So, what is/are your favorite or couple of favorite iris that you would recommend others to grow and why. Do the colors enchant you, or the number of branches and bud count impress you? Does the vigor, disease resistance, or length of bloom season wow you? What are the iris you would always recommend?

Please include climate zone. I'm zone 7A

For vigor: Feed Back, Clarence, Pink Attraction, Harvest of Memories, Fall Fiesta, all unstoppable here, all but Fall Fiesta are reliable rebloomers for me

All-around beautiful, dependable, disease resistant: Stairway to Heaven, Change in the Weather, Conjuration, Coal Seams

Color: Paul Black, swoonworthy shade of dark purple,
Fogbound, an oldie but a goodie and parent of many iris
Jennifer Rebecca, a luscious blend of pink and lavender and reblooms in July
Rare Quality, pure white and dark blue purple
Magical, pink, ruffled, a delectable confection

I admit that reliability is very important to me, so these are not the latest iris, but they grow very well with no trouble, good increase and lovely blooms held well on the stalk.

What would you recommend to a friend and why?

cwwilson3, i would recommend that an iris grower branch out and grow some different classes of irises. Many people only grow the talls or the shorts and I think it is a shame to limit yourself to one class when each has so much to offer. The shorter the iris the earlier its bloom time.... usually. A friend of mine is always eager for her TB's to start their spring bloom season and by the time they do my shorter classed ones have been blooming a month. Just a thought.

A good thought! I didn't include SDB, IB, Siberian or Japanese for fear the post would be too long, but feel free to add them in.

And AB's if your location will allow. I grow a few LA's too.

I love the colours and patterns in irises that are rare in flowers. I love blues, blacks, stripes, plicatas and broken patterns. Bud count, form and other desirable qualities are not important to me unless there are multiple irises with similar looking flowers. In that case, I pick the best one overall.

I occasionally open these plant-specific threads and am almost always disappointed by the mysterious and unexplained acronyms. Very off-putting to a person who is not knowledgeable about the flower. Might be nice to include in the sidebar to the right. Just a random thought. Tiptoeing away now...

That's a good point Deb. It would be nice for everyone to be able to participate. Are there other forums that use the sidebar on the right? Do you think a [sticky] thread for abbreviations would suffice?

Here is a list of abbreviations...
http://wiki.irises.org/Main/In...

I'm not sure how the right sidebar works, but that would seem to be a good spot for some basic info. I run into the same thing in the daylily forum, I have no idea what those folks are ever talking about. I use a PC to access this site and there is plenty of room on my screen, but I get that others might not have that (particularly cell phone people).

If i were not so lazy i would write all the words out. It is impolite not to..... and i am such a creature of habit. Good idea Deb.

I know that you said two but I could only narrow it down to the following;

Iris chrysographs.............
Iris chrysographs by longk48, on Flickr

Iris confusa "Martyn Rix"...............
Iris confusa "Martyn Rix" by longk48, on Flickr

It has fantastic foliage all year...............
Iris confusa by longk48, on Flickr

I allow Iris foetidissima to self seed around as it can produce fantastic variations in colour..............
Iris foetidissima by longk48, on Flickr

Iris foetidissima by longk48, on Flickr

Iris foetidissima by longk48, on Flickr

Finally, Iris japonica.............
Iris japonica by longk48, on Flickr

Beautiful Longk!

For Vigor


All-around beautiful


Color


for Form




All grown in Zone 5B

I could have listed many for each hybridizer and for each class, I'm sure on another day I'd list different ones, It's really hard to limit this.

"All-around beautiful, dependable, disease resistant;"

A variety of iris that best meet this criteria in my garden are:

This one never quits, also holds up well to heavy rain.

A very bright yellow with good substance, the Quaker Lady in the background is also outstanding.

Hands down the best Blyth I have ever grown.

I got this as a bonus. It is an amazing grower and bloomer. Very large blooms.

Blackbird Landing is beautiful. Why haven't I seen it before?

@cwwilson3, I would recommend Queen's Circle for beauty and vigor.



Pond Lily, for beauty, vigor, and reliability.



and to sneak a third favorite:

Barbara My Love for beauty, vigor, reliability, and general toughness.



When I started to buy iris, I bought Wister medal winners that I liked. (I
don't like them all.) I haven't been disappointed in any of them as far as
garden performance goes.

Here are my thoughts on the matter but like many say, it may change tomorrow!
For Vigor: Mary Frances, Blue Rising, Ocean Pearl (sdb) Dream Team
All Round Beauty: That's All Folks, Daring Deception, Better Than Butter, Wedding Belle, Highland Lord
Color: Social Graces, Machismo, Mer de Sud, In Love Again, Bottle Rocket (Can you tell I like pink?)

I've only been exploring the world of newer iris varieties for the last 4 or 5 years, so I'm still making decisions on my favorites. But I can say I'm finding IBs (Intermediate Bearded) to be generally a class that performs well for me. I find them particularly useful in the garden because they start blooming just after spring bulbs when I often find the garden lacking in color during that period just before the late spring perennials show off (tall bearded irises, peonies, and so many others).

Deb, I've often jumped into plant specific threads with abbreviations that had me scratching my head, but have found folks on this site are typically quite helpful and happy to answer any of my newbie questions. It is how I've started corresponding with so many people who I now consider friends. I hope you'll feel free to simply ask and join the conversation rather than feel put off.

Jane, I wanted to suggest Better than Butter as well. It is very bright and cheerful, flowers heavily and for a long time, and is a ferocious grower.
It is my avatar, if you want to know what it looks like.

What fantastic irises! I very much appreciate seeing the informative responses as it's hard to know which lovely iris is also a good grower. Keep the posts coming!

Neal, I find myself getting more and more intrigued by IBs and BBs, too. There are a lot of very pretty ones, they don't take up a lot of room, and they bloom before the big guys.

AndreaD said:Jane, I wanted to suggest Better than Butter as well. It is very bright and cheerful, flowers heavily and for a long time, and is a ferocious grower.
It is my avatar, if you want to know what it looks like.

Andrea ~ I have probably told you before, Better than Butter is a beauty!