and now for the SDBs ...

It's been bright & beautiful here and I'm getting the best photos in 2 years. yes!

I'm so pleased for you! I know I wait all year to see my garden bloom, so glad your's is blooming in the sunshine!
Still raining here! The black spot on the iris will be awful after all this rain and we'll need to hay the lawn.
Please keep those photos coming!!

Cailtin--if it helps any, I have Chocolate Cupcake on my order list this year and have found it at Snow Peak Iris and Riverview Iris.

Oh yes, it helps a lot...Now I have the names of 3 new Iris sites! Will it never end? Oh, the agony, oh, the decisions...Oh the temptations....

Not a full SDB. Another arilmed. ULALENA looked a whole lot better in Sutton's catalog the year it was introduced.

Laurie--I haven't tried any of the ariels yet--do you find them hardy?

I've lost more arilbreds than I've managed to grow so far, but to be fair, I've tried very few. I was told the regeliabreds would be better suited to my climate, so I added several of them last summer. So far, so good.

Laurie

TWEETY BIRD - The ruffles are very cute but almost too tight to allow the bloom to fully open.

LOVIN' SPOONFUL is a first time bloomer with just the right amount of lovely ruffles.

VEGAS SHOWGIRL

One of a kind wowzer, PELE!

Pele looks like a must have one!

Susan

oh yeah...

GOLDEN FAIR clumps up quickly for a parade of brilliant yellow.

Is this an SDB? I got this from a lady who cleaned out her gardens and just threw everything in a bag. So far this is all that has bloomed since I planted them in the fall.

More in perspective

What a little cutie!

I must have more SDB's.... wow....

RAIN DANCE is such a beautiful blue. It's perfect next to pinks, peaches, oranges, reds, yellows. Heck, there isn't much this little guy doesn't look great next to!

I love the browns, and TANTARA is one of the best.

Dravencat, your little cutie does look like it's within SDB size compared to your hand. How tall is the flowering stalk?

Here are a few of my SDBs. No name.

We are way behind all of you, but just as excited here! Four standards and falls on Version.

boojum,

VERSION is a versicolor. Could your SDB possibly be CONDENSED VERSION?

CONDENSED VERSION (Carol Lankow by J. T. Aitken, R. 1999). Sdlg. 0L-13. SDB, 13" (34 cm), ML. Creamy yellow, F. with soft apricot flush; beards yellow, hairs tipped orange. (Straw Hat x Orange Tiger) X Aitken 83M15: (M. Wright L56:_ ((Pink Cushion x Lenna M) x Cotton Blossom) x B Jones 271 pink). Aitken's Salmon Creek 1999

laurief, Do you have your SDB's planted along the edges of borders with other plants behind them or in a separate bed? I'm not really very sure how to work them into the landscape. Do you have some overview pictures of your beds?

Susan

Susan,

I have absolutely NO artistic eye for garden design, so my irises are all planted in rows in dedicated iris beds. Aside from being an easy solution for the design-challenged, such as myself, it also makes keeping IDs straight, weeding, and fertilizing more convenient. My MDBs and SDBs are in one bed, taller medians in another, and TBs in another.

However for gardeners with imagination and artistic callings, SDBs can be used in numerous ways. They can edge larger garden spaces or be the focal point of small beds (my Mom uses them around her flag pole) or be used in a rock garden. They can be grown in containers. They will perform in less sun than the TBs, and they are much less likely to rot if conditions turn damp for a while. They are also unappealing to borers, for the most part. In short, SDBs are lovely additions in a number of different growing conditions and settings. Just don't tuck them between tall companions where they'll get lost.

Laurie

Laurief its about 12 inches I think maybe a bit more but so tiny. I love the colors on this one, I just wish the others had bloomed.

Dravencat, 12" is within the SDB height category. The colors on yours are lovely. The contrasting rim on the fall really makes it pop!

These are just to cute. How long is their blooming season?

As with all iris classes and types, there are early, mid, and late bloomers among the SDBs. My first SDB flower opened on 5/7, and I still have a number that haven't opened their first blooms yet.

Laurief,
I got the name off of the leaf (that's where my iris society writes them) and I thought it odd that it was ALSO called Version since I have the versicolor, too! Thanks for the freebie ID! Here's the versicolor!

boojum,

Sounds like the leaf on which CONDENSED was written came off your rz at the sale.

I grow VERSION, as well. It's an adorable little versicolor!

BLUE NEON opened today for the first time, and it's another one of those moody, meditative color blends that just makes me go "Mmmm". Or maybe that should be "Ohmmmm". I could get lost in the beauty of this little treasure for a very long time.

Another new bloomer for me. Unfortunately, I can see why my friends decided to remove GROOVY GRUBWORM from their gardens last year. Name notwithstanding, there's not much remarkable about a muddy golden SDB with below average form.

The colors that Im seeing are just fantastic

TICKLED PEACH, cute and reliable as ever and the perfect garden mate to RAIN DANCE.

Laurie, you really should be writing ads for iris catalogs. You definitely have a way with words, as well as irises and cameras.

Well, I have sold a few pics to iris catalogs, but no one has asked me to write one ... yet. ;-)

Show them this thread. The job offers will be rolling in. Between your camera and your descriptions they won't have to doctor the photos in their catalogs.

LOL! Let's see now. Maybe I should just convince all the hybridizers to send me starts of their future intros so I can bloom them in my garden and write GLOWING, IRRESISTIBLE DESCRIPTIONS for their catalogs in the intro years! Of course, I would HAVE to see the irises in bloom in person in order to write such descriptions. I do have my ethics to consider, after all. ;-)