It was bound to happen ... the TBs!

My problem was I just had way to much shade. My DH cut two truck loads of logs from the back yard last winter and I'm seeing many iris that haven't bloomed in years. I'm surprised some of these were planted in 1992, so they survive well.

Bluegrass -- the town founder Jonathan Hager wanted to name the town after his wife Elizabeth. He succeeded for a while and then some time the town was renamed Hagerstown in honor of them both. So when I finally get my iris garden operational as a retail location, it will be using the old name Elizabethtown. Oops TMI. Sorry, I tend to ramble when my fingers are talking. =D

Here's another view of HK

Roni

This iris's name says it all. RADIANT APOGEE. This beauty shines like a beacon at the far end of the iris bed.

BEVERLY SILLS sat here bloomless for 5 yrs before finally showing me her colors last spring for the first time. Even then, she offered only one distorted bloom on a stunted stalk.

This year, the fat lady is singing away on two different clumps at full height with multiple stalks. She's still a tough one to photograph, though. Her falls here tend to curl and twist, and her standards are disproportionately short. I took many shots of many flowers to come up with one that actually flatters her.

I am grateful to finally have the real PERFECTION blooming in my garden, even if it is a single bloom on a 2" stalk in the middle of a small clump. I've been wanting to compare this to the only iris that existed on this farm when I bought the place in 1979. Unfortunately, my original irises probably won't bloom for another week or two in a different microclimate in a different part of the yard, and this PERFECTION bloom will be long gone by then. I'll do what I can to compare them through photos until I can get them planted and blooming side by side.

Perfection is rightly named, don't you think? Something about the form is just...perfection!
Glowing Embers looks very much like one of the three irises that came with our farm.

Elizabethtown, thank you for explaining your name. I was a bit curious! My user name also reflects the name I hope to give my future art/garden.

I like the name MY EDEN...for my personal garden, what do you guys think?

bluegrass:
Love it! Now you need a sign...

Bluegrass: awesome name, where can you get a sign. That would also be a great name for your first hybrid that you market.

Roni

I already have a oval sign and paint from Hobby Lobby, now I just need to find a little extra time.

VITAFIRE is another new historic in my garden. It's a good thing this thing has COLOR, or I might have missed him blooming in the far corner of the TB bed! Not that it'd be possible to miss this iris in bloom!

Sometimes the eyes need to "reboot" with a nice, calm vision after being dazzled by an iris garden in full bloom. VIOLET HARMONY brings my eyes soothingly home again.

SOLID MAHOGANY was determined to show me its colors this year, even if it could only manage a stunted stalk with a couple of buds. Nice color on this historic, but I'm looking forward to a more impressive performance in the future.

ELAINEALOPE is another newbie who bloomed at ground level after all the late freezes, but she took her stress response to a whole new level. After just the lightest rainfall, her standards flopped completely open, turning her effectively into a "flattie". If you look closely between the raiindrops, you'll notice that she's a broken color.

I hope this total lack of substance isn't normal for this cv.

Another jewel-toned maiden in the iris beds, SUMMER WINE is radiant in rain or shine on an impressively tall stalk.

Summer Wine is lovely - is that a pretty close approximation of the color? Seems quite an unusual color...

SUMMER WINE is an unusual and beautiful color. That pic was taken of a freshly opened flower, so the colors were as saturated as possible. Now that it's been fully open for a few hours and exposed to the sun, the color is starting to fade a bit. It's still a remarkable mauve pink. Very lovely.

This message was edited Jun 17, 2005 10:58 AM

Laurie-I had 2 clumps of Solid Mahogany. One had short, stunted blooms--the other one was tall & glorious. I guess it reflected well where the freezes did the most damage in my beds.

MRS. GEORGE DARWIN is a lovely surprise. I wasn't familiar with any of the old historics who have given me maiden bloom this year, but I expected them to all be variations of purple or variegata. This graceful and delicate white provides beautiful visual balance the other historics of her era need to complement their darker hues.

This message was edited Jun 16, 2005 9:53 AM

OTHELLO offers classic tailored lines in a small-flowered neglecta. The perfect garden escort for MRS. GEORGE DARWIN above.

NATCHEZ TRACE bursts forth in rowdy reds to make his presence known for the first time in my iris beds.

Go for it Laurie! Let's convert all those of "afraid of iris" people... :)

I'm doing my best, Wanda, but some of these TBs are less cooperative than others ...

BRIDE'S HALO is giving me wonky blooms on her first attempt here. The stalk is short, and the petals are all bendy. I'd have to wonder a bit about any bride who wore a halo quite as twisted as this one. ;-)

AFTERNOON DELIGHT has scrumptious color on a freshly opened bloom like this one, but her color fades quickly after a few hours. She's still pretty in the afternoon, but I think I might have been inclined to name her MORNING DELIGHT.

BELVI QUEEN is my eveready bunny. No matter what northern MN dishes out - frigid, snowless winters; late spring freezes, borers; deer; concrete clay - I can count on her to beautify my iris beds each spring. Nothing stops The Queen.

LILTING is another of my reliable favorites. She has the flower form I find ideal - beautifully domed standards, falls with enough pendancy to give her a traditional iris outline, and gentle ruffling that enhances rather than overwhelms. She looks like an iris, not like a bawdy helicopter blade with frayed and bubbled edges.

LILTING is also one of only six irises that has ever rebloomed for me, and she's the only one who's done it twice! This nearly-perfect beauty does have one unfortunate drawback, though. She's very slow to increase, so I never get more than one stalk from a very small clump.

BLENHEIM ROYAL is another loyal performer and my truest blue. I imagine there are even stronger blues out there, but none I've tried have managed to survive my climate. BR is as tough as they come. This one will always have a place of honor in my garden.

WINTERLAND is another strong, reliable performer in my garden, but there is a white I admire even more which I will post later. I would certainly recommend WINTERLAND to any northern gardener who has had difficulty finding tough white TBs.

BLUE SHIMMER has those classic tailored lines of its era. This large-flowered historic flutters and dances on tall stalks, lending an air of whimsy to a breezy spring day.

LEMON REFLECTION gave me an unimpressive maiden bloom last fall, but it's surely making up for that now. A very pretty, clear yellow, cold-climate rebloomer (though it hasn't managed to rebloom for me ... yet).

A show-stealer wherever he blooms, STEPPING OUT never fails to stop visitors dead in their tracks and garner awe. I am so extremely grateful that this TB is tough enough to handle northern MN. I can't imagine any iris will ever be created that has more visual impact than SO.

Ya gotta grow GALLANT MOMENT when your housemate's last name is Gallant! Besides, I really can't resist a red that tangos with sunlight the way this one does.

There are precious few modern TBs that can handle my climate and growing conditions, but STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN is definitely one of them. Finally a Dykes Medal winner that can actually perform in difficult climates! Beauty and brawn ... and vigor and rebloom genes and disease resistance and reliable bloom and, and, and ...

This cv ought to be growing in everyone's garden!

Laurie - I've just been reviewing your great photos today and even in zone 9 Immortality doesn't perform very well. Bride's Halo even worse, and Beverley Sills has just begun to bloom in any real way after four years in the garden. Sugar Blues, Lenora Perle, Harvest of Memories are great rebloomers for me also. So why so famous?

This was a fabulous performer for me in the garden this year. IB 'Concertina'. This is the second bloom the first year. I know I'm zone 9 but nothing else really bloomed like this for me the first year.

Here's another white that doesn't perform well for me. I DO always leaves something to be desired. This year it was height, as usual, and attractive form. It tries; I have to give it credit for that much. I just can't make myself get rid of any TB that manages to survive here, no matter how unremarkable it may be.

GIBSON GIRL is almost 10 yrs older than I am (and no, I'm not going to give either one of our years of introduction), but she's maintaining her physical beauty considerably more successfully than am I. She's a tough gal. We have that much in common.

SIGN OF LEO is a nice, reliable purple and a cold climate rebloomer, though it hasn't done so for me.

HARVEST OF MEMORIES has got to be the absolute toughest, most reliable, most disease/pest-resistant, most vigorous TB in my garden. In fact, it is one of those rare TBs that seems to thrive and outperform everything else in nearly every garden in which it is grown in all climates around the world. It's simply unstoppable. I've never heard (or read) any sort of complaint about it from anyone anywhere.

If all TBs were like this one, iris forums and mailing lists wouldn't constantly be discussing ways to deal with irises that rot, get destroyed by borers, wimp out in harsh climates, etc., etc., etc.

Now if I could just get HoM in all colors/patterns/flower forms/classes ...

This message was edited Jun 25, 2005 11:47 AM

Bride's Halo bloomed well spring 2004 and went crazy blooming from September to late October. No blooms at all this spring. Maybe she'll give me a show this fall?

I don't remember ever seeing this sort of saturation of color on GINGER SWIRL before. It was TRULY GORGEOUS this year! GS must have really enjoyed the late freezes and fertilizer it received this year.