Lyn.. On the Mid America plants I think Thomas catalogs his own for 4 -5 years unless it is an excellent seller especially lately he has had a large number of new intro's don't quote me on the exact number but probably close to 200 every year counting the smaller ones ..those all require a lot of space and time to dig and move every season if something does not sell good it won't stay there long he just has too many coming along what helps is he also has a huge customer base across seas that supplies Australia and Europe with plants and it takes a lot to keep up with the worldwide demand goes to show how good he is that he can keep up that pace .. last years popular Lovely Livvy was sold out In May while I was there so depending on how much he sold maybe holding things back for adequate stock ?
Im glad your into Luminata's me too
will have some to share pics of soon I especially like the fancies and have some good reds coming they are a bright splash of color in the garden early in the season ..Baltimore is one I enjoy every year it really does well here comes from 2 very good parents so I want to work with the pedigree but has been a tough parent for me very rarely has pollen just the past couple years having some success with it as it sets pods should have a bunch more kids bloom from it in May.
I certainly hope in the future we can get more people involved in Iris I think it starts by using the resources that are now available like social media and getting pictures of gardens and flowers out there in the world it amazes me when I post pictures on my instagram page and get replies from over seas or messages wanting to buy them from different countries it just shows the reach it can have for commercial growers .. one thing I am trying this year that is new for me is locally trying to bring in more people to iris by getting the nurseries involved .. one garden center in our area had an iris show and some of the people putting it on come stopped by here and we picked out whatever they wanted for the show so we could give the general public a taste of what's new in the iris world it sounds like it was a hit ..
My neighbors run a garden center that sells annuals and baskets in the spring throughout the summer they provide Country Entertainment for people to be able to get out of the city and bring the kids to get on rides and feed the animals in late September/October they put on a fall fest with tractor rides/corn maizes/ pumpkin patches/fall mums/ weekend concerts the highway in October lines up with cars to look like a mall entrance
they stopped over during bloom this season and quickly fell in love with the Iris and it was the perfect year for it because I cut back the field plantings to half of what they were so I could make room ..normally what I'm getting rid of is tossed but instead the commercial plants and unwanted seedlings were given to them to start an Iris Festival here in the spring they will sell the cut flower stalks/ open it up for photographers and have wine tasting in the evenings with the goal of getting more people involved with Iris they average around 30k visitors in the fall if we get a small portion of that here in the spring to see the iris it will lead to many good things. I think they were able to plant 10 200ft rows out of those plants once the plants settle in will be an amazing show Im looking forward to seeing my little experiment grow into something bigger for the community here
and planting seeds for future Gardners.
(Baltimore X Innocent Miss) 21-187A
