what's your favorite source for MDB's?

I am looking to add some MDB's this year. They're so cute! Whats a good source with reasonable prices? If you are already growing mini's what are some of your favorites?

Roseana

While there's definitely more SDB choices out there than MDB choices, let's not give them the short end of the stick! (pun intended) I have 3 sources where I get all of my SDB/MDB's from, unless I've traded for them elsewhere.

Mid-America Garden (Paul has a soft spot for the little ones!) www.mid-americagarden.com

Aitken's Salmon Creek Garden
www.flowerfantasy.net

Superstition Iris Gardens-order through catalog
pictures are at: http://community.webshots.com/user/rickt103

A few favorite MDB's of mine are:

Tiny Titan- http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/71749/

Tooth Fairy- http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/69674/

Aurora Sea- http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/25651/

Cinnamon Apples- http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/25967/

Cinnamon Apples is gorgoues!

Thanks flowerfrenzy! Will check out all three sites...thanks for the recommendations! I loved Aurora Sea!

Yikes! I left out a great source, Snowpeak Iris and Daylilies. www.snowpeakiris.com

Denise carries lots of little ones. I bought Aurora Sea from her last year. I believe she's sold out of it this year. I don't know where else to get it except from Jayne Ritchie herself. I can't remember her address, but the folks at C.Iris On Pond gave it to me once. Their website is http://www.zyworld.com/ciop/Homepage.htm if you want to contact them. They aren't a commerical source for irises, but they have a lot of information that's helpful.

Flowerfrenzy, do yours bloom pretty well for you? I have been told that in zone 8b they might not do well as it may not be cold enough. I'm going to go ahead and get some and try them out.

Try Hermit Medlar's Walk. I've not order from them personally yet, but I'm getting an order together. I hear they are great for little ones. http://www.hmwalk.com/index.html

Yes. Mine multiply like rabbits here. They do tend to like cold winters, and they tend to wilt in the heat, so certain varieties may not do as well for you as others. Superstition Iris gardens is out of CA, and they grow lots of little ones, so you may want to get a catalog and see which ones they have. Or you can look up their pics on line at the website I referred to earlier. Another plus from ordering from them would be that everything would already be climatized to the CA area, although I know there's many zones in CA and you probably need to compare.

Elizabethtown~

Thanks for the new link. I've heard that's a good place to order from, but I've never order anything from them yet.

Elizabethtown, what a great resource. so many great pictures

flowerfrenzy, glad to hear yours do so well. It does get pretty hot here 105-110 lately. My TB's and BB's though have done really well. I'll check out Superstition. '

Thanks for all the great resources - the help is appreciated:)

Does anyone live near Hermit Medlars? They are having an iris sale this Saturday from 10-3 and I'm not driving 7 hours to get potential bargins but if you're going that way anyway....let me know please.

RNB~

Summer heat is okay. It's when it suddenly heats up too early in the Spring (while they're in bloom) that it becomes a problem. The heat makes the blooms wilt away. Same is true for any type of irises, really. Last year, the average temp was 95 degrees here during August and beginning of September, and mine still did great. I think tropical climates are probably the worst for growing the little ones~like Florida, because the winters don't ever get very cold. However, I know people who grow a few there as well, but not nearly as many as I can grow here.

Elizabethtown~

I checked out Hermit Medlar's. IMHO, they are a bit pricey on quite a few of their selections. I'd check out the four I listed as sources to see if you can't find what you're looking for. In general, I think the prices are better.

That way~you can buy MORE! LOL!

flowerfrenzy,
Yeah! I'm so excited now after hearing your explanation:) I actually was able to get some from another DG'er today. I'll give them a try and see how they do. Its my first year for irises so I've never actually had a rebloom. If they wait until Sept. to try and rebloom, it should be ok.

Great! DG is nice because you can try stuff out by trading instead of spending a bunch of money up front on something that might not work for you.

About re-bloom~I've heard that people from warmer climates such as yours have a lot more luck with re-blooming irises...for sure on the Tall Beardeds. A lot of reported re-bloomers are only truly re-bloomers if they're in zone 8 and up.

This message was edited Jul 27, 2005 4:39 PM

Well I'll be sure to update with pictures in the spring. The only issue now is fitting in the 60 or so irises I have coming and the remaining 15 daylilies:)

RNB68--I know the feeling. I got 2 boxes of TBs yesterday & I'm expecting a dozen dwarfs to hit me next week.

Ask Lauiref where she buys. Laurie specializes in Medians: MTBs, SDB, & IBs. She has an incredible range of medians.

Wanda,
Thanks, Laurie is great and has steered me in the right direction:)

I am quite proud of myself...I went out this morning before it got too hot and planted out most of what I had in pots. About 15 hems and 20 assorted irises. Had to get the staging area ready for the new arrivals:) DH can't believe how much I've been able to cram in our 5500 sq ft lot!

Laurie is awesome! I've got a dwarf trade coming out of Delaware and I'm throwing some of them at her. She loves those little ones!

Good grief, Wanda! I forgot all about those! When are you expecting them to show up? I'm running out of planting time here. YIKES!

Laurie

I just called her. She was fighting 100 degrees heat but cooled off this morning. I'm expecting to get to them soon. I'll send let you know the minute they show up here....

I bought a bunch from here, she's got excellent prices, and doesn't charge an arm and a leg for shipping either.

http://www.iris-garden.com/index.html

woops, that link was for SDB not MDB's, but I still bought abunch of SDB's from her. and she sent me quite a few extras.

kathy