Leslie, I will be getting Oklahoma Bandit if I order from Ross Road.

Getting these from Dee that she has classified as Historic:
Black Bart
Black Stallion
Ida Red
Little Bay Denoc
Study in Black

Moonlit Sea gave off it's first shy bloom in late November for me... Then we got rain and the rest of the buds rotted. But the one flower I got was lovely.


I only had about 50% of my 2013 rhizomes bloom last year, so it's going to be an exciting spring...
Of course having Spring-like weather for all of January might mess things up again. I can't ever remember a January like this, let alone two years in a row...

I'm with you, Sherry. I have things waking up all over the yards 2 months early. I just watered the seedling beds. Shesh!

Thanks for the pic of Moonlit Sea. I love it as an early luminata and for having the old iris form. I think, no matter what it's stature, it will stand out in the garden.

Debra, Wild Iris Rows also has Oklahoma Bandit for a very decent price. I love getting a tawny colored one to sit between all the pinky purple new ones with ruffles and flounces.

crowrita1 said:Wind storms are shortening up my season, but todays favorite, by virtue of it's ability to withstand almost anything, is:

• Tall Bearded Iris (Iris 'Wabash')
• Uploaded by crowrita1

Wabash.........
and the runner up, almost as tough, and just as pretty, is

• Tall Bearded Iris (Iris 'Perfume Counter')
• Uploaded by crowrita1

Perfume Counter...
but hiding ,down in the leaves, with his head dress blown by the wind, is the:

• Tall Bearded Iris (Iris 'Red Chieftain')
• Uploaded by crowrita1

Red Chieftain...He may sneak in to be tomorrow's favorite!
......................Arlyn

Wow! It only took 10-pages on this thread for someone to mention "Wabash"! Thanks, Arlyn. That was the very first Historic Iris I ordered this year, I just had to have it !

crowrita1 said:Reds and browns are my favorite colors for iris ! When someone says "brown flower", you think "dead", but "brown iris"........

• Tall Bearded Iris (Iris 'Brown Thrasher')
• Uploaded by crowrita1

don't look dead, at all !........................Arlyn

I just love Brown iris. Infact, I'm looking for one right now, it's an Historic Iris called "Brown Turban", and I can't find it anywhere, but I just love it.

Misawa77 said:I think there are two "dark" historics that stand the test of time. Wabash is one. The other in my opinion is Helen Collingwood. Both are standouts.

I agree with you. I have Wabash, Helen Collingwood, and Frank Adams planted in a group, and can't wait to see that display in bloom next Spring !

'Perfume Counter' is awfully nice.. I'm assuming with a name like that, it has a nice fragrance..

Somehow I haven't acquired Wabash, and I really need to fix that! It has always been a favorite, and I've even traded a couple of times for it and received the wrong iris.

gemini_sage said:Somehow I haven't acquired Wabash, and I really need to fix that! It has always been a favorite, and I've even traded a couple of times for it and received the wrong iris.

Oh my! When I saw my first photo of "Wabash" my mouth dropped. I knew I had to have it. And I got it right away. It was the first Iris rhizome that arrived this season for me.

For a time I thought I had Wabash, and that the photos I had seen were not showing the color accurately. Then I planted Shah Jehan and realized that was what I had been growing all along. SJ is also a wonderful historic, and looks great paired with Indian Cheif or Dauntless or any of that family of early "reds".

Shah Jehan is a top favorite of mine.

I have the real Wabash and at least 2 more of the real thing or copy cats that didn't bloom this year. Wabash is always stately. The copies are generally beautiful too.

I think I like those purple I. Germanica with the white beards as well as any of the others.

Loreley is beautiful.

Florentina blew me away.


I have a big pile of Arlyn's oldies. I really love them.

Lorely is another favorite of mine too.

I'd like to grow some Florentina sometime, and try drying some rhizomes for potpourri. I find its old traditional uses intriguing, and the dried rhizomes (after aging) are described as having the scent of violets.

I have recently planted 2 Iris florentina with a Memorial stone in my Iris garden to honor the Father of a friend of mine who passed away recently. He was Italian, and loved to garden, and I thought I. Florentina would be appropriate next to his Memorial Stone. My friend was very moved, and I look
forward to seeing it in bloom next Spring .

Orris root is preferable to the toxic fixatives in today's fragrances.

I got my Florentina from http://www.ebay.com/itm/TWO-Rh...

Yep, I got my I. Florentina's from EBAY also ...... they are both doing very well.

Okay, these were right next to each other. They aren't the same. The first one was sold to me as Barr's Cottage Maid.


This appears to be Butterfly Baby.

Both are lovely!