Bearded Iris Questions

Its been years since I had bearded Iris. Except for the old clumps that came with the house (indestructable) I managed to rot all my bearded iris.

Now, anything I had never grew tall stalks with the heights listed for some of the new TB. I am really confused. Are the flowers bigger on the tall bearded compaired to the intermediate? Or is it just that the stalks are taller? I must have had intermediates. I got them locally from various packaged displays at local stores. They did grow but always died out in a year or so.

I now know better on how to plant are care for the beared iris and will not make the same mistakes of heavily mulching over them again.

I look at the flower pictures of the TB posted here and I just want to drool. At least I expect they are TB. I don't even know were to start on what to choose.

I had another thread on buying reblooming iris and started a list of rebloomers but have not gotten too far.

I got the mini catalog from Schreirers and they all look good to me.

The far southern & CA ones are TBs. Schreiners has a section of the smaller ones, but are mainly TB. Irises need at least a 1/2 day of sun.

Does it matter were they were hybridized as far as hardiness goes?

Also, on the posts were people show thier pictures of bearded iris blooming, usually its not said that they are TB. Are they usually TB unless it states otherwise?

I have never seen stalks 3 feet or taller in person. Actually not even close to that. Every Iris I have ever seen blooming you have to look down at and I am only 5'3"

What I am looking for are large fancy flowers. Ruffles are good and blended colors are lovely to me.

How do they determine the lenght of the flower stalk? Is it measured from the tallest flower to open?

I like the 36" stalks, don't really care for the taller ones. Irises are measured from the stalk insert into the rhizome to the top of the standards on the terminal blossom.

Heres the list of what I truely would like to order at Scheiners. They are not listed as rebloomers, just that they are so striking . All newer varities. I really like the ruffling on the newer stuff.

Rio Rojo
Standing Proud
Captain's Choice
Aristocracy
First Wave
Naughty Nights
Parisian Dawn
Time Zone
Visiting Royalty
Merchant Marine
Impulsive
Hold My Hand
Glamour Pants
Evening Drama

Plants should be at least 18" apart, maybe 20" See how much space you have & then choose.

I always thought these were tal bearded in Illinois. BEV

They are. Plant height s differ. TB irises are from 28" up.

I keep going thru the collections listed on the Schreiners site. They have three pages of collections available but many isis are in multiple collections. I figgure these are popular items. What I have been doing is picking out indivuals ones the collections that I really, really like and adding to the cart. So far only have finished up going thru the first page of collections while doing that.

I don't see how one can possibly choose by going thru the a-z listings, there are just too many. Then when I get done I will be able to start to wittle my list down from the selections shown in my shopping cart.

Not going to be buying today anyway. This is just a good way to make selections for me. Plus I still have to go out with my tape measure and see how much room I have. I should have at least 4 times as many in my cart as I have room for.

1. it does matter where they were first grown to me. hybridizers chose the "best plants" to cross, and sometimes that's a plant that won't do well in other microclimates. Ghio and Blyth both hybridize in coastal areas of moderate climates, and I keep hearing they don't do well elsewhere.

In rebloomers, it's very important. the majority Suttons' hybridizes in CA won't rebloom north of zone 8b, much of the USA. Don Spoon at Winterberry hybridizing in the Appalachians in zone 6 is a much better choice for where I live in zone 7.

2. some folks don't know the difference between irises classifications. but yeah, I think on the marketplace the TBs outnumber all the rest, and folks tend to leave the TB off.

3. the vast majority of the ones such as you've bought (based on the kind of stores you mention) were likely commonly available TBs, once in a while they'll throw in a popular IB or BB. I've not seen a store carry SDB, MTB or MDB. based on what I've seen, they are NOT particularly good specimens of those irises, either. the ones I've seen are immature and 3/4's dried out and withered, even dead.

if you buy a set of 3 irises in a packet at Wally World for $5.95, chances are you'll get babies and only one will survive. about three years later it might bloom. They'll weigh less than an once each by the time you get them. I'll spend $6 (including shipping) for the same iris from a grower, and my plant will weigh 8 to 14 ounces and be of blooming next-year size. my grower will guarantee it's the right plant, or replace it, and some will guarantee that it will bloom. I'll have blooming plants for 3 years and a full blooming clump by the time yours bloom. same cost.

4. if they bloomed for you after a year from such a plant, that may have exhausted them. "bloom out". another thing to remember is something an iris society member will tell you very very quick: wholesalers that deal in large volume and don't specialize in just irises tend to overlook the names and bundle anything of similar color with the hottest best selling, most requested names. but you might be getting a far inferior plant variety with a nearly identical looking bloom. I've heard estimates that one in ten is wrong, all the way to four in ten is wrong.

5. I looked for Tb irises in stores and garden centers for 20 years before I found a Cooleys catalogue! the old irises are usually pass along plants. the new ones tend to come from specialty companies that often support a hybridizer, or a hybridizing partnership.

to be honest, even the most expensive local garden centers, when they do get an iris in a pot, have it planted SO WRONG it isn't funny and don't have the correct tag. I saw a potted War Chief here in town at the top $$ garden center. WC sells for as little as $3 bareroot and dormant. they put it 4" deep in the soil and wanted $15. a hot new horticulturist in town sold me a Sib that I have confirmed must have been a species or bog iris, no SIB specialist can help me find another or even a name. not the way to buy irises!

6. I always hear the older iris varieties were sturdier than the new, that goes for most plants, too.

7. I have heavy clay soil. everything blooms shorter here, so I pay close attention to heights.

but, yeah, I've been to the growers in ID, OR and WA, and theirs, being grown by experts, with expert knowledge of culture and prime culture conditions, get VERY tall.

one that grows tall here - Sky Search. I'm also 5'3 3/4" - well, I used to be anyway. Sky Search bloomed chest high on me on its maiden bloom here.

I have good soil because I ammend my garden beds. But I have learned from daylilies that the conditions of the southern growers can not be duplicated in average northern garden conditions. Nor do I have any interest in pushing plants to those extemes and doing so.

I guess those cheapo iris at the bargain stores were no bargain because they are all dead. Yes, most did bloom the following year and after that they died or never bloomed again.

Were did Ghio and Blyth each hybridize? I see I have selections in my cart from both hybridizers as well as Black and Schreirers own.

these are the ones I've contacted, bought from, or met:

Joe Ghio - San Fran area google Bay View Gardens
friend/associated with Bill Maryott, no longer doing irises
Blyth - coastal Australian, just off the beach google Tempo Two iris
Keith Keppel,
Mid America Garden (P Black and T Johnson),
Schreiners/ muliple generations - all in Salem OR area
Cooleys - multiple generations
and formerly Meeks, their neighbors - 13 miles north of Schreiners
Chadwick /Sandhills - deceased, southwestern Idaho, not far from
Boise
Aitken Salmon Creek- Aitken and others associated with him
Vancouver WA
Opal Brown - deceased, northeastern OR
Superstition - Duncan and Rogers - eastern mts of CA, I think
Kerr, Suttons, and several others - CA
Winterberry/ Don and Ginny Spoon, and others associated with them - within about 10 miles of the west Viriginia border in north west VA
Pollyk - NY
anita Moran - Maryland
Cayeux - French import
Bianco - Italian import,
Dee Stewart at Snowpeak carries lots of his, in Lebanon OR, southeast of Salem
Zurbrigg - deceased, last location Durham NC
there's one in Canada - oh, i've forgotten his name

JIs, sibs
Bauer/Coble - ensata.com, near Kalamazoo MI
there's a bunch of german imports on sibs, it seems I saw that somewhere.

by the time you get done with this, Rita, you're going to need to join us at the American Iris Society! you'll be quite knowledgable.
If you are located on Long Island, I don't know of a club there, but there's some in NJ and one in lower Hudson valley/southeast NY.
www.irises.org, check for regions and you'll find all the nearest local clubs. you will learn a TON. your local society can tell you many that grow well in your area.