A few years back, my MIL decided she wanted bearded Irises. I ordered her a couple collections from Springhill for her birthday. Jump forward a couple years, and she decided she was tired of bearded irises. So she had my FIL dig them all up, stuck them in a trash bag and when my husband next visited them, she sent the bag home with him. Unfortunately, some of them didn't make it and none of the tags I made for them when I planted them made it into the bag...when asked, she said she threw them away because she didn't need them.

Can anyone here help me ID the iris pictured below? It started blooming at the end of March/first of April in zone 9a. I tried looking on-line at Springhill, but couldn't find it. Thanks for looking.

'Celebration Song" is very commonly sold by the big mail order nurseries like Spring Hill:

Tall Bearded Iris (Iris 'Celebration Song')

You'll probably never know for certain though because, among other things, Spring Hill isn't above selling an iris as 'Celebration Song' even if it is just "pretty similar".

Hi Kent.

Thanks for your response.

I looked at a variety of pictures, but do not see any stripes on the falls in the pics of Celebration Song....they are rather pronounced on this iris. Perhaps that is why I cannot find any info at Springhill

I would not worry about a name & get your plants from an iris specialist. there are plenty. Have you throught of growing LA irises? they are quite useful in a garden in your climate.

Hi Lucy.

thanks for your response.

Naming this one is only of casual concern...mainly due to its odd coloration. These from my MIL are the only bearded irises I have. While they are pretty and reblooming, I prefer Siberian irises and native La irises. I have 3 "old" blue/purple Louisiana iris varieties and a beautiful little copper Iris fulva . I also have a couple NOID Spuria Irises given to me by friends, a very old Neomarica longifolia and a "cousin" Dietes bicolor and the rather ubiquitous yellow Iris pseudacorus. Unfortunately, I lost my Iris nelsonii to some "critter".

This is where I purchase my irises.

http://zydecoirises.com/index....

I have a bunch that aren't named and believe me, they are just as special as the named ones. I'm not serious about collecting them, yet(I try so hard, since I'm a hoarder by nature) so that doesn't count. I just love love love the beauty of an iris.

You'll notice my avitar is a white iris and I'm 90% of the time on the daylily forum. But, for the most part of this year, I've been over here too!!! Just too lovely to stay away.

Hi Mona.

So long as I am fairly sure of the family a plant belongs to, I am not terribly particular what its "first" name is... If I like it I'm happy just knowing how to care for it. There are indeed some lovely pictures on this forum. I like too many different plants to collect very many of one kind....thankfully...reminds me of toys when I was a kid...the box always said "Collect Them All"

Moon/Jean

Lovely garden shot on the site. LA 'Black Gamecock' does well in MA & probably a few others, but I don't have the space to grow them.

Words to live by -- "Collect Them All" !!!!!

Nurseries are like candy stores for gardeners....

Moonhowl, is so right!!! Nurseries are wonderful!

Unfortunately the link that was posted here is no longer working, so I have removed it. Sorry. Moon

The whole website is blank for me.

Hi Sue..got that link from an e-mail from Horticulture Magazine I received on Friday....I tried linking from the e-mail directly and was not able to get directly to the Gilbert Wild site, either. Perhaps it was one of those single day sales??? I removed the link... Sorry.
Moon

No, I think the whole website is down, tried going in from a Google search. Maybe it was hacked.

It came right up for me.................????

Must have been a problem somewhere. Went back and the link worked...here is the link again...fingers crossed

http://www.gilberthwild.com/BO...

Yup, works now!