My favorite medium blue iris is Merchant Marine.





It is vigorous, has good branching, blooms heavily and long, and stands up well to rain. Its parent, Yaquina Blue, is also a beautiful medium blue self, a big, robust iris.

A medium blue that is not a self which I recommend is Money in Your Pocket.



This third year clump made quite a statement in my yard.

I agree with the other posters that the best light blue is probably Absolute Treasure, but I grow another light blue that is reliable and vigorous:

Neptune's Cloak (Hager 1992)

Looking into medians, I'm very happy with the color of the IB Neon Blue.


The catch is that while it has grown great here(as most IB's do), it has also had rot issues during winter (but so had most of its neighboring irises) so in two years I have only seen a single bloom. Not nearly enough for me to personally recommend it, but I do hope to see it in its full glory in a couple of years, as it is now placed in a much better and drier spot. It is so very beautiful in Robin's clump photo.

I'm rather curious if anyone has a favorite blue SDB...?

My favorite blue SDB is not a self, but it sure is bright blue:



Does anyone grow Bel Azur:


??

I am planning on getting it next year and would be interested in any thoughts you have on it.

Looking through the DB there are several different classifications of "blue". There is light blue, pale blue, dark blue, etc. etc. My favorite of all the blues is described as Light blue. Then in the DB description of color there is "Silvery light powder blue". The beards are defined as "Deep bluebird blue tipped silver". I'm referring to Song Of Norway. It has been in my top five irises for a number of years, and is my pick of the "blue irises". Weather & lighting conditions can change the depth & shade of color (unless you are a professional photographer).







I must admit Absolute Treasure is quite an attractive iris. However after several tries I scrapped it. It just did not measure up to strong growth and increase. Likely it was regional climate, weather, local etc. When one is limited as to how much lawn to plow up then we must limit the number of irises we can grow. That is an important factor for me. Age of this gardener has a bearing too.

A gorgeous iris! Absolute Treasure

sherry/@henhouse, have you ever grown 'goodnight irene'? your blue noid looks similar to 'gi', which i' ve been searching for and found at bluehaven iris. unfortunately, mary hess wrote back to say that particular iris was decimated by gophers, and she doesn't know if there are any survivors.......so i'm still looking for a second source.


anyone else know where it might be found?

A pity that Absolute Treasure didn't perform well at your location, Leon.

Song of Norway looks very, very nice. Although not an exact match I find that it resembles Blue Trill in some photos.



I got Blue Trill this year, but the rhizome is tiny so will take at least two years for any blooms. If it doesn't thrive or dies I might be very tempted to try Song of Norway instead.

Ocean Pearl is a good SDB that is blue. It grows really well for me but tends to meander all around so I find it in different places.

IrisLilli said:My favorite blue SDB is not a self, but it sure is bright blue:

• Standard Dwarf Bearded Iris (Iris 'Big Blue Eyes')
• Uploaded by TBGDN

Lilli ~ Yes, that is a pretty one!

Here is what I have, or will have so far:
Absolute Treasure

Alien Mist

Babbling Brook

Barbara Jean

Batik (BB)

Blue Trill

Blutique

Broken Pattern


To be continued...

(I am thinking that most, if not all are actually blue-violet.)

Clyde

Codicil

Elegance in Blue

Frosty Spirit BB

Gnu Blues

Honky Tonk Blues

Inside Job

Joy Returns (described as blue-violet)

Natural Grace

Never Been Kissed

On Line

Procrastinator

Shipshape

Tu Tu Turquoise SDB


Possibly with the exception of the last one here...

Evelyn, love all those blues.

I tried 'Batik' well over 10 years ago. I wasn't impressed. (It's no longer here.)

'Blue Trill' looks pretty.

Nice collection of blues Evelyn!

So Evelyn collects blues
Marilyn - purples
Barbara - ones with lines
Leslie - Burseens
Arlyn - historics

And Rob?

Never Been Kissed is lovely.

Rob collects EVERYTHING.

creativeclover said:Evelyn, love all those blues.

Richard ~

William said:Looking into medians, I'm very happy with the color of the IB Neon Blue.

• Intermediate Bearded Iris (Iris 'Neon Blue')
• Uploaded by William

• Intermediate Bearded Iris (Iris 'Neon Blue')
• Uploaded by Totally_Amazing

• Intermediate Bearded Iris (Iris 'Neon Blue')
• Uploaded by Totally_Amazing

The catch is that while it has grown great here(as most IB's do), it has also had rot issues during winter (but so had most of its neighboring irises) so in two years I have only seen a single bloom. Not nearly enough for me to personally recommend it, but I do hope to see it in its full glory in a couple of years, as it is now placed in a much better and drier spot. It is so very beautiful in Robin's clump photo.

I'm rather curious if anyone has a favorite blue SDB...?

William ~ I like that neon Blue!

AndreaD said:Never Been Kissed is lovely.

It didn't bloom, and since it is in its first year, I will withhold tossing it, but it is a very slow grower.