Favorite Iris of the year

In retrospect, what is your favorite iris that bloomed for you this year. I know it's a toughy, but lets see some color. This is my favorite, High Octane.

Three for me. PAUL BLACK, SEA POWER and MERCHANT MARINE. I will have to find pictures.

OK, Rita picked three, so I have to pick four!

#1 Barry Blyth's ADOREE

#2 - Joe Ghio's WEDDING NIGHT

#3 - Joe Ghio's PICTURE BOOK

Another shot of PICTURE BOOK, with Fred Kerr's BOLD VISION in front of it.

And #4 - HAWAIIAN RAIN, by Randy Squires. And I sure could go on and on, but I'll restrain myself and stop here.

I couldn't choose between my three so I had to cheat and pick three. All yours are really beautiful as usual.

You gotta be kidding! One? or even 3 or 4?

Alaskan Seas, Apparent Secret, That's my A
Best Bet, Brown Lasso, Buckwheat. That's my B
Cantina (because it is blooming today!), Captivating, Champagne Elegance, Champagne Waltz, Cheesecake. That's my C

OK, I'm going to stop now. But thanks for asking me.

OK, I can't choose just one either. Lest We Forget is a knock-out rebloomer.

And I've got to put in a plug for my own hybrid Ginny's Smile.

I have a few. One was Heaven by Joe Ghio. It was charming, absolutely charming every time I looked at it I had to stare. I think He named it well.

Then there was Oasis Lorna. I did not know where she had ended up after some moves and labeling problems. She bloomed and I was so happy to find her again.

Another one that excited me was Undercurrent. It bloomed so late I thought it was a goner.

Wow, that Oasis Lorna is a stunner.

Another was Joe Ghio's Bowled Over. Still getting better each year.

And blooming for the first year for me was Sea of Love.

Last one for today is Blyth's But Beautiful who has improved each year and this year was just the best.

OASIS LORNA is fantastic! And UNDERCURRENT is a favorite -- and it blooms a little later, which is actually nice.

And boy, do I ever love Ghio's BOWLED OVER. Definitely in my top 10!

Wow, Ginny's Smile is a winner! Love the way the "skirt" flips up to show the petticoat!
Hawaiian Rain is a beautiful blue, have to look that one up...
I had a lot of beauties this year, but my vote would be Total Recall, because it is just now blooming and it has a wonderful fragrance! It didn't bloom this spring - it would suit me just fine if rebloomers were just late bloomers.

HAWAIIAN RAIN is only available through Superstition or directly through Randy Squires. Randy lives in the Los Angeles area and when Rick Tasco gave a talk at their iris society he told Randy he'd seen HR and was interested in growing it. It's the first year for Superstition so they don't have a lot -- but its picture is still there, so that probably means they still have some left. It's so new and practically no one has seen it, but Randy sent me a couple of plants a few years ago, and for me it's tall with big, gorgeous flowers -- a real winner! I think it's incredible.

If you're interested, Randy's email is:

randysiris@juno.com

Hmmmm, my favorite of the year. It's a tie between Toasted Watermelon (a TB pictured below)...

Pookie, an SDB...

and Car Hop, another SDB - it just was such an eye-catcher this year. And hung on for quite a while...

Toasted watermellon is great. Where is it available. Do you have some for trade?

Sorry, I don't this year.

I got it from Wild Iris Rows in TN, but it's sold out for them: http://www.wildirisrows.com/text-catalog.html

My first favorite was Candy Apple Classic. It looked great with metallic, blue sheen on the falls, and smelled SO sweet!

2nd place was Queens Circle.

Oh that's a toughy! But for color,bud count/bloom time I have to go with Golden Panther