My historic iris bed was beautiful a few years ago. Occasiomally friends would come see..no sales. Then I tore up my right shoulder. I told 2 Drs. It needed surgery and they said it was just pulled muscles and didn't see me again until 2 yrs later when I filled out a veedback note and it was not good. Thhe surgeon actually called me and asked me to come back. Well my rotator cuff and biceps were torn. Soo another summer gone. Spring...all healed up until I slipped on a wet ramp and broke my leg. I am getting older and break easier!
I am finally healed and my bed looks almost like it never existed. Out of 90+ 1940 and older irises, I still have maybe 15. I have started clearing a.d preparing my beds again, my daughter is coming to visit and help.
I am looking for irises and I am willing to pay if not too expensive as I have spent about all I can. Please let me know if you can help out, what you have , and the cost.
TY
Debbie

Debbie, I hope the worst is behind you now and that you can get back to 100% this year. As we get older we do injure more easily and heal more slowly. I do not have anything to offer as my garden is in recovery mode from weather related events earlier this year. I do hope you find some historics and can begin to rebuild your iris garden. A lot of folks grow the older irises but a lot have dug for the Historic Iris Preservation sale and may be short of rhizomes.

Welcome to the iris forum.

Debbie. I'm sorry to hear that you have been battling injuries and that you haven't been able to look after your garden. I reside in Australia and unfortunately cannot assist.

Debbie how about joinig the Historic Iris Preservation Society( HIPS) It is a division of AIS. They are having a sale right now & probably too late to get in on it. However throughout the year you can get in contact with people who grow older irises.

One good place to get historic irises is Bluebird Haven Iris Garden. Their prices are reasonable as well.

http://www.bluebirdhavenirisga...

From this link, go to catalog, at the top. Then select a letter from the top and you will get a list with descriptions and pictures for most of them. If the names are highlighted in blue, then there is a picture available.

HIPS sale to the public [for non-members] begins on 22 July. Go to historiciris.org.

I belong to HIPS and have placed an order there. I have ordered a lot, but I still need about 15-20 to finish. I am not asking anyone to send me something free. I have been buying what I can. I am willing to pay for what I get! I can't buy just 1 iris from someone because by the time shipping is added in it makes the cost too high.

well there is always next year, she said hopefully (I missed out this year.)

Historic Iris Preservation Society maintains a list of vendors that sell historic irises. I would check them out https://www.historiciris.org/

I am also looking for a vintage variety of iris to replace some very sentimental ones I just lost to iris borers yesterday. I had a "Melanie" variety that I received from my grandmother that she bought nearly 75 years ago, and moved through 3 states, and She gave me some rhizomes and I have moved them twice. I found they were infested with iris borers yesterday and lost all but a very few. I'm heartbroken because grandma's house has been sold and there is no way to replace them from her.

Shay ~ to the Iris Forum!

If you click on the link in my last post, you will see that Melanie is available and it is 2 for $4.00!

Just click on the link, the at the top, click on catalog. Then, at the top click on "M". Then scroll down to the name Melanie. There are over 3000 varieties of historic irises, so you should be able to get more than a few to accompany it.

Shay
One thing you do need to address is the iris borer. Here is an old thread about them:
The thread "Theoretical borer musings" in Irises forum

shay.

Shay.