Black Lightning is in bloom here.

Bonnie-Before The Storm is a Red hue Black as well!

Thanks Greg. It looks like a plum/black to me which I prefer over the purple/black ones.

How do you rate the growth and habits of Black Lightning. Lucy ? So many of the "black" SDB's are kind of "lazy" here, and just never make a very big clump. Chapman's have several that I would kind of like to order, and being bred "in the north country" I imagine they do well (and probably WILL order, when all is said and done ), but with the beardless he has, that I would like to add to the order (quite a few !), "double " shipping costs, and the sanitary permit.....well, Rita would kill me if she saw the check !

Two small checks don't look as bad as one large one,

Tooooo funny, Tom!

You're wrong ,Tom ! I can tell you lack the "experience" of being married ! With ONE check, you get one "Scolding" (not exactly the word I think best fits here, but ....), and with TWO checks.....you get TWO 'scoldings"......and believe me.....ONE is too many, I DARN sure couldn't handle two !

That's why you have the babysitter hide the boxes in the shed and plant the irises when Mike is gone...that way no one notices, right??

Here Comes the Night

I am not usually fond of black irises so I lean toward the dark purple but this one is really large and very black.

I like the beard on that one, Janie!! Looks cool next to the dark petals.

Black Lightning grows quite well. It gets a little tall for an SDB but we have it in a bed which get shaded. It doesn't rebloom here, but it does at Superstition gardens so much that they have trouble digging it for sale as bloomstalks keep appearing. I am well acquainted with Chuck & we have been in an international 'paper robin'. I must get a photo of the clump. The photo of the flower is Chuck's. He ships in Aug. & accompanies his shipments across the border so it doesn't get hung up.

Good to know Lucy. I really love several of his iris.

Only have one black iris. Hasn't bloomed yet this year.
Spades




Spades with Guinevere's Kiss

Nice combination Ken. I recently saw a very dark iris planted with pink ones. It was lovely but the pink irises enhanced the purple in the dark irises. I think yellow irises planted with a very dark one would be a nice contrast.

Ken, I see some nice asparagus ready to pick in the left background.
(2nd Photo) We started cutting ours in the last two weeks.

I've been binge eating asparagus for a week now!

tveguy3 said:I've been binge eating asparagus for a week now!

Good stuff! Healthy for you too.

Just like Tom, I have been eating asparagus and morels for over a week now.

Funny you should mention that Bonnie. I moved 'In Love Again and Spades to the center of my pale lavender NOID circle. We will have to see what that looks like when it blooms.If I don't like it...I can always change it.

That is another thing I like about irises, Ken. You can plant an entire area and leave it for five years and then dig it all up without killing the irises. That is much harder to do with almost any other garden plant I own.