Someone posted a NOID that looked just like Looky Loo recently. They thought it might be Thundering Ovation but looks more like yours.
I think Open Sea is a beauty!!!! Great pictures....love the blue ones.

Me too, Janie -- almost as much as the pinks!!

Hmmmm -- wonder if it's on the NOID thread..............I'll go look!

I don't think that NoID is either since Thundering Ovation and Looky Loo have lines and speckles and the NoID has veining.

That said I am so jealous of you getting Electric Candy!!! Such a beauty!

Mary Ann, your pics are gorgeous. What beauty you must enjoy each spring. Love looking at this thread.

Brad sent me an Electric Candy too, and boy what a beauty. It's still blooming, it has a nice long bloom season. I used it on several crosses, after seeing some of the seedling he got from it. Hope I get seeds.

OK -- so Greg advised me that my Pep Rally isn't Pep Rally. Sigh. I meant to check that one before posting the picture -- and I forgot.

So. Does anyone have any idea what that pretty red not-Pep Rally is?

I agree that it isn't Pep Rally, but it sure is pretty. It is a deeper maroon red yes?

I think I have solved my own mystery. Tonight I finished cleaning, weeding and preening Nursery Bed #2 -- where the not-Pep Rally bloomed. And once I got all the dead leaves and weeds out of there, I could see several plant tags that weren't visible before. And right there, where not-Pep Rally bloomed, was the plant ID tag for Cardinal Rule. Just checked our database, and I think they are close enough to consider it likely. May not matter -- it would appear that the Cardinal Rule rhizome bloomed and rotted. It would also appear that I've lost Volcanic Glow...............

To add to my other issues out there -- I have mole runs in the raised beds, under the rhizomes. So -- some of the rhizomes are dangling in mid-air above a mole run, and other rhizomes have sunk down into the mole runs.

Just shoot me now.............

Oh no, I so hate the rodents.

So sad to hear Mary Ann! I found that those that bloomed this year were also the only ones that had rot issues and leaf spot. So they got a bum deal for blooming.

Mary Ann, it's a pain to find this kind of thing. Cardinal Rule is such a nice one too. I had a few seedlings bloom with no increases, one would have been a keeper too. We'll see if it sends one out later.

Muddymitts said:To add to my other issues out there -- I have mole runs in the raised beds, under the rhizomes. So -- some of the rhizomes are dangling in mid-air above a mole run, and other rhizomes have sunk down into the mole runs. .............

I was beginning to think I was the only person in North America with this problem! They can do a lot of damage, so I keep traps set at strategic spots. Occasionally I get lucky!

OOOh, Leon ! You shouldn't have mentioned mole traps !

Leon -- I have mole runs in other Iris beds, but they are shallower, and they seem to go around Iris rhizomes. In these two beds, they are deeper and go right under them. I think because the base soil in these beds is *fluffier* -- and therefore easier for them to tunnel at the same depth as the ground they came from. Last year we had a bumper crop of moles -- and this year seems to be following suit. What kind of traps do you use? I usually feed them poison pellets, but someone told me they don't eat those things anyway.

So Tom -- does this look like your Cardinal Rule?


I also have a couple of cultivars out there with only the remains of the bloom stalk -- and no evidence of making any increases.

And yes Leslie -- it is a deep maroony-red. Very pretty.............

Me too, Niki -- I hate rodents too........

Arlyn!!!!!

Mayyyybe it's a different kind!!! And mayyyyyyyyybe they are truck-proof!!!!!

AlanJ said:I like your *Ancient One* Mary Ann I do have I. germanica, and the rhizome is doing very well, so I do expect decent blooms from it. I don't have any smaller ones, except a Dwarf bearded that someone told me is an ancient form of I. germanica. It was here when I bought the mobile home. It desperately needed thinning out, which I did, but now I need to add more rhizomes, so I chose 'Royal Maroon' an 8-inch MDB to fill in the empty spaces. It's lovely. I had originally wanted 'Cherry Garden' but it is to tall at 11-inches. I don't expect any blooms on my Iris until May, unless 'Crimson King' blooms out for me early.

Edited to add @AlanJ..........
I was reading through the early posts on this thread, and a couple of things piqued my curiosity.

Alan did your Ancient One I. Germanica bloom this year? I don't remember seeing pictures of it..........

janielouy said:We have chances for "hard Freeze" or hard frost on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. I have bloom stalks on a few and two blooms. I am worried also about my hydrangeas. They really get zapped when we have a late freeze/frost.

Edited to add @Janielouy.........
Janie -- you may have solved a mystery for me. Last year my hydrangeas did not bloom at all -- I did not know why. Maybe we had a late freeze? Mine are beautiful this year!!


Mine are planted right next to the house -- so they do get some radiant heat, I am sure.

Gorgeous hydrangeas!

I really like your Cardinal Coat noid. Sad to hear it bloomed then rotted. As I have said before, the only ones of mine that got rot this year are ones that bloomed. Weird year for it.

I hate when I get moles in the yard because then I get Copperheads. They take out the mole population but then I have a snake problem.

crowrita1 said:OOOh, Leon ! You shouldn't have mentioned mole traps !

I figured I'd get in trouble with the 'politically correct' crowd, the white house, Gestapo or somebody in congress! Out here we try to think for ourselves!

Muddymitts said:Leon -- I have mole runs in other Iris beds, but they are shallower, and they seem to go around Iris rhizomes. In these two beds, they are deeper and go right under them. I think because the base soil in these beds is *fluffier* -- and therefore easier for them to tunnel at the same depth as the ground they came from. Last year we had a bumper crop of moles -- and this year seems to be following suit. What kind of traps do you use? I usually feed them poison pellets, but someone told me they don't eat those things anyway.

Mary Ann the best 'mole trap' I ever had is in the picture below. Unfortunately I lost her a while back due to aging and seizures. I let her have her way with the moles because they are so destructive and damaging. Not only in the iris beds, but they would take out a row of green beans in one night! They seem to know how to go straight down a row beneath the plants. I am not environmentally 'friendly' when my property and lifestyle are being destroyed! And, there is no such thing as 'poison' peanuts: They do not eat them!

I am now looking for a replacement for this 'trap' which I will always miss. She was my constant shadow.



Shown here guarding the onion patch.