I have one lovely pink iris I've had for about 18 years now, but I finally said goodbye this March 20th, 2019. She was such a beauty, but I had to move and the new owners couldn't take care of her. She will be missed! Luckily, I managed to salvage some rhizomes and might try replanting later, though my newest replant seems to be a bit of a dud.

EDIT: wrong picture, but I can't seem to figure out how to delete it!

To misquote someone on the forum here (maybe Gabe, and speaking of which, where is he?)... ."irises are as tough as cockroaches". Good luck with your replant, maybe it will come around!

mimzy630 said:
EDIT: wrong picture, but I can't seem to figure out how to delete it!

I deleted it for you. If it ever happens again just hit the Edit at the bottom of the post and delete the image which appears as [ lightbox]blah blah56721849blah blah[ /lihjybox] (between the brackets is made up in case you can't tell!)

Sue, if you have any more of Thornbird, I'd love to rehome it.

Deebie said:Sue, if you have any more of Thornbird, I'd love to rehome it.

Debbie, this thread is from 2016. She may or may not see this thread. I didn't know which Sue you meant since i also had Thornbird at one time so scrolled back up.

Good grief, thanks. It was way past my bedtime. I was trying to catch up after I'd been away nearly a week.

mimzy630. I hope your irises thrive at your new location.

Lestv said:Celia - I agree with you about Swept Off My Feet. Schreiner's went through a plicata phase in bonuses. I am not crazy about white and purple plicatas anyway, but Swept Off My Feet and their other one, Girly Girl just are sorta boring to me. I promised John Girly Girl and I think Swept will also be leaving, along with Girl Trouble (what is with naming all these plicatas about girl things?). I think I will keep Petticoat Shuffle as it is more unique in form and has only the rims with plicata stitching.

Leslie, I have to agree with you about most plicatas. When I see them en masse, all I can see is a bunch of white spots. I previously made the mistake of calling the effect "trashy" but got my head bit off for that, so instead I will call the effect "messy." But Petticoat Shuffle seems to be an exception to that, and I think has a wonderful en masse effect.

Whenever I make a final decision as to whether to add an iris to my tiny yard and garden, I have to ask myself three questions.
1. Is the form consistently pleasing, in the way that I prefer.
2. Is the color pleasing to me, and will it go with the colors I already have.
3. What is the en masse effect of a large clump of this cultivar.

If I can't find photos showing large clumps of the cultivar then I must conclude that either it is too new for it to have formed great clumps in peoples' gardens or it is a slower grower. Either gives me pause on whether to buy that particular cultivar, until there are photos that demonstrate what it can do.

Lastly if I do find en masse photos of the cultivar, I have to judge whether I like the effect that one gives en masse. Sadly, in many cases, I simply don't. Many blossoms that are gorgeous as individual blossoms, leave me somewhat uncomfortable when I view them en masse. For me this is particularly true of many of the bicolors and plicatas. "Messy en masse" is really my best explanation of the way it makes me feel. Too busy, or too many obvious papery sheaths showing, or so many ruffles that the form doesn't shine through, or blooms distorting each other. It's a gut feeling.

When you have lots and lots of space in your yard and garden, maybe you can afford to have some "messy en masse" cultivars, But my yard and garden are so small that I cannot afford to have even one cultivar that is messy en masse. It would spoil the whole effect for me. And that's why I pay so much attention to those en masse photos.

My garden however is not entirely without its bicolors. There are certain ones that have a beautiful en masse effect, such as:
World Premiere



Or Stairway to Heaven
.

And Queen's circle is an example of a plicata with wonderful en masse effect:



But others, though I may love the individual blossoms, leave me with a gut ache, when I view the en masse effect.

Actually, Queen's Circle is not a plicata, it is said to be an Emma Cook pattern.
I agree it is beautiful en masse, as is World Premier and Stairway to Heaven.

Andrea, thanks for the correction. I was sort of thinking of it as a reverse plicata, but I guess that's wrong because the genes would be entirely different.

AlanJ said:

Yes, I have to agree, you have a few that I definitely would put on my 'culling' list. 'Bewilderbeast' is probably the most hideous Iris I have ever seen, next to Batik, which is a close 2nd. "Coyote Ugly" is just bizarre, and I wouldn't think of giving it garden space in my gardens. I was thinking about this recently, and really did come to the conclusion that there really are in existence a lot of Iris that to me are downright Ugly. I'm waiting for mine to bloom next month to see which ones will be 'culled' out of the gardens.

Alan, I feel that way about all the broken colors. They remind me of tulipmania, in which it was finally discovered that the broken color tulips everyone was so crazy about actually suffered from a virus. So, I think of virus every time I see one of these broken colored iris. I know I shouldn't but I just do.

Daisy - I am on the opposite side of the boat here. I am enthralled by irises with unique and odd striations. Broken colours especially. I never have had any, but I am always mesmerized by them. I had a false ID of Batik and I am disappointed it wasn't true. Such stark differences in tastes, I suppose, because Bewilderbeast is beautiful to me.

I haven't yet found an iris I flat despised...but if and when I do, you all on the iris forums are welcome to take them all off of me if you like. No promises, yet, because it seems like a hard task for me to find an iris I...DON'T like.
(Help me... )

Interesting discussion.

Monty, I should send you one of the mislabeled irises that I received in my order last year. You might change your mind.

I dare you... I'll prove you wrong!

I'm not "the" biggest fan of highly ruffled irises...or untraditional looking irises, say, like a flattie. Heck, even some beardless irises don't catch my eye...but there isn't any I "hate."

One I do dislike, even without having (oh what a marvel! ) would be Sea Power. I like the colour....but there are soooo many ruffles.
No disrespect to the hybridizer, or the picture snapper...but eh.. I like a lot of her children a LOT more though.

What's sad is....I'd still take Sea Power if someone offered me it, or it was a cheap buy from a vendor. I am a truly hopeless iris addict.

I have to admit that I don't like too many ruffles either, which makes it strange that I ordered Sea Power. But I did, and it's one that is going to bloom for me for the first time this month. So we'll see. I'll give it a couple of tries to convince me to keep it, and if it doesn't succeed, it will go on my cull list. I tend to go for some ruffles, but there is a point where I will draw the line on them. I bought it mainly because it was touted as being one of the truest blues.

A case in point about ruffles have been the attempts to make a modern, ruffled version of Wabash. When I see Bravery's falls entirely flipping up on the edges, I say to myself, I still like Wabash's clean, crisp lines, white wire edges, and velvety falls. Why can't the hybridizers just adjust its shape a trifle? Or maybe even then I'd still want the original, a favorite of my childhood.

I've started putting flags our for those that are going bye-bye.. I've got to get a little more serious about it... I've only got 4 flags out..

Henhouse said:I've started putting flags our for those that are going bye-bye.. I've got to get a little more serious about it... I've only got 4 flags out..

Sherry ~ How many irises do you have? Are you going to offer up the ones you no longer want to newer members, (like Monty), for instance? Or sell them?

Sherry - You go! Four with a flag is a start.

Daisy - Most of the time, unless I downright despise the look, I'll still get the iris amd try it out to see if its bloom or beauty in real time and my own eyes makes it much more worthwhile than a picture could ever tell me...or not. Good luck with Sea Power, though. Let me know how it does for you!

This first year for Sea Power did not bode well for it, but I always give a cultivar at least three years to change my mind. That goes even for the somewhat ugly, muddy cream NOID that was mislabeled and substituted for one I really wanted, two years ago. I liked it al trifle better this year than last. And Hubby liked it. So I'll give it a third year to impress. And then if it doesn't or if I find myself running out of room for the new ones coming in July, out it goes. That also pertains to the light yellow that was likewise mislabeled and substituted for another I had wanted. I like the light, clear yellow as far as blending well with other colors, but it always seems to be open at the top. There are too many others that have good form to give space to one that doesn't. These mislabled substitututions are downright nasty when I had specified no substitutions at the start.