Aryln and MaryAnn: Good luck with trying to rid yourself of unwanted out of control plants. I still think there is a lot of difference in comparison. Yes, I too had the same problem with the bishops weed reverting back and never have grown Monkey Grass. I do know that from my own experiences, there seems to be a big difference in the costs of new introductions of specialty plants such as iris, daylilies, Echinacea and such....and we can go on and on. I do not use any chemical since I live close to the river so I can rule that out and yes, mother nature does throw us a curve.
That said, I think the hybridization is the culprit. As I mentioned before, in my opinion, testing needs to be done for more years before putting out to the market for sale. Oh, would it be nice if the "Space Agers" would spread like the Bishops Weed and Monkey Grass. Then I would have a better chance to get truly named iris. A large patch of surprise iris would be very pretty.... as long as they did not cost $$$$$s to start with.
So, I have learned a lesson from all this and will probably try to stay away from the newer hybridized varieties. As I said, I love all perennials it is just that one can not afford to keep loosing varieties that they paid good $$$'s for only to find they have who-knows-what coming back each year. Besides, when one does not live on many acres of land, they are limited in space to grow plants. I live on less than one acre and love many varieties and species. So, something will have to go and on the other hand, it is hard to trade, give away or in some cases, sell ones that do not have a name or are not reliable. Thanks for all your comments and sharing your experiences. This is just my opinion. Love this site, nice to share our thoughts.
