I am having trouble finding an online vendor of heritage irises in Australia that ships to Tasmania. There are places that may sell one or two heritage varieties but that is about it. I don't like the frilliness of modern varieties but frills seem to be all that is currently available. Can anyone suggest a company that ships to Tasmania and stocks older irises?

Moving this thread to the Iris forum.

I don't any vendors that sell heritage irises, but I think someone on the Iris Buy, Swap and Sell facebook page might be able to help you
https://www.facebook.com/group...

Robin ~ Not EVERYONE is a fan of Facebook.

evelyninthegarden said:Robin ~ Not EVERYONE is a fan of Facebook.

I found this comment to be rather rude and ill mannered. Its ok not to be a fan of Facebook and not use the platform, Evelyn, but please make allowances those who DO use it as a resource amongst other things.

After much research I have ended up with two companies that will post to Tasmania and that have one or two of the varieties that I like. I will be ordering from both of them when their season begins in a week or two. The biggest problem I had, though, was that the cost of the postage was going to be more that the value of the irises themselves. One company, Iris Splendor, is only around an hour away from me so I could always pick up my order but in the end I decided to just buy more plants and get them sent so I don't feel bad that the postage outweighs the purchase price. The other company, Sunshine Iris, has free postage for orders over $50 so I made sure to buy enough to get the free postage. There was an added glitch to this as I am eligible for a 5% discount on my first order so I had to buy an extra plant to ensure I was over the $50 mark to get the free postage. So in the end instead of buying the 5 unfrilly heritage irises I was wanting I have ended up with an order list of 13 assorted types and colours including one or two of the frilliest, frothiest flowers I have ever seen.

I used to have such an objection to the frilly frothy types--then I got one as a bonus and one on purpose and there is something quite enchanting about them, both from across the yard and up close and personal. I've since had to add a few more

Dirt, in your garden, which are your favorite ruffled or bubble-ruffled irises?

and
are my two solid "favorites", but I could go on...

this was the bonus that surprised me at how much I liked it when it bloomed and got me past my fear of froth

Belle Fille, if not my favorite this past spring, was certainly in my top 5... A real beauty..

The two Australian growers that I know of are:
Riverina Iris Farm: https://www.riverinairisfarm.c...
Christine was very helpful in identifying an Iris I had on the property when I moved here... She has quite a few older, vintage Irises..

and Tim and Marie Taylor of Riversdale Irises: https://www.riversdaleirises.c...
Very nice folks who I had the pleasure of meeting when they were out on our West coast a few years ago...

I had a good friend from Hobart.. We contributed to a recording project together, and then she sang back up on my first CD. She came out here to do some shows with me, reunited with an old friend, ended up marrying him, and eventually moved to Nashville.. Had you ever heard of Audrey Auld?

Sherry ~ That's a wonderful story!

Sherry - I have heard of Audrey Auld only because I know other musicians who are of the same vintage and they knew her from the local music scene in the old days, but I wasn't into country music so I never got to see her perform. From memory she left Tasmania at a young age (as most of us do - this is a small farming community with not much opportunity for artists of any type) to live on the mainland and then to the US where she died far too young.


Dirt - Those are very frilly indeed. I think the frilliest two I have on my list are Cotillion Gown and Just Crazy, which are so similar that I am thinking of dropping one from my list. The problem is which one to drop?

dirtdorphins said:

• Tall Bearded Iris (Iris 'Belle Fille')
• Uploaded by dirtdorphins

and

• Tall Bearded Iris (Iris 'Bluebird of Happiness')
• Uploaded by dirtdorphins

are my two solid "favorites", but I could go on...

this was the bonus that surprised me at how much I liked it when it bloomed and got me past my fear of froth

• Tall Bearded Iris (Iris 'Vanilla Frappé')
• Uploaded by dirtdorphins

Dirtdorphin,
I like the vanilla frappe and bluebird of happiness. They are pretty, but I will say they are a little more frilly/ruffled then what I usually gravitate towards but I like them.

In my quest for heritage irises without all the frilly bits I went down quite a few rabbit holes but none deeper than the bottomless oubliette of dwarf irises. I have discovered that many dwarfs are not only less frilly but also considerably cheaper. I found I can get two dwarfs for the same price as the tall heritage varieties I had been looking for plus as they take up less room I can fit more in. I also stumbled across another vendor near me but luckily she doesn't open for orders until December so I can fall in love with, and then lose interest in, dozens of varieties before ordering so I don't get too carried away and want them all.

I find this amusing because I too was first a fan of the dwarfs for their tailored form and then found so many other reasons to favor them
Of course, I have encountered a few that have aggravated me because of their wonky form--like they are trying to be ruffled and not even succeeding--and I have gotten rid of them. Still though, there are tons of garden worthy dwarfs.

Lola, see if you can find some Arilbreds too, they are amazing and would likely do very well for you

Regarding the two you mentioned above--Cotillion Gown is pretty awesome, and it is less frilly than Just Crazy

I had crossed Cotillion Gown off the list when I ordered Just Crazy from the 1st company but I will add it to my wishlist again. I had whittled it down to 6 items from that company but now I am back up to 12 with Cotillion Gown and the dwarfs. I can't order from them until they open mid-October so I can keep adding and subtracting until then. My biggest downfall was discovering that although my sheep would be poisoned by irises the wild critters will not touch them. I have a couple of rose beds which I have had to protect with electric fences but I can have irises up and down the driveway and in the new garden bed without fences and without wallabies or brushtail possums destroying them, and without the sheep getting to them.

Don't freak out if your irises get "sampled"--the leaves themselves aren't terribly toxic and it happens--most of the time, though, if there are better things to eat, the herbivores will not choose to eat the irises.
https://www.accidentalsmallhol...
and I can assure you that they are not even the slightest bit poisonous to grasshoppers

Have fun shopping and reshopping--that's one of the more enjoyable chores!
Did I mention Cayeux? They may ship to Taz and have some fine historics.
this one makes me swoon!


And I found that pic I took of CG this spring

usually it comes across as pale with faint lines, but I got really nice lines this year

Oh my, Paillasse is gorgeous! I'm glad I've added Cotillion Gown again because I can always have it far away from Just Crazy so they don't compete in frilliness and creaminess.

Out of all the irises I've ordered or already own the one I am most looking forward to finally seeing in the flesh is Thornbird. I've looked forward to it for so long that I find myself looking for others in that colour range but end up with frills because that's all their seems to be. I suppose that if I don't like the frills I can put them at the far end of the garden so I can enjoy the colour without being able to properly see the form at a distance. When I sit in my office chair looking out the window I can only focus properly on half the garden and the rest is a bit fuzzy. I walk through the garden (which has a circuit now so I can do endless loops without having to double back the way I came) every afternoon and I'm sure I will learn to love the frills if the colours are pleasing.

Wow, Dirt, that photo of Cotillion Gown is amazing!

I just got 'Paillasse' this year in a very generous trade... It was an extra, and a very pleasant surprise.
You might also consider the IB's, as many tend toward a more tailored look.