JI Tour at Mt. Pleasant Iris Farm

SOUTHERN SON

SNOWY HILLS

The color of SHIHODEN was hard to capture on my camera. The depth is amazing.

TOTAL IMAGE

TRANCE is another of my favorites.

TROPICAL STORM is gorgeous!

TUPTIM

YUKICHIDORI

That's it for now, folks. I'm going to start a new thread for the pics I took at Aitken's Salmon Creek tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed these!

Will be watching the Co-op forum.

Yes, keep watching for the co-op. I know the Aitken's are doing it for sure, but it may be the beginning part of July before they have time to make the list up.

OK Laura

Fess up now, how many did you buy

These are my favs
Dirigo Devil
Danslur Noble
Dirego Red Rocket
Frosted Plum
Tropical Storm

D

I haven't bought any...yet! LOL!

I'm looking at buying:

CAPRECIAN BUTTERFLY
DANSEUR NOBLE
HEKIUN
JAPANESE HARMONY
LION KING
KYOKUSHO
RASPBERRY CANDY
SOUTHERN SON
TRANCE

I already grow TROPICAL STORM and DIRIGO DEVIL. They're both very nice!

BTW, I picked up your JAPANESE HARMONY while I was at Chad's today. It's so big that it had to go into a 5 gallon pot. I can bring it to the next meeting if you'd like, unless you're going to be in the area to pick it up.

Beautiful Iris! I had never seen a Japanese Iris unti last year. I hope I can get in on the co-op.

Sandy

I hope you get in on it too, Sandy. JIs are generally hardy in zones 4-9, but I always recommend that people in zones 4 and 9 talk to other people who grow JIs in similar conditions to see which ones will do best for you. As with most plants, certain varieties do better in extreme cold and heat than others. If you don't know anyone in your zone that is a grower, I would be happy to inquire with some local growers here that might know.

Some will grow just fine in zone 3 as well. For those of you in zone 3, I suggest you talk with DG member laurief to see what she grows successfully.

Thanks Laura. I will probably just try a few at first, and put them in partial shade-or even full shade out of the blistering afternoon heat. Do they do well in pots-I could put them in 15 gallon ones?

I don't know any growers here, so I would be grateful for any information you could find. Thanks so much,

Sandy

They do ok when they're temporarily in pots, but they grow fast so I wouldn't recommend permanently growing them in anything smaller than a 20 gallon.

I would plant the ones you buy in morning sun and afternoon shade. The intensity of your morning sun (until about 1 p.m.) should be plenty to produce good growth and bloom.

I'll ask around and see if anyone knows certain types that do better in warmer climates.

Laura

I really like all but my FAVORITES would be

BLUSHING SNOWMAIDEN
CAPRECIAN BUTTERFLY
DANSEUR NOBLE
DAMSEL DELIGHT
DIRIGO RED ROCKET
HEKIUN
LION KING
RASPBERRY CANDY
REIGN OF GLORY
PLEASANT SANDMAN
PLEASANT STARBURST
TROPICAL STORM

Do you have any particulars yet ? price and sizewise ?

Well, all of the JIs in Chad's garden look great because he grows them so well! However, if I had to choose a few favs from your list they would be:

BLUSHING SNOWMAIDEN
DANSEUR NOBLE
PLEASANT SANDMAN
TROPICAL STORM

Hi Sandy~

John from Ensata Gardens says that most JIs are the same. They all need at least one month of rest at 30 degrees or below. However, in warmer climates like yours they need to remain moist at all times and acid soil is a must. When you plant them, make sure your weather is below 85 degrees.

Some recommendations he had for your climate are that Ensata Gardens carries would be:

PRAIRIE CHIEF
PRAIRIE GLORY
STRUT AND FLOURISH
ORIENTAL EYES
MACHE MUSUNE
SHII NO HOMARE
ESPATA

Great thread. Did you have a secretary to help keep all the pictures straight. I always forget to write one down and blow the whole list. I am printing out your recommendations for future purchases. Patti

LOL...a secretary! No, sometimes I wish I had a personal assistant, though!

I just write the names down on a piece of paper and number them so that I know which pictures I took of what.

Laura

This is the trick I used yesterday to track pics I took at the Lily Symposium in Vancouver. I took a 4X6" spiral notebook with the lines prenumbered. Then all I had to do was write in the name of the cultivar or scene. Every 10 or so pics I would check the numbering on the camera to ensure it jived with my written record. When I dumped to the computer last night, a different jpeg number was automatically assigned to each picture so I just reassigned the new numbers, which fell into place sequentially, to identify the pics. Having the small spiral notebook was a big help as it provided the firmness needed to write as I walked the field.

Thanks for the info, Laura. Gosh, we only have a few freezes, if any during the winter. Most dwarfs don't do well here. I may have to rethink this, or at least come up with a better plan.

The good thing about our area is that the bearded iris do very well.

Sandy

Yes, TBsm MTBs and BBs would do really well there. You can probably find several IBs and and SDB/MDBs that will do okay as well, but it'll be by trial and error since a lot of them do much better in colder zones. If you want to grow SIBs and JIs, you'll have to try them out to see which ones will grow for you.

On the brighter side, you can probably grow PCIs. They are beautiful and most of them won't grow anywhere but along the west coast. Check out these threads for some ideas.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/603613/

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/593744/

Thanks Laura. I do have a few IBs that are doing well, and I ordered a few from Snowpeak. I only had one SDB that did well, Raspberry Jam, the others were not happy and I sent them off to Maine.

The PCIs are stunning, I may try a couple of those.

Sandy

Do JI's get iris borers?

What I with the digital for keeping track of pictures, I take a picture of the name tag then a picture of the iris. Now do not need to worry. Just make sure that you always do it in the same order.

D

caitlinsgarden~from what I understand, all irises can get borers. However, I think the beardeds tend to get them the most often.