I'm sorry to hear that, Tom -- nothing's more disappointing than waiting all year to see an Iris bloom and then no bloom. Waiting five years would test my patience, for sure. Epicenter has been a good bloomer for me. It bloomed the first year here, I liked it well enough to move it to Iris Lane (two years ago) and this year it bloomed and bloomed. When it was done blooming, about a month later it sent up another bloom stalk. So I got an encore.
You have an impressive collection of Ghio's Irises. It's a shame that so many of them have not bloomed for you -- that's a pretty high percentage, isn't it? Perhaps they just don't like Wisconsin winters? Or the freeze-then-thaw-then-freeze aspect of you'all coming into Spring? I also wonder if the intensive hybridizing for ruffles that Ghio does, makes his Irises less robust than others? Just a thought.
If you decide to give up on any of those, I'd be happy to adopt them and see if they like Kentucky better than Wisconsin!!! (wink)
In addition to the photos that I showed of mine, I also have *Starring*, *Marauder* and *Halloween Trick*. *Starring* and *Marauder* bloomed beautifully. *Halloween Trick* sent up a single stalk and produced very small, unruffled and unremarkable blooms. It has one small increase. I brought this to the attention of the person that I bought it from, and he offered to send me another rhizome this year. I hope he does so. Perhaps I should send him a reminder.
Paul -- thank you for the lovely compliment on my photo of *Magical*. I don't consider myself a photographer in any sense of the word, so that was a lucky shot. All of my good ones are!!!
