Japanese and Siberian irises

One large JI place charges the $25.00 but another (the largest) charges $8.00. Quite a difference! Those prices were as of August 2007. I have no problem packaging and keeping them wet but one package I sent is still on the road (within NY state) for SIX days now!

Part of the dilemma, for me, is the differences I've seen in plants I've received. One sent four fan divisions of most and another place sent two fan divisions. That's 100% difference. One was a single fan and that bothered me since it wasn't even expensive.

I know, personally, I'd love to get 4 or more fans but it's sometimes a case of how easily they divide ... or not.

Well, here I was pondering my thoughts as Polly and Mittsy posted!

I'll keep thinking about the postage. I'm quite peeved at the post office right now.

I'm always willing to pay the extra for Priority, but I too get annoyed when 4, 5, or even more days go by and it's not delivered. When you have the confirmation number sometimes you can track and sometimes you can't. I don't believe all stations post arrival /departure times. The real annoying part is that after it takes so long, they won't refund the payment. So basically we have no recourse.

We'd all like to send and receive 4 fan rhizomes, but sometimes it's just not possible, I think it is more important that this is stated up front. So the buyer knows what to expect. Good communication is the key to both parties being pleased with the sale. I dislike substitutions. Many sellers automatically substitute similar merchandise. If I am getting something special for someone's wish list, I don't want a substitution, because I will still have to search elsewhere to fill that need.
I would have no problem with 10 different labeled JI for $XXX. I would know in advance that I would be getting 10 surprises. I bought many of my McEwen Siberians mail order from Maine this way and got a lovely mix with a lot of variety at very reasonable prices. They were all labeled with the name. The varieties changed each year depending on which plants were ready for dividing. However you decide to do it, I want in!

If it's Japanese Iris, I want in too. The darker colors are my favorites, but I love them all, a surprise mix would work for me. Pam

I'm blushing!

I guess I'll do it then.... I think.

The post office is out to drive ME postal! It's true, we have no recourse and they're not worried about the health of the plants or how late a birthday present might be, etc. I have traced the package to one location and it was there the day after it left here. So then I'm left to wonder why it sits in one spot for five days! Super aggravation!

I agree with you, mittsy, about substitutions and I detest them and don't want them. When the excuse is made that they're more expensive that what I ordered it gets me crazy. If I want violet and then send an expensive white I'm left with a vacancy! Horrors! It means another order. Seriously, I do hate when they do it. I usually write No Substitutions in huge letters and I also tell them I'd rather have more of anything I ordered than have them select something for me.

I have many dark colors, catlady, and many light ones, too. From pinks to raspberry (violet) and purples to white, low to tall. It's hard to see the darker ones in this photo due to the location of the sun. The photo was taken from the kitchen that's why those reflections of roses are at the lower edge.

Siberians are lovely and I'd use them more if we weren't so totally possessed with planting about 1200 to 2000 plants during May. I seldom have time to see them but I do have a few. I have a friend who has a nice collection if you need Siberians next year. Maybe if I do sell she'll be inspired to sell, too.

I guess I should have added that I was late getting inside tonight as I planted another 35 brand new JI's. Someone stop me before we have no grass!

Beautiful photo, if you are thinking of supporting your addiction you might want to consider selling notecards of your flowers. They're pretty easy to make with cardstock and a deskjet printer.

Thanks. I just see what's wrong with my own photos - like the glare on the glass, the driveway across the street, etc. I'd have to do close-up photography to be happy with the results.

Frilled Enchantment - one of my favorites.

Oh Pirl, They are all beautiful. I would be thrilled with any of them!! If you decide to sell some, please, please put me on your list. (Tongue hanging out and drooling) Pam

Have to tell you about a 5 week delivery of sibs & JIs.

This was about 4 years ago. They landed in Canada at the beginning of a wildcat Canada Customs strike so ........ guess what........

Finally collected them after 5 weeks and everything lived over the winter with the exception of one little one. This is a tribute to Iris City Gardens and their amazing packaging. We were expecting total disaster. The iris had grown quite a bit in the dark which was amusing.

So, I wouldn't worry about five days or so.........

inanda

pirl, I don't even remember how I "found" myself here LOL But that 'Frilled Enchantment' is BEAUTIFUL!! I'll second catlady's request, "please, please put me on your list" :)

Debbie

Thank you, catlady. I'll keep your name on my list ..... if I decide to do it.

Thanks for the good word, Inanda. I'm so glad I took more time to soak it first, then add a good packing material to keep them wet. It's just so irresponsible of the USPS to take a week within the same state! I was very happy with my order from ICG - great packaging as all JI dealers I've dealt with so far have been.

rcn - thank you and I'll add your name to the list, too.

It's so hard to know how much I'll have of every plant. Some grow wild and crazy and others are "modest" in their growing habits.

A week within the same state..... That really is shocking.

When Dee ships to my US addy, rhz. are shipped by Dee on Monday and they aarrive in ND on Thursday.

inanda

I'm hoping to hear that my trade package has arrived in northwest NY. If this was really a business heads would roll but not so with the USPS.

Mittsy,

Why would you think it would not be possible to send out 4 fans? I would think that was absolutely possible. If a vendor has less than 4 fans to send, then maybe they should have taken less orders. 2-3 fans will not establish nearly as easily as 4 or more.

And I don't like subs either. I always put on the order form to contact me before making any subs. Some of the vendors only take checks, and before I would have them re-imburse me, I would like a sub, but I want it to be a sub I pick. Many have honored this request, some do not. I especially was ticked when one of the big JI vendors sent me a sub for one I really wanted that did not say sold out on the web page. And the sub they sent me was a JI I had ordered FROM THEM the year before, and it had multiplied tremendously.

polly, let's be sure we are talking about the same thing with four fans. I am describing one rhizome with four fans coming from the one rhizome. Are we on the same page with this? Or are you thinking of 4 separate fans?

I think perhaps mittsy is referring to bearded irises while the rest of this thread is referring to beardless, specifically Japanese. In truth, any single rz (bearded or beardless) only has one fan of leaves. A single rz does typically grow additional rzs (increases) along its sides, and each of these increases will have its own fan of leaves.

Bearded irises are typically sold as a single rz which may or may not have visible increases starting to grow along its sides. Beardless irises are generally sold in divisions of 3-5 rzs, sometimes more depending on the seller.

Laurie

Laurie, of course, explained it perfectly.

You start with a single rhizome, and then it has offshoots. Each offshoot is considered a fan. So 4 fans would have 4 rhizomes.

A fan on a bearded iris really looks like a fan. The beardless less so, but it still consists of numerous leaves coming off a rhizome.

I tried to find a picture of a beardless fan, but can't seem to find one.

Here's the AIS defintion.

http://www.irises.org/ais820.htm

Here's a picture of a couple of fans of Iris ensata variegata (variegated Japanese iris).

Hey, that's looking good.

OK Mittsy, just for you my friendly neighbor, I went out and dug a rhizome of a JI.

Here's a one fan division. The dark part is the rhizome, roots are the lighter part.

Another pic.

And one from the back of the rhizome where the fan attaches.

Often if you receive a beardless iris plant in the mail, and they are the least bit dry, the rhizomes will seperate.

You should get one bloom stalk from each rhizome/ fan.

Thank you, pollyk. What polly shows in the photo is what I'd want to receive or send but four of them connected - to me that's a division but that may not be technically correct.

I've never been able to send just one fan. They don't separate well for me!! (How did you do that Pol?) And I don't consider it polite either!

I received one that way from the top company in JI's - also a division with 2 fans. The single fan actually died back and didn't grow at all for a year. Now it's three seasons later and there's never been a bloom. I'd have to go see it but I'm sure there's just that one fan/division/rhizome.

I did it very, very, very carefully.

First I hit it with a really hard stream of water from the well, then I slammed it on the concrete. And finally jumped on it with a shovel.

Normally they don't come apart quite that easily. It's a newer one, Imperial Magic.

Funny!

I use a very sharp thrift store knife - a very strong one!

Getting back to what we'd all like to receive:
So what shall we call it? A fan, a rhizome or a division.....or a division with four fans?

I think a division does not imply a certain size.

Please correct me, anyone, if I'm wrong on this. I think you could have a two fan division, or a three fan division, etc.

I think the best way to phrase it would be you are selling four fan or more divisions.

How does that sound?

Four fan or more divisions would do it for me but I'd also like the opinions of others. Would that be FFOMD? :-)

Appears to be First Flower Open (in) Maryland!

I have been reading this thread for a while now, a lot of good information. I decided to move a Iris ensata variegata this fall and wanted to take some to the plant swap, I was told to not make the plants smaller that 4 fans, I was told it would take a long time to get that plant established in the garden if I would have divided up into individual fans. So I left several fans and everyone was happy with there new plants. I was looking at JI's on ebay and a lot of them were single fans, so I decided not to bid. I like getting a nice plant that's not going to take forever to get going in my garden. I'm looking to add some JI to my garden, I have 3 and would love to purchase from someone here on Daves. I will also be looking for Siberian and Reblooming TB's come spring. When I sell my hosta or daylilies on ebay I use the word Division, but I always state how many eyes on the hosta or how many fans in the daylilies.

I think the easiest way to identify what you are selling is to state something like, "3-5 fan division" or "divisions include a minimum of 3 fans".

Far too many beardless iris sellers neglect to specify division size in their catalogs, which I feel is a serious mistake. When division size is not specified, I always contact the seller for clarification before submitting an order. Either that, or I just move on to a different seller who does advertise their division size.

Laurie

Too many places say "#1 Division", which tells me nothing but that they're being elusive.

Good idea on the wording, Laurie: you are so good with words!!!

CB: Even the 3 fan divisions do well, especially when they arrive in the fall because they're already energized to increase. I plead my age as the reason for wanting 4 fan divisions and that's what I'd be aiming for. At this point in life I really don't want to wait five years to see the flower.

Pirl I have been puzzling about how to answer your question about a reasonable price and have still not come to an answer that is really satisfying to me. My garden is now so crowded that I would have to get rid of plants to put in anything more. Still like most of the rest of us under this obsession I will keep on buying. For a 4 or 5 fan division I would certainly be willing to pay 10 dollars or so for about 5 plants. I am particularly interested in the 6 fall JIs in the lighter colors or the etching like the one in your picture. I have about 10 JIs that I started from seed last winter and they are now about 3 ft tall so I am hoping they will bloom next year so I can decide weather to keep them or toss them, if I toss them I will be interested in getting more. I hope my price range isnt insulting to you.

While it isn't insulting it would be impossible for me to sell them at that price. With the digging, cleaning, dividing, etc. it just wouldn't be worth it. I'd probably go a bit below the average lowest price for that particular cultivar. I have a few in the $30. to $35.00 range so you can see why I just couldn't sell them at $2.00 each. Even those that I paid $10. and $12. for I couldn't sell at that price. Sorry!

Keep those seedlings until they bloom. You just might have something you adore!

I guess if I could buy the same named iris that I'm paying an average of $10.00 for, and get a four fan division for $8.00 (for example), I would be very happy. If the shipping was not higher.

I too have paid $30.00-$35.00, for a Japanese Iris, and would not expect you would sell those for $8.00. I wouldn't.. But if the price was at least a couple of dollars off, and you would guarantee the divisions to be of 4 fans for example, it would be a good deal.

$2.00 would not be worth anyones time to dig, divide, replant, box and ship, but might you consider an un-named mix for a price like 4 for $20.00? Maybe for the people who are just starting out, or that don't care about names. That is somthing I don't think the big JI growers offer.

OK, I'm getting confused. Are we talking about price per division or price per fan? And if we're talking about price per division, are we talking about 4-fan divisions? If we're going to make pricing recommendations, we need to be clear about what the price refers to.

I was speaking of a four fan division.

I may have misunderstood Timeinabottle, if she was talking about 2.00 per fan.

The standard way JIs are sold is per division, which is normally (in my experience) a 2-4 fan division, and they are priced per division, not per fan. So for my average of $10.00 per plant, I am getting one division of 2-4 fans.

I, too, seemed to have understood timeinabottle to mean she'd pay $2.00 for a four fan division. If you can find them at that price do let us know and we'll all be ordering 50 4-fan divisions for $100.00!

Yes, laurie, my intention would be to sell each division having 4 fans.

Great idea, polly, for a mix of JI's as an offering.

That would be a steal! I would like a garden full, please.

Me, too, Teresa!