Beautiful! And I know what you mean about the irises of hybridizers/growers closer to you doing better in your climate. I have ordered so many from the Northwest growers, and about 1/3 of them never even bloom for me. I've found that the ones that do best here in Bakersfield are Joe Ghio's (he's up in the Santa Cruz area) and those by the Suttons who are in Porterville only 65 miles away but are moving up to Idaho in the fall; followed by those by the guys at Superstition further up the San Joaquin Valley; and then those by the Painters up in Napa Valley also do well. But I've pretty much given up on the others. They will usually bloom the first year, but then I have to keep adding rhizomes if I want to see any other blooms in following years.
EXPLICIT has really been a good one here, although it's a pretty small flower in our climate. But such a beauty!
