I was surprised to receive a Rockytop catalog yesterday as I haven't ordered from them before. If you are trying to plant a large area with some nice iris this looks like it would be a good place to start. They have an amazing selection at good prices. Wish I had more room. I'm really temped to do an order

Phil sends beautiful big rhizomes along with many bonus rhizomes. He's really fantastic to order from!

Betty....your recommendation is worth a lot

We have also ordered from them & find listings of hybridizers who develop great plants. I second the fact that plants from Rocky Top come in very good shape.

I love Rockytop. I got the catalog too but I have no room so am not buying any iris this year.

I have not yet received the paper catalog, so i went downloaded it instead. Does the printed copy have a purple background on every page? I cannot read a word of it! Is there a way to make the background lighter and take out the wiggly lines?
Last year i made a list of iris to order from Rockytop, then our weather got so hot and dry that I was afraid to put anything else in the ground lest our well went out.
Last year he listed some that I couldn't find anywhere else!

The paper catalog is printed on paper with a greyish background and some wavey lines. I can read it but found it distracting and thought it wasn't a good idea. I wouldn't know how to correct the problem on the computer. Paper catalog is $4

CindiKS said:I have not yet received the paper catalog, so i went downloaded it instead. Does the printed copy have a purple background on every page? I cannot read a word of it! Is there a way to make the background lighter and take out the wiggly lines?

I just downloaded the catalog, also, and you're right - it is very difficult to read. What helped me was to really blow up the text and when I see one that I am interested in, I copy and paste to a temporary word document so I can read the description more easily. The word document only shows the text - no background - so it is readable. I suppose you could just copy an entire page and paste, too, to a temp file. 'Hope this helps...

Oh! I just returned to the catalog and found out that if I highlighted the portion I want to read and then click on my search tab, the highlighted catalog entry changes to a mid gray background with white type that can be read.

Difficult to read in the daytime, but at night under a lamp it is fine.

Thank you for the suggestions! But...
There are many good iris sellers out there, so I think I'll avoid the hassle and aggravation and just shop from someone else this year. Don't need yet another reminder that I'm getting old and my eyes don't work like they used to.
Guess I don't have as much patience as I used too, either! Sellers just need to format catalogs so they are easy to read, easy to order. I like Snowpeak's new format. A photo, description, and a click to buy button all on one line would be perfect, kind of like what BlueJ iris has.

CindiKS said: Don't need yet another reminder that I'm getting old and my eyes don't work like they used to.
Guess I don't have as much patience as I used too, either! Sellers just need to format catalogs so they are easy to read, easy to order.

I wholeheartedly agree! I wear contacts for the near-sightedness, reading glasses on top for the far and always turn the brightest lights on in the house! My eyes are just not what they used to be, either

But seriously, though, you are absolutely right. Vendors should really think about these things as I think it impacts their sales more than they realize.

I'm reluctant to make a negative comment but I think many of the BlueJ Iris pictures do not resemble the iris very much

I'll agree with Cindi....,and with Paul !! There is one web-cataloge that I would love to order from.... but I can't figure out how !? And another that, I'm told, is an excelent source for some hard-to-find historics...but I can't find them !? Fancy, high-tec websites, with lots of bells and whistles, but pretty darn hard for the average Joe( or Arlyn) to navigate, understand, or use! I order from Blue Jay a lot, and have for some years now, and I'll agree that some of the photos leave a little to be desired, but also ,one must keep in mind that where it's grown has a LOT to do with how it looks. Jim Hedgecock, of Comanche Acres once told me that he sometimes doesn't recognize his own iris, when they are grown in certain parts of the country! And that's like a dad not knowing his own kids!! I guess if we "have trouble" with a web-catalog we should complain to the owner, but I think most of us "vote' with our pocket book, and buy elsewhere. I'm sure they all try to be the "perfect" source, but it's hard to please us all.......Arlyn

The climate and soil where I grow iris is very similar to Hedgecock in Missouri and BlueJ in Nebraska. My iris look like theirs. They don't look like the ones from Washington, California and Oregon. Pink iris, in particular can vary quite a bit based on the soil and water. I moved from 3 miles away, taking my iris plants with me, and for the first two years I swore the iris and tags were mixed up. The pink iris just weren't the same. Now i have discovered that on this property, an iris grown on the west side of the yard may look different from the same iris on the east side of the 10 acres. There is a creek running through the property, so the soil does differ.
At our local iris shows color differences are always a topic of conversation.
I do think I'll send a polite note to Rockytop explaining my difficulty with reading the catalog. Honestly, I'm the 2nd-youngest in my iris club, and if I'm having problems reading it, then I doubt any of the others would even attempt it. Maybe if i send the $5 for the catalog, he'll make a black and white copy for me?
In my fantasy of the perfect catalog, a shopper could sort through the list and pull up a list by hybridizer or by years. I can do that on my Plantstep spreadsheets.

Cindi try to send him a email and ask for a color catalog, I think you will find he will send you one, I have had nothing but good luck with his plants and after meeting him in California I was even more impressed with him he is a really good guy that enjoys Iris like the rest of us, I know he works a full time job outside of the garden but will go out of his way to take care of his customers and his plants are extremely well grown, I was really happy with the last order I got from him the size of the bulbs he sent was in line with the California and Oregon growers so if you have been ordering from Blue J and what they sent you did well , you will be extremely happy with what you get from Rocky top and you are right he carries a lot of varieties know one else has this year I think his selection is exceptional.

I am 'friends' with Phil on facebook & sent him a message about the problem this afternoon. Just got on the computer so have not seen a reply as yet. I find under the reading lamp at night I don't have difficulty. It is the daytime when I can't see. He has put many more pictures in the catalog this year. they are a little behind the text, but finish on the back page. Any way, I told him that people were having difficulty. It's good to catch him before Mother's Day as he is a florist & things can get so busy at that time.

This is the first time I have seen a Rockytop Catalog. The squiggly lines are distracting but it is a wonderful list with great prices. If I had more room and hadn't already ordered my quota for the year I would give them a try. Maybe next year.

There are problems with ordering too early. However at times if you don't, you miss out on plants. Rocky Top is the source for the lovely intros of Barbara Nicodemis of MO.

Paul,

Just wanted to let you know that I fell in love with "Niche" from a picture that you posted last year. I ordered it and potted it up in a one gallon pot. It stayed in that pot all winter, when I suddenly noticed that it had SEVEN fans in that pot. I immediately planted it and it has two bloom stalks.

Dot

"Niche" BB in my garden this year.