These iris on-line websites for 2005 are up

That will be an awesome look! Nope, it never ends, there is always something that needs to be moved, replaced or added. But what you have done, even with all the time and energy put into it, looks well worth it. ENJOY your paradise!

Deb

I was surfing iris sites last night since my gardening was interrupted by rain and saw sooo many iris I could learn to love. These Iris sites are not a good idea to show to a un-repentant addict.

wanda--there are so many out there that are just calling to us to adopt them and give them a new home that it is difficult to say no!

Deb

Now tell me, I need a lesson on saying "no".

I ordered two rhizomes from Rainbow Iris Farms and asked for one specific extra. They wrote back and said that the extra I asked for is a good grower and there is a good possibility I could get it. Nice customer service for a small order, don't you think?

I just heard from Sutton's that their website will be open in 10 days to two weeks. Hang onto your opera hats. :-) They specialize in rebloomers.

ORDER!! ORDER!! ORDER!! LOL

doss, have you ordered from iris gallery? i saw a japanese iris called dirigo blue plate. i was wandering if it was blue as the picture. belinda

Is anything as blue as the picture?

I love Japanese Iris, but finding a bog here is impossible. :-)
It's dry all summer here so I stick to the beardeds. I am sure tempted to grow them in my small pond but when I tried to put a plant in it last time it really muddied the water. It is near a big oak tree so I can't put anything there that likes it wet. Ah well, there are always the beardeds with no stands and 6 falls. Mid America has quite a few of them this year. And Superstition has two historics that are the same way.

I've bought a couple Arilbreds just to see how they do here.

My new venture is to order some PCI. I have a lot of semi shade and not much sun and what is sunny is pretty full - except of course for next year's additions of beardeds. I've taken out two pretty large landscape plants to put them in. But I have to stop with the third.

And photos - you never know, you should go to blue j iris' web site and see what differences there can be. Reading the descriptions is important. Then try to find it on the plantfiles. I rely on those images constantly. The good thing about blue J is that they often have two photos of the same Iris and it's a good way to see what light, etc. will to a photo.

[HYPERLINK@www.bluejiris.com]

I would also call the company and ask. They would much rather you asked ahead of time and be happy with what they send you. If you want something really blue, ask them what to order.

The other thing is to check prices with other Iris suppliers. Or to sort through the plant files by Japanese Iris and Browse. Do you have Iris City Garden's catalog?

Here's another photo at all things iris. It looks as if 'Diringo Blue Plate' isn't really blue at all. It's looks more like a 'Queen's Circle' bearded which is white with a blue edge.

http://www.allthingsiris.com/japaneseiris1.html

Hope that this helps.

See gang, I'm not just a tempter, I'm a make-sure-you-get-the-right-iris-so-you-don't-waste-money person too. :-)



This message was edited Mar 31, 2005 10:08 PM

very helpful person. i have only received one iris catalog. i like dirigo blue, i find several more at all things iris that i like.

wanda, this that your iris? it's beautiful!

yeah, wanda, what is the name of that iris! it is a beautiful blue! it would look just lovely in my new garden scheme for the front of the house! ;>)

deb

The darn thing shouldn't be THAT blue, but it is a deep blue. Breakers. Cheap, vigorous & big blooms. Frankly, the blue sort of shocked me--I expected it to be lighter. This is a little closer to the true color, but still dark.

Cheap, vigorous and big blooms.......enough said, I'm on a mission. Since it's cheap, I can get more than one to fill in the front bed! Thanks Wanda!

deb

In case you were missing me, I just wanted to tell you that I've been through Napa Country Iris' website and they have a lot of really beautiful rebloomers. I had to use my "find" function to find them, they're not easily accessible but I loved them. Of course remember to sing. Sutton's who specializes in rebloomers and spaceagers hasn't opened yet.

Be careful though if you're in a cold zone it's probably better to buy from Sutton's where they have a list of rebloomers by zone.

great! thanks!

I checked into this forum because my Cooley's gardens catalog came today with all its lovely pictures. What do you do when you get a catalog and you want them all!!
I love siberians, too. They help me hold my hillside and they spread like crazy. I can't do japanese either, since we are on the hilltop and all the water flows downhill.

And even after they have bloomed, the leaves are still nice! I have one that is variegated and I can't wait for it to do something! I can do JI and SI. Am putting in a pond in a couple of weeks and want to put the tall Jap. and Sib. Iris around it as well as some grass and other plants.

deb

I have to make a caveat about what I said about Sutton's. There are Iris growers closer to where you already are in the cold zone's that may have better information altogether. Sutton's is in California.

What you do when you get Cooley's catalog is get Schreiners, then mid-america, then go to superstition's web site then..................:-) The devil is at it again.

The REAL thing you do is to remember that there will always be next year and new Iris come out every year. You'll learn from the first year what you like and what you don't like. I make choosing Iris an entertainment for months and months. It fills my winter evenings. Of course for me, in late summer, the Dahlia sites open and in between there's always gardening to do. You can get a lot of entertainment for your dollar if you spend enough time shopping.

So you spend as much time as you like gazing at the catalogs. That's free and it doesn't take any garden space.

I start gazing at the catalogs early in Jan/Feb! It takes me forever to look and decide which ones I really want! But I like them all, so I have an awful problem!

Deb

It's an 'awful' lot of fun isn't it? I just got an email from blueJ and they told me what my bonus iris would be. Never heard of that - but it was really nice. Makes shopping easier.

Yes! It's always nice to find a bonus in an order. And I do just love rumaging through all the catalogs. Time well spent! You asked me in another thread about what iris I had picked out. There are so many of them, but here are a few:
Louisa's Song
Moby Grape
Stairway to Heaven
Who's Your Daddy
Prince George (my DH name!)
Romantic Mood
Ruffled Goddess
Victoria Falls
Spirit Mountain (Schreiners book)
Open Sea (Schreiners book)
Scented Bubbles (Schreiners book)
Amethyst Flame
Devil's Lake
ASCII Art
Pond Lily
Ghost Train
Tennessee Vol
Bumblebee Delight

Just to name a few!

deb

You have had a fun time, haven't you. I checked with Sutton's again. Still not open. Maybe Monday. They are the last big house I think.

doss, are leading someone else down the iris path! LOL i have already ordered over 100 irises. here's a few. drady, easter bonnet, mexicana, point made, gibson girl, moonlight, glistening icicle, big black bumblebee, broadway, gnus flash, turkish topaz, wench, liason, neglecta, happy new year, autumn years, roz, starship enterprise, thornbirds, loreley, moonlit sea, orinoco flow. belinda

You bet. I'm just making sure everyone gets what they "need". You've got some lovely old ones there in addition to new Iris, Space Agers - 'Roz' is an intermediate. You had a really good time.

i had a great time! i pick a number of them because of you, margie, and wandaflower posting great pictures. the rest i pick because the picture caught my eye. belinda

Don't forget RShadlow and Patnbob and Puttytat. And others. There are a lot of good photographers out there who are really working in the plantfiles.

i didn't! i went through the iris plantfiles and pick out the ones i like there. i goggle them and find them, compare prices and check garden watchdog and ordered and ordered and ordered!! lol belinda

well belinda, after we get ours establish, we must talk about a trade! LOL!

deb

okay! i wander how many we order alike? i tried to keep the number down because i order about the same number of daylilies. belinda

Ouch! The same number of Daylilies? Now we ARE talking some money. :-)

Why on earth are they so expensive anyway?

Yup! I'm a fanatic about daylilies also! Have way over 100 of them!

i don't why they are expensive but i know that i spent about 4 times more for the daylilies than the irises. belinda

This message was edited Apr 7, 2005 3:56 PM

This message was edited Apr 7, 2005 3:55 PM

One more evil message. The Bianco Iris at Snowpeak Iris are fabulous. You should peak even if you're not buying.

http://www.snowpeakiris.com/

Their daylilies are lovely too.

And doss, Denise at Snowpeak sends very large rhizomes and throws in generous bonuses, as well. Last year I ordered both daylilies and Irises from her and was very well pleased with both.

Good to hear. Sutton's is still not open - they may never be at this rate. Good thing that there are a lot of other wonderful places around.

Good thread - hope you don't mind me poking my nose in - I wanted to let you-all know I've added Iris4U to the Watchdog, and updated Rainbow Acres (they now have their own domain, and both the daylilies and irises are available through that site.) If you notice any other vendors that need their information updated (or need to be added to the Watchdog, please let us know.)

As a side note, we now have several Iris sources (including one specialty vendor) participating in PlantScout. (If you haven't tried PlantScout yet......well - all I can say is it makes shopping for a particular plant dangerously easy ;o)

The list of Iris varieties now available from PlantScout vendors is definitely getting longer: http://davesgarden.com/ps/search.php?search_text=+iris+&submit=Search (there are a few non-Iris entries in this general search, but I think I pared it down to mostly Iris varieties.)

BTW, if you like PlantScout and you have a favorite Iris vendor or two, you might suggest to them that they check it out and consider signing up - it's proving to be a good marketing tool for the participating vendors, and an excellent way to help us as customers find a source for the plants we're looking to buy. (Like most of us need any help in that department!)

Sticking your nose in! We love your nose. I have a few vendors that I'll mention it to. It's a busy time now in the Iris world but maybe sometime in the year they'd like to.

doss, i need your help! i love the irises tazzy has posted but i'm having a hard time finding them. i would like to get from one supplier if possible. they are forfun, infernal fire, royal gossip and cee jay. belinda

I'll go poke around. Those are all early blooming iris. Tazzy has a lot more in store. (one more evil grin).
..

doss, that's a good point abour their seasons. I am guessing most of them are busy from now until they finish shipping the post-bloom rhizomes (and for many of them, it's nearly a year-round frenzy), but when they *do* come up for air at some point, we'd be happy to show them how it works, and help them get their inventory online.