I am going to dig it up and clean and treat it. I think I can save it if I do. Thanks everyone. When I saw that poor little thing I felt like a friend was sick.

I just got my order from Schreiner's. Big, but VERY dry rhizomes. It looks like they were dug 3 or 4 weeks ago. I'm thinking they have become the new "Box Store" of the iris world.

My feelings, exactly, Tom. I mentioned, without naming them, that a box full benefited from an overnight soak.
I'll think twice about ordering from them again.

Perhaps Schreiner's should be written to, or someone in marketing called. Sometimes the folks in charge don't know something is amiss. If I owned that business, I would want to know.

Greg - it is enormous and I do feel very very lucky! And I am giddy about all the wonders in THAT box. a million times over. Bet it would give any vendors Suprise Box a run for it's money.

A couple of monsters and couple of really small, barely alive types with lots of extra's!

Christmas in July (ok, yeah, like I know its August- I started digging in July!)

What's all this talk about a vendor's Suprise Box???? I just don't get it. Anyway speaking of rain, it's raining here Been raining for the last a couple hours, nice and slow now, started out kind of hard.

My experience with complaining to the large corporate types is that they send you a nice letter telling you how sorry they are for your lack of satisfaction, might even throw you a carrot or something, to get you to shut up, but then they continue with their past practice. Once the taste of big money takes over, the goals of having happy customers gives way to making not millions anymore, but billions.

Who said Suprise Box???? Though mine WAS a suprise, and there be monsters in it. Lovely monsters though. The little ones, some of the Muggles, Pep Rally, Dr. Moody will be nursed along and be just fine!

Sorry that your rhizomes were dry Tom. I have always gotten very nice rhizomes from Schreiners. And less dry by far than a couple vendors who's rhizomes I really did need to soak. All my Schreiner ones have been ready to pop right in the ground. I will nurture my Coal Seams in case yours has problems.....

Seems to me that one of our dearly beloved members is overly preoccupied with *surprise boxes*. Wonder why that is..............................

The Coal Seams I got from them is a nice one with a lot of babies, just dry. I'm sure it will grow, I've planted dryer ones and they did fine. It's just that is not what I usually got from them. They look dryer then the one I got from Superstition and forgot in a box for a couple weeks. Although that one was already giving me the finger when I found it.

Most irises are tough and take a lot of neglect (they should still send a top quality plant though) . I had some rhizomes I threw in the compost pile a few years ago and left them sitting on top. They made it through the winter. Even the rhizomes that were upside down grew and bloomed. Should have took a pic of that .......................BTW Gilbert H. Wild has Coal Seams on sale for $6.50 right now. Not sure what kind of product they send.

Like your new avatar photograph, Ken.

I've had issues the past few years with Schreiner's.. The rhizomes I got this year were smaller than in the past and they forgot to include my bonus. I let them know right away and they sent it... but still... Two years ago, I ordered Brown Lasso.. It didn't bloom it's first year, and when it bloomed this year it was clearly wrong. When I contacted them, I sent a picture of the iris hoping they could identify it.. They said, well it could be xyz, but we can't guarantee that's what it is... I'd think they'd have records of what they had planted in which bed and could make a better guess, but it just seemed kind of snotty. I've been ordering from them since at least 1990. I got fresher, fatter rhizomes from Napa, Superstition and Bay View... I'm not crossing them off my list, but I'm really liking the quality and service I'm getting from some of the smaller guys.

Thanks Debra. Trigger Happy seems happy here in the north. It has a ton of buds on it.

I think I'm going to have to find Trigger Happy! Where did you get it?

I won Trigger Happy on The Lily auction site last year for $20.00 from user Mljomo. It was suppose to be a 2 fan division, but it was a big four fan clump! http://www.daylily.com Or you could go directly to the hybridizers website, http://www.distinctly.on.ca/fl...

As to the Schreiner's issue, I would say the rhizomes I received this year were a little " less quality" than those I've received in the past....but still very nice! I ordered 4, and received no bonus, but I think there is a "minimum order' for any bonus iris, and I really wasn't expecting one. I always try to order early, and specify an early shipment, if I can, as I think most growers have one," big dig", then proceed to fill orders....so late orders are going to have been out of the ground the longest. There are "all kinds" of iris vendors out there....the small "hobby" growers, who use sales to use up their increases, and fund their OWN iris addiction, and do everything by themselves, all the way to the "big corporation "types, with an iris "factory", and many employees. The best way, and the best place, IMHO, to express one's opinions of either the iris, or the business practice, is a letter (or e mail) to the grower. tell them what they did right, and tell them what you think they need to improve on. If they made a mistake, give them a chance to correct it.....And if , after this, you still are not happy....buy somewhere else, the strongest motivator for any business is the bottom line.....Arlyn

Well said Arlyn!

Most of my acquisitions this year were from Maine Iris Society members through the auction and swap meeting. The auction irises were big and clean. Some of the swap irises got knifed and bleached.

I got some historics off of eBay that were very nice. Some had no name or were mis-named. Some appeared to look like the HIPS pictures.

One nice thing about some of the eBay hobby growers is that iris came with old properties that were bought. Many of their noIDs are actually very old survivors.