What influences your choices of Irises?

I go for saturated color. Deep reds, deep purples, deep gold, brilliant yellow, pure white. I also like ruffles. I like almost all blues -- deep blue to pale blue. And I love the mixes of colors, especially in the yellow-orange-red-pink ranges - like Earthborn and Toasted Watermelon. I like plants that are good growers -- producing lots of babies and therefore lots and lots of flowers each year. And then there are the pinks, especially the ones that are true pink rather than salmon.

Definitely like good growers!

Good growers are a must. Sometimes one that grows in one climate, doesn't do so in another. When we go to conventions, I look for plants which I have seen do well in another climate & of course growing well in the convention climate.

At the convention, you learn a lot about the influence of climate. Last year many of the iris in Austin were not in very good condition due to to much heat and rain. Some survived and flourished. Those are the ones Texans and people in other hot wet climates should grow.

I was impressed with 'Silver Creek' from MN doing well the Sunday before the garden tours. I later bought it. any plant which blooms well in such diverse climates is worth a try.

I understand about the growing conditions in other climates, but wouldn't you say the NE has great growing conditions, IrisMA.? Maybe not as quick to grow as in Oregon, but it seems to me all sorts of bearded irises do really well here. The only problem I have ever had was some leafspot. I've very seldom lost any irises.

What would you say about our growing conditions for bearded, Lucy? I would love to hear it, as your conditions must be very similar to mine. I know Boojums are.

Susan, your original comment about the "pure/limited hybridization"?

quick iris lesson - an iris hybridizer creates a new cross or "seedling" and then tests it for a few years, all the time letting the plant make new clones or "increases". If they are satisfied with the plant, they "introduce" it. the first year they offer it for sale commercially is it's year of introduction, only they have it to sell and the price is the highest ever. Smaller growers like Keppel may only have 500 or so that first year, but a Schreiners tries to have thousands available. everyone they sell it to can then grow, increase and sell it, but the first several years or so it will still not be very available. as years go by it will either become a "staple" and sell well, or fade from view commercially if demand is low. So "limited" in terms of availability is really just "supply and demand".

if you cross cannas, you already know what "unknown parentage" is. But there are over 9,000 different Tall Bearded irises on the market today and many times that no longer being sold, so many are similar. The hybridizers I've spoken to always want a better plant or bloom or color or form or show-winning ability. An iris with a pleasing color, as Polly indicated, may be shorter or taller, have a duller or brighter color, smaller or larger flowr, or better or worse form. Schreiners seems to go after more floriferous plants. Black and Johnson over at Mid America seem to want sturdier and more garden viable plants, and Paul seems to like the smaller flowers. Ghio, Keppel and Blyth all seem to want more interesting unique colors. But the color is only the jumping off point for me. I want plants that have the whole package!

Have always adored rich jewel tone saturated colors, especially the blacks and reds. Hated the pales and pastels, they weren't as noticable. Now have discovered they are the ones that "play better" with others! And I like what Schreiner is doing, as my space is limited, and what Mid America fellas are doing, want a better garden plant that thrives.

Love Intermediate Bearded irises because they bloom first (can't get SDBs to bloom for me.) And Border Bearded irises because they are much more garden versitile, very useful for front of shrubs, and better in vases. Not much for minatures as with my poor eyes they are harder to see, nor the arils, just don't care for the colors and form. Am experimenting with Japanese iris, which I love but they don't like my soil.

The marvelous thing about irises, to each their own.

A good description of different hybridizer's visions. You may start out crossing 'any old plant' but after a few years a 'goal' opens up. My only IB seedling came about by accident, a cross on a plant which "would not pod", but did THAT time. You never know what the little darlings will do.

Polly--we are east of boojum, only 5 miles from the coast, NE of Boston. The soil is about 6.5 and siberians love it. We have very sharp drainage as the top soil had been scraped off for gravel & soil, so while it looked great, we found that it had to be built up. We had ponies at the time so the manure helped and DH keeps working on compost with leaves etc. Our main problem is creeping shade as trees colonized the area for over 30 yrs. until it could be sold. The back 2 acres are woods.

We have a long slow spring, which helps send BB irises out of class as the stems keep growing up. I have been working on keeping them under the 27" height which takes a bit. The SDBs love our area.While spring is slow in staring, being close to the ocean has Aug. with cool nights which shuts down possibilities for rebloom, or repeat bloom in the case of siberians (see shade comments). Our only repeater has been 'Chartreuse Bounty'. "Harbor Mist' which is supposed to do so does not, but repeats for our daughter in Ohio, z5, but while a few blocks from Lake Erie, her august nights staying warmer.

Tall beardeds with too much mesapotamica heritage like some of the ones from CA tend to rot, so we stay away from some hybridizers, although some of their plants are fine here. It is really a case by case basis & we check parentage in the R & I booklets. It is quite a lot to expect every plant to do well across a continent. Hope that this helps as it is very general.

Very interesting.

Thank you for the information.

We don't get much rot here. We are on sand, so the water never sits. That's why I tell everone they should try beardless, especially the Japanese. If we can grow them on sand, most people should be able to grow them.

I'm hoping SDBs love our area, that's mainly what I've been getting in the beaded lately. I'm just crazy over those Mid America intros.

Our soil is just slightly acidic here too. I've never had it tested, as no need to, since everything grows well from azaleas to lilacs, but I would guess around 6.5.

We're just a short distance from Lake Ontario, and that moderates our temps, too.

I would think that SDBs will do fine. A friend in
Rochester has no trouble. Every garden is different.

well, we have hardpack "Carolina red clay" otherwise known as unbaked brick. we're lucky if any water perks through, and after heavy rain, it is mud slip, doesn't drain worth a bean. I haven't tested it for pH: pine, oaks and azaleas thrivem. I toss in a handful of lime and gypsum in every hole, and pour sand, compost and anything available to increase drainage. but I don't even try to plant deep, as that seems to suffocate most everything.

North Raleigh is heavily forested, pines and hardwoods mixed, so getting enough sun is the main issue. some nights in the teens in winter, but not enough to help SDBs bloom I guess. Heat and humid summers. Just started crossing. I'm crossing anything that handles our soil and heat well.

Sounds like LAs and JIs would do well there. Maybe a little compost or peat mixed in the hole. Have you tried those, or don't you care for them?

What you can do Bonjon on the SDB if you really want to try them, and it worked in So Calif for me...all winter I would take the icecubes for the drinks and put on the plants I got blooms the following year...After a party I had one and half bags of ice leftover and that went there as well.

D

The IBs may do better because they have TB or actually 48 chromosome (tet.) which may helps them adapt. I'm not familiar with that type of soil.

sure you are, irisMA, look around Boston - it's called BRICK. LOL its why in carolina we have mostly brick homes, it's cheap! at NCSU they have brick sidewalks. have not yet tried LAs. the JIs I'm trying now, from Aitken's, are not thriving. after 3 years, one did bloom. just barely 6 hrs of sun anywhere. main problem with them is that they are planted in front of climbing roses which get a lime-sulphur spray. not enough sun anywhere else for roses or irises.

Dee you've told me this before. But I don't drink cold drinks in winter nor throw any parties! am hoping the SDBs you've sent me will thrive, and I'm trying 10 or so more, as you know. but no blooms yet (pout) we had a pretty cold winter, with 2 snows! maybe it's the humidity they dont like? the hollies behind them? not enough sun here, but they are planted streetside. they are growing.

SusanLouise, back to your original question [ unfortunately I learned in my 1st two frustrating years of growing, you absolutely cannot tell how an iris will be from a photo. too many variables. An awesome photo can sell a lousy iris like hotcakes - and a terrible photo will cause sales problems to a great iris - and like people, some just don't photograph well. I thought the first time I saw a photo of Decadence it was ugly - it's a breathtakingly lovely iris! just picking from the photos, I was happy with my purchases 45% of the time.

now I watch for growers I trust, hybridizers I like, irises I like in the parentage, and I go see iris display gardens every chance I get. even so, there will always be variables in adaptation to my climate and soil, but I did radically change my "Must Have" list after I started this way of picking.

change post to 'I'm not familiar with that type of soil flat on the ground. I remember the humid nights the summer we were in Raleigh almost 50 years ago. There were nice dirt tennis courts where you could play at night. Too hot for me during the day. I wouldn't have tried planting irises on them. :)

I find that many photos of iris in catalogs do not do them justice, and yes, a few do them too much justice. It is good to look at the Plant Files photos of iris to get an idea of what it looks like. There you will often find several photos of the same flower and can begin to get an idea of what it looks like in real life.
I have rarely been disappointed by the appearance of an iris in real life, but sometimes surprised by its difference from the photographs. I am not accusing anyone of attempting to deceive by photography, but it is just difficult to get an accurate and beautiful picture with so many variables like light, time of day, surrounding plants, local growing conditions.

To me one of the best examples of an iris doing lousy in photo is Lanai. Now if any of you really know me well you will know selfs are not my favorite, does not mean I do not like them, I just prefer alot of color...well the first time I saw Lanai, a friend of mine and myself did 6-7 gardens spending hours in them each in two days. Not until I got home and doing photos did I realize that I had taken Lanai picture in every single garden...the colors are very subtle yet very district...make senses no, but do they photo well NO...put that iris has many colors in it in OR, yet in Maryland and Virginia it did not...soil, ph, photo, sun, fertilizer you name it that is why.

D

Fascinating. We have heard lots of stories of irises looking different in different places -- that is a real example. I noticed a huge difference in what grow between Oklahoma, City and Austin, Texas. I think of the two as having similar climate etc, but obviously they don't -- and the iris hybridized in Texas did very well there. Iris from other places didn't do as well. But there were some that died in Oklahoma, as well -- but not as many.

Here are a couple of examples of Iris doing different things depending on area, soil, temperature:
Whispering Spirit was one I fell in love with at the Fresno Convention

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/36952/

My Photo attached

A bigger difference is Dusky Challanger
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/34789/

There is a likely hood that even the light colored one is DC maybe too acid, maybe too much lime, late freeze, not enough nutrients etc.
:)
A

Yes, I have seen Dusky Challenger vary even in my own garden. Don't know why. Weather perhaps? I like it darker. Maybe it needs fertilizer to get darker. I don't do much to mine.
Your Whispering Spirit is much brighter than the one in Fresno. I noted quite a bit of variation in the color of the ones on the website as well.
I find all of this interesting, but if you are counting on a certain thing, you might be disappointed.

as my DH would say to me, "if you dont' know where to start, throw a whole bunch up on the wall and see what sticks." That worked the first time he told me when I had a huge project to write, and it works for chosing irises. plant lots and lots, and then keep what you like best.

Personally, I wish more catalogues would show clump photos. Sometimes you get a better idea from a clump photo if you will like a certain iris. to me, Lady Friend is ugly in photos. But look at this one in a clump with other colors and the light just right, and the darn thing just blooms and blooms and increases like mad for me. it's the one in the forground, red

Lady Friend is brighter in gardens in this area (I don't grow it). Again I suspect a difference in soil.

Pajaritomt, can you post a pic of Toasted Watermelon? The name sounds so neat.

I haven't got a picture of my own, but I will post a link. I just got it in the fall and it may bloom this year, but perhaps not until the next one:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/36811/

That is a beautiful color!

I love it. This is what I mean by blends of colors. There are so many different colors blended in together in that iris.