I have a few broken colors mixed in, they give some interesting color variation to the garden in spots. I did git rid of Brindled Beauty, it just had very bad form in my opinion. A few just didn't do well, and died out. I have a friend who has a garden of them, and she calls it her Tie dye garden.

BCs have their place. Just not every place. A variety of forms, colors and patterns are the most intriguing and interesting to my eye.

No iris bloom for me right now, still plenty of color. I updated my blog for any not having it on your 'watch list' and wishing to see.
http://garden.org/blogs/view/C...

I love your gardens. Mine don't look as nice. I have plants going to seed. I promised some to a few of my neighbors so it's looking rather ragged out there.

Sue, your garden looks terrific! It's hard to believe your FIL is in his 80's.!
The smalls you gave me in the spring are doing so well!

As for the broken color discussion - I mentioned before that seeing Millennium Falcon,
and the novelty of its blue broken color pattern, revived my interest in irises a few years ago, and the interest just
keeps growing. However, the broken color patterns have lost some of their allure for me and
I've gone on to others. I also like pink - which some people don't. I love most irises, but I'm not
a fan of the "burnt" patterns. I also have a hard time loving the garish golds with red. and usually
prefer softer pastels.
Which just goes to show that WE'RE ALL DIFFERENT! But we all love irises.

I love the broken color irises. Does that make me some kind of barbarian? I used to have Batik but it got shaded out by the lemon tree and died. I guess my least favorite style is when the falls and the upper petals are of two totally different colors. I know there is a name for that but I don't know much iris terminology.

I know what you mean, Kelli. I think that is called a bi-color, meaning two totally different colors. I really like them when the colors go well or even contrast well but there are a few I just cant get too enthused over.

I like the Amoenas. White standards and another color on the falls. Luminatas are fascinating.

The only ones I don't like are the dead ones, or the ones I can't grow.

UndertheSun said:The only ones I don't like are the dead ones, or the ones I can't grow.

That I totally agree with--except I am not obsessed by historics even though I have many in my garden from my grandmother.

I am with Jan on this one. My fascination with Broken irises is waning. I find that they are also less hardy (like Orange tends to be as well) and don't survive well in my garden. The "best" one for me from a performance stance would be "King Tush". I will still keep what I have and may replace some that are lost if I can because they are very unique and interesting.

Greg, Thai Orange is a very hardy orange, and a nice one, Dorothy Devenport is also very hardy and it a very light colored orange.

I'm partial to Savannah Sunset, which is a robust Iris in color and in characteristics.

I've been looking again at Sweet Orange Spice. Does anyone have that?

As for orange and hardiness or lack thereof, I used to have 'Octoberfest' but it died out, probably a victim of plants around it getting too tall so that the sprinklers couldn't reach it.

I did not mean to push this conversation to hardiness of Orange iris; just want to say that MY experience has been very spotty as to hardiness for both Broken and Orange irises.

......................and now, back to our regularly scheduled programing..............

Anything goes, Greg! We're talking about irises!

My Octoberfest is very pale orange. I like Mary Ann's recommendation of Savannah Sunset. That one looks like it is orange. Anyone grow Oasis Gretchen? It is a creamy orange. I grew it for several years and lost it over last winter to a critter digging it up and leaving it exposed to ice.

Speaking of orange, I saw one earlier in the year, somewhere on here... think the falls were white with orange *trim* around the edges. I didn't write it down, of course, thinking how could I ever forget the name of this beauty. Dang it, I did forget. Any ideas? Tried the data base and came up empty. Sound familiar to anyone?

This is Edgefield Glow, and it really does glow.. But I think I'm going to move it in the fall next to some yellow or white iris.