Japanese and Siberian irises

For some reason JIs have always been expensive. If you check with Ensata or Aitkens they seem to be more or less uniform, and there are no places I know of that discount them. Unlike bearded which seem to vary greatly, even with the same cultivar.

And there really are not that many places selling JIs. The two above are really the only ones that have a large selection, and maybe this is why the price stays so high. I have catalogues from a few other places, and their selection is very limited, but they still average around $10.00 each. In fact one place Eartheart Gardens has almost all of them at just the flat rate of $10.00.

And it's not because they are hard, or even slow to grow, although some varieties are slow growing. Apparently just not many growers get into them.

Sibs are pretty much the same, although I think there are a few more growers for them, but the prices seem to stay right up there.

There is no Blue J of the beardless.

Several growers offer JI collections at reduced prices. These are named JIs of the grower's choice, so they are only a good deal for those gardeners who aren't picky about the cultivars they receive.

Aitken's - 6 different named JIs for $20.00
Ensata - 10 different named JIs for $39.00
Eartheart - 6 different named JIs for $40.00
Wildwood Gardens also used to offer a JI collection (8 different named JIs for $25.00), but the most recent catalog I have from them is 2002, so that information may no longer be accurate.

Thanks, Laurie. Do they say how big the divisions are?

Not that I remember seeing, pirl. That's my primary gripe with beardless sellers. Most of them don't specify division size.

If you've ever ordered any of these collections what are the size/sizes they send?

I'd be willing to try and order and photograph the results.

Let me clarify myself on two counts. First I was talking $10 for a division. I was thinking in terms of your suggestion of a four fan division though . The other clarification is that my name is John :) . BTW I bought the 10 special from ensata 2 years agol. they were only single fan divisions and some were duplicates. Only 1 has bloomed so far. I attributed this to the place I planted them in my garden and I plan to move them next year. On the other hand I bought single fan divisions from ourt local Iris society for 2 dollars in August of the same year and both of them bloomed for the last two years. If each of these were to be divided into single fans I suspect there would be 10 or more divisions. I believe I posted pictures of those two somewhere in this forum last year. To my taste they were beautiful.

Hi John,

I don't know why we automatically assume someone who loves flowers is female. Glad you joined us on this thread, though. I'll have to look for your pictures.

Pirl,

I had purchased the 10 for I'm pretty sure it was $39.00 from Ensata. In 2006 it went up to 10 for $49.00, and I think it may be back to $39.00 now. But anyway, I had 2 duplicates, which surprised me, as they were named vareties. They were almost all single divisions, with a couple of double. It took them three years to bloom. They were true to name, and were lovely, but in the end, I would rather have paid more, and had bloom sooner.

I have never ordered collections since.

Well, John, it's hard to tell your sex from here!

That reminds me of Victor Borge who told the story of his young grandson at a nudist beach for the first time and when he asked him if there were any little girls at the beach his grandson said he didn't know because they weren't wearing any clothes. Guess he was used to dresses for girls and pants for boys.

Our apologies to you, John.

I'll go look for those photos and report back, hopefully with a link so we can all see your JI's.

here is one of the 2 Posted.


John :)

That is certainly beautiful, John.

Looks like I've missed a lot of information while my computer was down. we are experiencing high winds and power outages in Cocoa Beach so lost service for awhile. Thanks to all that offered pictures of divisions, thank you so much for digging one up. It was a great photo, especially the back view.

John is your JI Pink Frost?

Mittsy

Mitsy I believe it is. I am very careless about names ,

Has anyone ever heard of an orange JI? I recently received seeds in a swap and the label was identified as Orange JI.

Not I, mittsy. Is the person who gave you the seed a grower of JI's?

No, I'm fairly certain that she got it from another trader as I recognized the handwriting of the other trader. Let's just leave it that i have doubts, limited amount of room to plant and didn't want to waste my time.

It's probably orange but probably not a JI.

I had a friend who moved to the Lake George area and said she left her Chinese iris in the garden of the home she sold on Long Island because she felt they couldn't live in a colder zone. I asked if she meant Japanese iris but she insisted it was Chinese. I had seen the plant and recognized the leaves, though it wasn't in bloom at the time.

Since I still haven't seen any Chinese iris that looks exactly like a Japanese iris I think she was simply confused and that may be the case with the seeds you have, too. I have grown the iris tectorum but it couldn't ever be thought of to be a JI and it wasn't orange.

Thanks, guess I'll check plant files.

There is no orange JI.

They are developing a light yellow one in Japan, but it's not on the market yet, so if it says orange or yellow it's not a JI.

LAs do come in orange (or at leasr orangey looking) and yellow.

Well thank you all on your input, now I'm curious as to what I do have. I guess I will take it to KY for Thanksgiving and try the wintersow routine. Maybe I can get one of my grandsons to monitor them for me until the end of April when we begin the trip back up North.

It seems we are on the same wave length. I have been out all day doing volunteer work for master gardeners. As I worked I thought about this thread and growing Iris from seed. Thats what I really like to do. I also thought about how Adolph Vogt who was a noted JL hybridizer grew his JIs. He potted them up and grew them in childrens plastic wading pools. I thought I could get some of those pools and put them in the driveway ( I haven't sprung this on my wife yet). So heres the thought.

Pirl if you make some crosses of Your JIs I will buy them for a dollar a seed. Who knows we may start something here. They sell tons of them on the daylily aution site.

I'll be trying that next year, John. I do have a few seedpods I'll be planting this year from crosses made by the bees. Thank you, very much, for the vote of confidence. I've done well with hybridizing daylilies so JI's will be a new experience for me.

That is one beautiful daylily. I just wish I had room for everything. Thanks for the pic.

We all have to find a way to have double decker gardens! Thanks for the compliment.

Timeinabottle, If I am correct then Louisville is about two hours from Owensboro? Do you think it will be cold enough to wintersow iris seed at thanksgiving?

Hi, Mittsy
It is down to about 40 tonight and has been in the 30s. I think that I would try and wintersow them just for curiosity sake.
Time in a bottle, I was wondering the same thing about the JI seeds. I pay more than a dollar a seed for newer dl seed crosses. I don't have any J Iris now so any would be loved by me.
I just finished my MG classes at Bowling Green this past June. I need some more hours to be accredited.
Teresa in KY

Hi Mitsy and blue grass mom.
Owensboro is about 2 hours west of Louisville and a little south. I was down at Evansville In recently which I believe is just across the ohio river from Owensboro. The people there were discusing weather it was zone 6 or 7.
I have only winter sown once and I sowed in January with great results.
I am going to ws a bunch of Oriental poppies though where they will go I dont know. I will probaly give them away .
Bluegrass mom I did my master gardening classes in Indiana and spend a day a week working at a Benedictine seminary and a half a day a week working ain a small city beautification project. I just love to garden :).

Winter sowing works great with Iris seeds. I've only had experience with TB's though. Last year I was given some wonderful Iris seeds to grow

Hazelnut Delight X Sweet Musette
Free Ride X Tiger Honey
Delirium X Cat's Eye

Several of them germinated and are now doing great. I am hoping for blooms next season, but it might take another year.

This year on October 6th, 2007 I planted another group of TB Iris seeds, they are still in the greenhouse, but I will take them outside soon and leave them until I open up the greenhouse again.

I was very surprised that Iris seeds are so hard to find. I thought I could find them as easy as daylily seeds, but not so. I guess all the hybridizers keep there seeds for themselves. So this coming spring I'm going to cross my own and see what happens. I have several large pods on my Immortality but I opened one of the pods to see if anything was there and it was just a balloon pod, no seeds. I have a few different JL's and a few SIB that I will try with. I love growing plants from seeds.

Anita - It's 90% yes, so far.

That's just one of my own hybrids that several people seem to like, including us.

CB - we have a TB pod in the refrigerator from last year. I guess there is no harm in trying to grow the seeds. If nothing happens at least it wasn't a waste of money.

Do iris seeds have to be refrigerated before planting? I'm going to try the mystery orange (JI) not. and would like to give them every chance of germinating.

You can buy JI seeds at www.hardyplants.com. This is where the ones I have in my garden came from. They also have a wide selection of other seeds. There is no selection there just a category mixed seeds.

Mittsy they give directions on how to germinate the seeds although I did it a little differently . then they suggest.

Thank you for sharing that hyperlink. It gives a lot of good information.

How long does it take for them to bloom from seed? Thanks for the link that is an interesting site.
I love gardening too plus introducing kids to it as a hobby!