Thanks Mary Ann.. Years ago, Dave told me that one of his friends was getting rid of it. When he described it to me, I wasn't interested. I thought it was going to be like those redwood burl tables that were ubiquitous in the 60's-70's.. Then I saw it, and gave the ok... We bought our couch to fit around it. The base is Monterey Cypress "fingers" holding up the top.

I also used to plant black tulips (either 'Negrita' or 'Queen of the Night'), but with pink tulips.. That might also be fun with Iris.. hmmmmm.

So what kind of tree is it, Sherry? I'd be tickled pink to have a ubiquitous redwood burl table!!! I've never even seen one..............

Oh it's a Maple from the Pacific North West. Big Leaf Maple, perhaps. Acer macrophyllum. I've got them on my property here, but they are secondary growth to whenever this area was logged last... and not as big as they get further north with more water.. They're a nice contrast to the redwoods and fir trees when they turn color (yellow).

It must have been an enormous tree. It sure makes an awesome coffee table!!

Time to revive this thread. I'm having mental issues or iris block into arranging my upcoming 2016 beds. They'll be simple constucted rectangle raised beds. My catagories for arrangements are going to be:
1.NoID's..each sellers I purchased from will be together. This way easier to hopefully sort. I know some colors I'm getting, but some are mixed or I was swindled and they could be all white
2.Named..mostly TB's
3.Rebloomers
4.Seedlings...maybe for winter 2016/2017

Any advice of arranging or organization? It WILL be semi shaded at points of sunrise, but the are will receive over 1/2 day of sun. I will have labels and will organize sorta by lot or rows,ex. A1, A2, b1 b2

Oh yeah, should I always keep them with their bloom season? VE, E, EM, L I'm guessing there's accuracy to this or they wouldn't list it right??

It would be interested to find out if they bloomed true to the reported season.

A lot of folks just plant randomly as space allows, and a colorful cacophony is always a joyful sight. But that being said, I'm OCD about color harmony (I'm a floral designer by trade- its ingrained in me now LOL). I find browns, beige and grayish tones, and muted colors don't look their best when near bright, clear colors (it can make them look dirty or mud splattered). Last summer I had a purple and white plicata next to a light brown/beige one and a gold and rust bicolor that had to be moved- it was almost nauseating to see them together!

Pastels look beautiful combined together, and earthy colors look good together. I consider reds kind of earthy in tone.

You may want to have some early, midseason, and late in each bed for a longer season of color distribution.

Deb, im guessing they're close to their bloom listings especially where they're produced and monitored. I think I'll skip that deep catorizing part.

Neal, excellent point about the color arrangement aspect. I think I'll try to theme them that way. I'll put some purples with pinks and pastels, gold crowns with gold cowns, browns with browns, ect...my biggest fear is mixing up alike colors together. I guess that's what good spacing is for. Can't wait till these turn into clumps down the road.

Gabe -- those clumps are what we all wait for!!! My Iris Lane was never more beautiful than the year that it needed thinning badly!

I mix my colors. There are browns that look great with light yellows and pinks or oranges. Dark Purples and bright yellows in a mix of pastels can make the mix pop. Reds mix with so many colors as there are lots of shades of red. And pale blues, whites and light pinks can work as great color breaks between a mix of bitones and multicolored iris.

Do not trust the bloom times to be exactly true in all cases. The climate can change bloom time. Some of my dwarfs bloom after some TB's, My other medians bloom along with the TB's for the most part. Having a mix of bloom times in the same part of a bed gives you continuous color coverage. Otherwise you will have patches with no blooms.
Write a log of when each one blooms for you this spring. You can then use the log for future garden layouts. (You know you will move some around!)

I have a lot of Iris still in pots that need to be planted. Will this change the time of the bloom vs if they were planted in the ground?

Not sure as this is my first year with any in pots. Sherry has had experience with potted iris so should be able to give you some idea. @henhouse

I grow irises in beds as well at pots. Potted irises tend to bloom earlier than they normally would as the soil warms the roots before the ground temps warm. However, a lot of irises bloom not due to warmth but due to the length of daylight. That being said, I have some of the same variety planted on both the north side of the house and south slope in the garden and the southern ones always bloom before the ones on the north side. I can actually slow the blooms of the potted plants by putting the pot on the north side of the property. So I would have to say in my opinion.... yes.

Well, my pots are in a little more protected area where they get a little less sun than the beds, so mine, bloom pretty close to on schedule. They do decline after the first year, and I try my best to get them all planted before then.

When I first started pairing Iris with other Iris, I neglected to check bloom times... Mistakes were made With the beds I've planted this year, I'm going for the big bang and trying , for the most part, to get colors and bloom times compatible. We'll find out this spring.

Neal, I'm so glad I'm not the only OCD person here with color.. Drives me nuts when I get it wrong.
That said.. It seems like pictures I've seen where they're randomly planted in mass, can be striking too..

I have a few irises that I have never found others that go well with so I usually plant them with other plants that compliment the colors such as Thornbird, with its purple veining, and a tall purple allium. Here is a small shot of a large bed of noids that range from white, white with purple plicatas and all shades of purple. It looks better than my photo shows.

My beds are arranged by what I happen to grab out of the garden cart and plant. The only thing I try not to do is plant the same color next to each other. However, one bed was arranged as an ATP only bed. All of my NoIDs are planted away from the named beds and are up on the hill.

I also plant where there is space. Any arranging I do is in a container. I used to do our church flower arranging (with a partner) until my balance got difficult. I do keep sizes of iris together, especially since one bed is MDBs planted before the trees leaf out.

If there are any mistakes to be made in plant placement, I think I've made them at least once. Sometimes I have planted two or three together that are too similar and then none of them seems to show up in the garden, they all seem hidden and unnoticeable. I've learned to place some selfs between some of the busier colored ones, and that makes them both show up better. Some bold colors next to some subtle colors seems to make them both show up too. I'm experimenting with a bed I redid this last summer where I take a color from subtle to bold in a progression. i.e. from the very light orange with the next one being a bit bolder and the next one bolder still until I get to a very bright orange. Then a different color doing the same thing. Guess we'll see how that works in the future. I got it planted pretty late though, so I don't look for much this spring.