I know it's rare that we cull any irises, but some of us are working on getting better at that. Some times the iris culls us! I thought it might be interesting to see what we have culled over the years, or what irises have dumped us. Post each iris in a separate window and give a short reason why you parted ways.

I'm just going to go through mine by alphabet and list them. The first one I came to is Anaconda Love. I did not cull it, it dumped me. Guess I wasn't good enough for it. It lived and bloomed once, then died. I never replanted it. It was a cute one.

I sent all of Pirate Ahoy and American Maid to fellow forum members.
The colors didn't do much for me - the bright gold of PA , even though a Blyth, didn't appeal; AM seemed small and muddy. I was happy to share.
One man's(woman's) trash is another's treasure!!!

American Maid was not bright, but a wonderful grower. We send most of plants which grow well to our bi-yearly iris club sale. We have our show in May this year, & the sale in 2017. As many people know, we mainly grow median & more SDBs at that. Some historics of those stay but 'in between" the old & the new go to the sale.

I haven't yet... but I'm threatening 'Girly Girl', 'Tiger Honey' & 'Brindled Beauty'... maybe 'Coyote Ugly'.

'Girly Girl' has been a good grower, but I have several plicatas in that color range..


'Brindled Beauty' has kind of a "crowned" top (open standards) that i don't care for. The color washes out some as the flowers mature.


'Tiger Honey' looked so unusual when I first saw it many years ago. It's lost it's appeal. It just looks muddy to me in the garden.


'Coyote Ugly'.. other than this charming pattern, that only occurred once, it has the same problems as Brindled Beauty. Not an elegant form. I think I'm just getting over the novelty of broken colors.

Had a LOT cull me! We had 62+ inches of rain in 2015 and our normal average is 36.14 inches. Most on the list were new or within a couple of years and just didn't take well to all the water:
Apricot Berry, Buccaneer's Prize, Ginger Ice, Going Gaga, Insaniac (I think-might still be there), Italian Master, Kiss of Passion, Paul Black, Puddy Tat, Rossetto (four rhizomes!!!), Superstition, Trey Stout, and Wise Woman. I am the most upset about Rossetto because I got it from Dee, don't know if that one was transferred with the sale of the business, and there doesn't seem to be another U.S. outlet for it. Have a few more looking distressed that I am watching. Looking forward, though, to seeing the ones have sailed through without a misstep.

More than half of what I have has not yet bloomed, so culling to replace with something I like better will be after I see them in place.

I once had 'Batik', which eventually died on me (possibly from either extreme of over or underwatering). I was actually relieved. I didn't find the flowers all that attractive, and I like my irises taller, anyway. If it had not dumped me, eventually I would have dumped it.



I have a vague recollection of having had another broken color iris at some point (this was before I started recording everything on the computer), in muddy yellow and burgundy, but that one got dumped. I guess I simply do not like "variegated" flowers (as opposed to variegated foliage).

A couple of years ago I almost got rid of 'Hidden Surprise', for the fault that it was shorter than, and not as showy as, 'Arctic Express' (the only other white iris that I had at the time). I relented at the last moment and kept a few rhizomes, which bloomed half-heartedly this spring. We may yet part ways.

I had one dump me within a week of moving in. Broke my heart that it turned to mush. And that was Grace Upon Grace. I would post a picture but I can't highlight the code and paste it from this phone. I would like to try again with that one.

I have tons of 2 NOIDs. A purple and a yellow. I've shared lots out and may end up getting rid of both. They're both vigorous growers and can take over a bed in a few years.

I had a really old yellow and white that I just didn't love -- I sent it to Arlyn. I've got a picture of it somewhere, but I'm on the new computer and I haven't transferred my pictures from the old one yet..............

Glad you got the new computer Mary Ann.

Midnight Oil comes to mind. I got it from Lori and it did not last a year. When she read that it died she sent me another and it lasted less than a year. As bad as I want to grow it here I guess it is not meant to be in my garden. In my quest for a very dark 'black' iris I have at least a half dozen dark purple ones.

Anvil Of Darkness
Before The Storm
Coal Seams
Men In Black
Old Black Magic
Superstition

I plan to evaluate them and see which ones may need to find a new home. With limited space having six very dark purple irises is a bit of misuse of garden room. I will keep Twilight Tear and I think Old Black Magic. Unless the others really perform well they will be finding a new home soon.

I will also be evaluating some of my pale lavender irises. In my ongoing quest for blue I have bought several that should be classed as lavender/purple but were sold as blue and I seem to have accumulated five or six that are very similar. Lovely but very much alike.

I need to look at my pale peach irises as well. As with my quest for blue I was trying to find pink irises and wound up with several, maybe four or five, light peach ones that are very similar. These are older ones and I need to make some decisions about which ones to keep and which ones need to be relocated.

If I had the room I would never let an iris go. That would not be good as I would wind up with a tangled, jungle growth of weeds and irises due to over planting my physical limits. So, I guess it is all good that I don't have forty acres. LOL

Badlands
Bloomed then died it was a gorgeous flower.

Fashion Diva. Never even bloomed, then died!

Hold My Hand bloomed and died, in 2015 Tom came to the rescue. Tom sent a wonderful Tommy Box and there was another Hold My Hand in that awesome box! Thank you again Tom

Croft's Caress, bloomed and died, another gorgeous bloom, would love to try this one again.

Cupid's Arrow, bloomed, died, replaced, bloomed in 2015 and was not Cupid's Arrow, replaced and waiting for 2016 bloom (hopefully)

Bonnie, if you do pull the trigger on your blacks, I would welcome them here.

I'll post a list when it's not 2am in the morning.