I was into irises 2 or 3 years ago!

Thanks again for all your thoughtfulness. t.

this is part of the 'stepping stone' garden where I want to place the new iris:

Hi The irises in your picture look like I. pallida, confirmed by DH. They are diploid so would not be pink. If you are looking for siberian irises use Polly's garden or Joe Pye Weed. They will bloom much later, with & after the tall bearded iris.

Look at L.A. Ballet from Suttons pic Fast Forward (in bloom now)