Which all white (or mostly white) Iris would you choose?

Hello all,

I'd like to get an all white Iris...and my head hurts deciding...

America's Cup?
Arctic Express?
Here's Heaven?
Forever Blowing Bubbles?

I think most of them have gotten awards...
I know that they all vary on bloom time, but goodness, which would you choose?
Do you know of a better one, or a different one you might prefer or already have?
Any help would be greatly appreciated :)

We used to grow 'America's cup' which did well even in our climate. Elizabeth Poldark is nice as well as'Touching Moments'. The last one just came out last year so you might want to wait awhile until the price comes down.

Hi
Remember these are my personal Opinions
also remember you really need to see them in bloom in your area to make a good decision

America's Cup is Ok prone to rot here

Arctic Express Occasionally will throw a stalk with only two falls on all the flowers not real happy about its appearance

Here's Heaven This has great substance good form little skimpy on the beard but then I love real thick beards just a good iris

Forever Blowing Bubbles saw it at the 2008 convention in Texas where there were a lot of problems and it did ok. Agree with IrisMA wait on this one.

Some others you may want to consider

Lady of Leoness - (Spoon 2000)This is one you may want to consider (included)

Frosted Fantasy TB-SA (Cadd 2001)

Devonshire Cream - more a "creamy" white
Lacy Snowflake

"Zurich"...its a prolific re-bloomer for me....

sorry I don't seem to have any better photo's.....

I asked Keith Keppel this question last year. I was looking for an outstanding white. Of course, the hybridizing trend is toward color, color, color and how to get it so my question seemed a little out of touch. He responded with a reference to Arctic Express.

Personally, I have one called Christmas that put on a good show last Spring and loved Laced Cotton as well. I am a zone 5b.

Irisawe

Hello All,

Bless your hearts! thanks for all of your great input and pics!!!!

Avmoran,
LOVE your 'Frosted Fantasy' pic!!!
I was deciding between a couple of other SA's that were all white too...'Mesmerizer' (Byers 90') and 'Free Space' (Sutton 99')

Good Grief! So hard to make a decision!

Mrsj,
Thank you for posting your lovely pics too :)

For me, it's Immortality. It's the only Iris that will actually rebloom for me in zone 4. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/33211/

I don't have it but I've always liked all the photos of Got Milk and love the name:)

I love the photo of this one too--it's an arilbred called White Art.

Mesmerizer might be a good one--seems like most Byers iris were listed as rebloomers.

Remember, what may bloom in warm, dry climates might not rebloom for you.

Susan that pic is Lady of Leoness by Don Spoon
Sorry for the confusion

In three or four years, Immortality has never even bloomed once for me......

Neil I am waiting to so I got I DO instead. It is said to produce 100% rebloom seedling in the F1 generation although a good percentage (60-80%) are white. I have seen some good things off it and will hopefully use it this year I just wanted it to bloom last year
:)
A

Immortality blooms and reblooms well here. Tons of people have it in our area. Maybe it needs a little more cold?

I don't grow very many whites, but Winterfest is the best of the bunch. Received it as a bonus from Schreiners a few years back and it has turned out to be a very nice bonus indeed. Vigorous growth and beautiful flowers (pictures just don't capture how pretty they really are). It's my wife's favorite iris out of the 100-some in the garden. Soil conditions and weather are obviously pretty similar between Lincoln and Beatrice.

I've never gotten a very good picture of it, but posted the best one I have in PlantFiles:

This message was edited Mar 11, 2009 1:01 PM

Immortality is infamous for being a slow starter, although 3 to 4 yrs. is a bit much. Even reblooms here, however. The IB 'I Bless' is a very reliable rebloomer. the flower is a bit large in spring, but correct size in fall. It's also white, which would give an early white while waiting for the TBs.

my sinuses are in agony, but let's talk about irises!

Immortality really goes to town here, and reblooms for me. cannot think if it's a TB or tall BB. it's short stuff

Bridal Wreath also does well, almost as well as Immortality on growth, but bigger, showy blooms. on the short side.

Laced Cotton was my first favorite white, and grows well here, taller than most others.

Lark Ascending - have always loved this nice tall one. Grows well enough, among the first to bloom, love that beard!

Devonshire Cream became an instant favorite with it's first bloom, and has grown very very well. Also very tall, moderate increase. Love the rich cream color and the ruffles! Got lots of comments and was among the first whites to bloom. (most of my whites bloom mid- late)

Got Milk bloomed, nothing to write home about, then rotted.

Elizabeth Poldark (sent as a sub) rotted after a lousy bloom, and another one (another sub) knocked my socks off with such huge feminine blooms, but it's not increasing well.

Arctic Age - nothing in my notes 2007 planting

Bridal Crown is bright white with a gold wire rim edge - have always loved it, it needed division after two years due to growth. Another early bloomer

Diamond Bracelet, planted in 2007, I stumbled and broke the stalk - darn, but I loved it in Schreiners' gardens. can't remember, diamond dusted? I think so.

Mesmerizer - SA planted 2007, not a great first bloom but Conjuration and some other SAs were like that on first bloom and came back to wow me. looking forward to seeing it this year

Arctic Encore - nothing to write about on the bloom, I think it rotted and I didn't even notice

Fimbriated Space - SA and taller, survived where others rotted, but not much to write about. a nice bright white, though. Thought it was supposed to be frillier.

Immortality is a 30" TB. TBs start at 28" so short talls are not borders!

I have a beautiful clump of Immortality .... it just won't bloom. Everyone else in that bed blooms up a storm. We'll see what it does this year. And I'm rotating that section to a new bed this summer so that might inspire it to perform next year..... if not, it goes down by the road next summer.....

I planted Immortality and it bloomed the first spring for me. I am hoping this year it will rebloom. I have Lark Ascending which is magnificent in bloom, but for me it took a long time to start -- maybe 3 years, but I claim some responsibility for that. It is in a fairly shady area and the soil is not very deep. The fact that it blooms at all is a minor miracle.

I have added English Cottage, Winterfest, Skating Party and Zurich since then but this year will be their first chance to bloom. I was going though what you are going through last year -- wondering which is best. I still don't know, but do like the two whites that bloomed for me very much.

This is Lark Ascending:

Got to be one of the best whites. The beard really grabs your attention.

I really like it. I also liked Artic Express at Convention, but haven't tried to grow it.

I tend to plant a lot of whites because I love them planted with blacks!

sorry irisMA - my sinuses are robbing me of braincells today and I didn't bother to check my lists, knew Imm was one or the other. with my heavy red clay soil, everything blooms very short and I'm always having to double check the short TBs for classification.

Got Milk just died for me -- never bloomed. Same with Sugar Coated from Schreiner's which is not purely white but close. Would be pretty if it would grow!

For a rugged rebloomer, 'Lo Ho Silver' has been excellent for me. Rather bland, I think the
beard was white or silver, but it rebloomed for me this fall. Looks a lot like 'Immortality' but
is a really early bloomer. It is an intermediate, I believe, which accounts for the earlier bloom
cycle before the normal TB's.

I bought one in a co-op a few years ago named White Elephant but it hasn't bloomed yet.

If you really like an iris color, be it white or something else, watch the listed season of bloom. You can have them work through the season, early to late & enjoy a longer time in bloom. then start again with the medians, from dwarf to the tall & there is a really long period of fun.

The first time I saw Got Milk was in Hutchinson, KS, very impressive! It is a beautiful iris and does well for me. Another white that thrives here is Ermine Robe, Laced Cotton, and Alabaster Unicorn. Two IB's are Jersey Cream and Serene Song(pic). SS has an amazing fragrance.

If you want an Iris that stand during hurricane force winds reblooms until snow, starts reblooming when forcasters say the word hurricane increases like a rabbit then Lo Ho Silver is the iris for you
:)
A

one thing I don't know is lo ho silver, is it white, or grey white? it's always looked a bit silver grey to me, hence, I thought, the name.

This message was edited Mar 12, 2009 1:33 PM

All my iris pics were on a cd that mysteriously went blank but, as I recall, the color is not a
brilliant white but an "off white". I had Lo Ho Silver and Immortality in the same area and was
always confused as to which was which. One had a white beard and the other had a trace of
yellow or gold in its beard. The casual observer would call either white. I have some old whites
which have not been identified yet but are very close to 'Florentina'. They have a definite silver
blue cast to them but lo ho is nothing like that.

Thanks Oldgardenrose. I think that's the one, then, that I've been trying to remember and couldn't that I've been wanting to get, to see if I can get any reblooming genes in a cross I'm trying.

It seems more white in the fall than the spring but then everthing is getting ready to die back then so it is a bright spot in the yard

good to note, thanks. you want to trade one Anita? or maybe just send me some antlers? ^_^

Not A Problem I have a ton of it
:)
A

Monty Byers introduced 'Hi Ho Silver' a TB, so when he got this IB he named it 'Lo Ho Silver', just having fun.

oh I LOVE it when you find out how/why an iris is named! that's just too funny!

Jersey Bounce is a beautiful one that is on my WL too.