I've tried with very limited success to grow bearded iris in Jacksonville, FL (zone 9a. I think) Very few have bloomed, most do not return for the second season. Some rot, some just die. I put them in various exposures and soils in various places in the garden. I dearly love them, but can't bring myself to waste more time, money and garden space only to fail miserably. One thing I cannot do is dig them up and store them over the winter. My garden is huge and I do everything solo....no time or energy to dig anything up. We do have freezes (sometimes hard freezes for 3-4 days straight) here, off and on for 2-3 months.

What's the secret?

Should I just give up?

Other types of iris other than bearded will grow for yoiu

Try Louisiana irises, probably more success than with the bearded.

I would check around and see if any of your neighbors have had any luck with some variety. They really prefer a dryer climate, and need a chill period in the winter. There may just be some that would make it in your area, you will have to do some research first to see which ones they are.

Thanks so much for the input, I think you're right.

I'll just have to be content with all the tropicals I can grow that northern climates cannot. It's just that my goal in life is to grow one of everything before I die....HA!

I started gardening with my dad at age 4-5 in Lexington Kentucky and learned to love things like lilacs, columbines, peonies, iris, and other things that grow in colder climates. When I moved to Florida the rules changed dramatically and I had to learn what would grow here instead. I've been here almost 40 years and I'm still learning.

Maybe you could try daylilies for something different. Several of the daylily hybridizers live in Florida, so I know they do well there. And I am totally taken with the new tetraploid hybrids -- spectacular, with incredible borders (ruffles, braids, teeth, etc.) and beautiful eyes and throats. Why don't you check out the Daylily Forum, if you haven't already. I'm into the toothy ones myself.

Here's a link to Floyd Cove Nursery in Enterprise, FL, which shows their 2012 introductions. Not quite what you'd find at Lowe's or Home Depot...

http://www.distinctly.on.ca/fl...

Betty, Those are some real interesting Day Lillies, Do you know if they are cold hearty too?

Thank you Betty, I will check them out. I love Hibiscus and they do grow well here. Perhaps I need to "switch addictions", LOL!

Thank you Betty, I will check them out. I love Hibiscus and they do grow well here. Perhaps I need to "switch addictions", LOL!

I just looked at their page! I am totally speechless! I have never seen anything like these magnificent blooms! Thank you for the best eye candy I've seen in years!!!!!!!

I suppose I had Hibiscus on the brain, I meant to say daylilies....It's hell to get old and lose your mind.

Yes -- beautiful indeed -- but wouldja look at the prices!!!!!!!!!!!! Way too rich for me!

This is one of the "safe" sites for me to go to. It's so far out of my budget range, there's no possible way I will buy anything there! HA!

Well Sandy, you need to check out the Lily Auction (I think it's lilyauction.com)! You can select by price range, and they also have the Store where you can just purchase without bidding. The Lily Auction is where you can get beautiful daylilies at much better prices, and you can bid on seeds by cross too! Some of our Daylilies Forum members are sellers on the Lily Auction, and it's nice to know who you're dealing with. Right now I'm just finishing up bidding/purchasing some seeds of crosses involving toothy daylilies, plants which I really couldn't afford... and I'm going to start planting my seeds sometime next week.

Tom, there are three types of daylily foliage: Evergreen (EV), Semi-Evergreen (SEV) and Dormant (DOR). The evergreens don't usually do well in the northern states, although there are some that people have year after year and rave about. And the dormants are meant for the more northern states, although I also grow some here in hot ole' Bakersfield. Their foliage dies back to the ground over the winter and then in spring the new foliage comes peeping up. And the ones that the hybridizers seem to be striving for now are the semi-evergreens because they seem to do pretty well everywhere.

And then to complicate matters, there are two types of daylilies: Diploids and Tetraploids. Most of the beautiful loopy spiders are usually diploids, but the ones with the incredible edges are the tets -- and they're not compatible with each other. And since I'm now hybridizing, I have to make sure I'm purchasing tets all the time now. But the American Hemerocallis Society (AHS) has their Registration Database on their website, so you just zip over there and search on the name, and it will tell you everything you need to know about that daylily -- except for the brand new introductions, and you have to look on the hybridizer's website for those because they won't post them until the following year.

Sorry to get off on my daylily tangent here in the irises forum, but for people living in Florida I think daylilies are a perfect solution.

Edit: Here's another website, for Bill Maryott -- some of you may recognize his name, as he was an iris hybridizer until around 2000 when he switched over to daylilies. His is the hybridizer of the iris THAT'S ALL FOLKS (his last one that Joe Ghio introduced), and he is known as just about the most generous daylily hybridizer around. Over the summer he has specials where you can get his weekly special daylily (ALWAYS a fantastic one!) if you order so much, plus he sends tons of bonus plants. My first order with him a couple of years ago was for four or five daylilies, and he sent even more fantastic bonus plants costing more than I'd ordered! And a bunch of them will bloom later in the summer, too -- we don't know how he does it! (Can you tell I'm enthused about Bill Maryott?)

https://daylilygarden.net/cgi-...

Betty, thank you so much for all the information! I think this is a good switch for me based on my location. I love large fancy blooms and have Brugmansias, Daturas, Epiphyllums and Passifloras to prove it. I do have some nice daylily plants, but nothing as special as what I am seeing now. I will check out the lily auction and Bill Maryott as well.

I live in the southwest part of Marion County, FL [Dunnellon] and have had success growing and flowering Iris albicans. It is a Bearded Iris species that is native to Saudi Arabia and Yemen. It does not like the soil here, but does fine in above ground pots filled with Earthgro potting soil.

I was reading on the west coast forum, one gal puts Ice on some of her plants for a few days that need a chilled period. Would that work I know nothing about FL. gardening but it worked in CA. The plants were not iris but I don't remeber what they were.