As I'm going through my planting beds of Iris, there are many that just don't work for me.. Some were door prizes, some were ones whose pictures out-dazzled the actual Iris.. Many were from our free for all July picnic where rhizomes were $3 each at one point, and free at another.. A couple were bonuses from orders (from companies I'm not doing business with now...

I'm just starting to get a list together.
'Betty Christine' didn't excite me last year, and I like her less now.


'Coyote Ugly' did a really neat split colored fall one time, but that was the last excitement I had from it.

'Bewilderbeast' is another broken color that no longer enchants me.

'Tiger Honey'I got as a companion sor 'Striped Tiger', but it's colors are a little wimpy for me.


'Girly Girl' was a bonus piccata from Schreiners a couple of years ago. It's nice enough, but it doesn't make me do the happy dance.


Of course, these are mostly for the asking..

I'll post some more tomorrow afternoon.

I will have to cull a quite a few I'm sure to make room for the new ones coming. I will have to see the bloom season before I can make up my mind though.

I have a few that are so much like another I have that it is really not feasible to keep them both when I have limited space and unlimited iris dreams. I will wait until after bloom season to post the outgoing ones.

Mother Nature (actually some of her less pleasant minions !) has already "culled" my beds

Mother Nature's minions...

I will have some to post too. Too many potted ones need to be planted somewhere.

Mother Nature has helped me lower the numbers too.

Or did she just add onto the shopping list.

Prolly both, Rob.................

I think 'Congratulations' might go.. It's from the 80's, and although a nice combination of colors, the form is uninspiring.. I may wait another year to see if it has some other attributes that may make it garden worthy in another spot.. but it doesn't seem to fit with the others in the same bed.. Anybody have anything nice to say about it?

I am not familiar with that one Sherry. It looked it up in the database. Although it did get honorable mention and award of merit It is not one I would purchase for my limited space.

Yeah -- doesn't flip my switch either................

Sherry, I have had a large clump of Congratulations for several years. It grows well here and makes a pretty impressive statement when the whole thing is in bloom. The colors are very clean. There are lots of iris in that color combination, so it does not stick out, but I still like it.

Well I know of two that will be going bye bye if they don't bloom this year - Midnight Oil and Apollodorus. Haven't seen them since the first year I got them. Sunrise Elegy may go to for lack of bloom. That one may get moved to a new bed first as a trial.

More to be determined after bloom time.

Ok... maybe I'll wait a year on Congratulations. Or move it out into the home for unloved Iris out in the pasture.

That sounds so sad Sherry, like the Island of Misfit Toys......

It's actually kind of pretty out in the pasture.. but it's gopher alley.. There's a white flowering & white variegated shrub border along the fence w/ some young redwoods. Crimson King is the only one out there now... but I've been eyeing it for some time now as overflow possibility.

Midnight Oil is a poor bloomer in MA as well. Several people have complained about growth.

Henhouse said:As I'm going through my planting beds of Iris, there are many that just don't work for me.. Some were door prizes, some were ones whose pictures out-dazzled the actual Iris.. Many were from our free for all July picnic where rhizomes were $3 each at one point, and free at another.. A couple were bonuses from orders (from companies I'm not doing business with now...

I'm just starting to get a list together.
'Betty Christine' didn't excite me last year, and I like her less now.

• Tall Bearded Iris (Iris 'Betty Christine')
• Uploaded by Calif_Sue

'Coyote Ugly' did a really neat split colored fall one time, but that was the last excitement I had from it.

• Tall Bearded Iris (Iris 'Coyote Ugly')
• Uploaded by Henhouse

'Bewilderbeast' is another broken color that no longer enchants me.

• Tall Bearded Iris (Iris 'Bewilderbeast')
• Uploaded by needrain

'Tiger Honey'I got as a companion sor 'Striped Tiger', but it's colors are a little wimpy for me.

• Tall Bearded Iris (Iris 'Tiger Honey')
• Uploaded by Henhouse

'Girly Girl' was a bonus piccata from Schreiners a couple of years ago. It's nice enough, but it doesn't make me do the happy dance.

• Tall Bearded Iris (Iris 'Girly Girl')
• Uploaded by Henhouse

Of course, these are mostly for the asking..

I'll post some more tomorrow afternoon.

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.

Lestv said:Well I know of two that will be going bye bye if they don't bloom this year - Midnight Oil and Apollodorus. Haven't seen them since the first year I got them. Sunrise Elegy may go to for lack of bloom. That one may get moved to a new bed first as a trial.

More to be determined after bloom time.

Wouldn't you know it, I got home and both of these now have bloom stalks, along with the long absent Starship Enterprise!

That's one way to get 'em to bloom.. Threats work!!