Hello everyone, I received my order from Stout Gardens last Thursday. Here is what I've ordered:



Cantina
Casual Elegance
Diversion
Crystal Gazer
Epicenter
Fogbound
Keeping Up Apperances
Slovak Prince
Spring Fantasy
Chasing Rainbows
Reversi
Thundermaker
Silver Skates
Ice for Brice
Oasis Kelly
Half Dollar
Venita Faye

Bonus:

Backdraft
Honeykist
Tropical Delight

Crystal Gazer is the biggest rhizome I have received.

They look great

Now to wait 8 months to see blooms.blaaahhhhh

Glass half empty? Here's the full. Think of all the blooms you'll be looking forward to for 8 months of excitement!!!

Frankly the anticipation gets me thru the winter.

Good looking irises, Ms Lily Martgon. Thank you for posting the picture. I think we all need to post pictures of what we received good, or bad. Nice choice of cultivars, too. I had to look a lot up and there's some great ones there!

Please everyone, when you receive your irises, post pictures good or bad. We need to know who to reliably purchase from. If they are small, or inadequate, no need to make commentary. A picture is worth a thousand words.

However, some people can't grow large rhizomes like that. I was impressed with the SDB rhizome from Peter Young in Maine. He is just starting to handle New England rhizomes. There is no Bearded iris seller in New England now that the Godfreys had to retire.

I understand that, Lucy. We've had discussions on size of the rhizome. I agree with you completely. But there's size, and then there's size, right, and growers should not be sending out dime size rhizomes, or ones that were dug 6 months ago.

One thing I always wanted on Garden Watchdog was the opportunity to post pictures. I think it would help everyone, even the sellers, as some people think they should get large rhizomes like that, when in fact, they are getting good size rhizomes.

Right, fresh dug no matter what the size.

True - and some sellers think they are sending out "normal" when they are above or way below par...

Size is not a huge thing... the quality of the root is to me... and the freshness of it all.

This whole discussion about old or ridiculously undersized rhizomes really frosts me. Scam artists should always be exposed.

Along time ago I received TB rhizomes with NO foliage about the size of a dime and placed into a paper bag with name on that shipping was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HIGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH you would have died. This was a trade and I sent what I send to my customers and he tried to tell me they were in the worlds worse with total mildew and rot as he opened the box. The kept me from trading for years. As you can figure they were the tiny new rhizomes that had not even developed yet...and yes, I have never traded with him again and he is no longer in business.

I really do not have a problem with size, as there are some iris that the rhizome NEVER get big no matter whether east or west coast. I want nice fresh dug iris that shows the seller or trader cares.

When digging I make the cut for the biggest there as what we plant back is the small ones as they will grow nice and big over the winter.

The east coast and west coast iris are so different in size. That does NOT matter they both grow.

D

I have found amount of direct sun, drainage, and nutrients have a great effect on the size of rhizomes. Digging too early will reduce the size. Also, there is a variation of the rhizome size when comparing some of the moderns to some of the oldies. As someone said, freshness is more important than size unless they are the tiny new button size.

I happened to go to Wal-Mart to look for some marble chips when I saw they had two boxes of irises. They were bagged as 3 for $4.88. One was a solid blue and the other was a really nice dark pink/faded pink. I bought 2 bags of the pinks because one cannot go wrong at those prices. Turns out that the dark pink 'Cherub's Smile' is actually a flamingo pink. Actually, they could be any name and color--wait until they bloom.

The quality of the rhizomes leaves something to be desired but is typical of that which is usually sold at the big box stores. The broker is Van Zyerden.

This is all informative. Thanks for the conversation.
I have a question that has nothing to do with iris but I cant find a forum.
I believe some of you iris lovers have grown Amarillis and I have been part of a co-op. I ordered 24 and wanted to stagger the planting so I would have blooms all winter starting in December.
How do I hold the rest of the bulbs until Dec. to plant for Feb-March blooms?
Has anyone done this.?

You can pot them and put them in the dark with no water. Bring them out staggering them and start the watering.

That thought had occured to me. Thanks Boojum.

Has everyone received all the irises ordered?

What came in great, and what didn't?

Everyone got theirs planted? I still have a few to go, but pretty much done.

Mine are all still in pots, and this week I'm starting to clean up the beds to get ready to dig out about 75 to give to friends. We're still around 100 degrees, but the weather is supposed to cool down starting this weekend so I'm holding off my marathon yard work for a few more days. All the iris have rooted in the pots so it won't be a problem to get them planted once the beds are ready for them. I have about 75 new ones and about 60-70 rhizomes I'm going to add to existing plants, so I'll be busy for a while. It seems to take me weeks to do what everyone else accomplishes in days, but that's OK -- I just get out there on my little stool and work a couple of hours at a time...