Our back-yard neighbor when I was a child had his yard filled with irises. About a 40 ft wide property. He was a botany professor at Milwaukee Sate Teacher's college (Now U. of Wisconsin Milwaukee). I used to stand on the bottom board of our picket fence & chat. This was in the 1940s & I was amazed to see a pink iris. He had given my mother some yellow & purple discards. While my favorite flower was lily of the valley, I loved the color of the irises. When I married, my husband's grandmother had some dwarf iris . They were what is now I. lutesens. I had never seen them before. We then saw an ad in a magazine for Ben Hager's Garden in CA. Quote hubby "oh, they have the little ones'. We were off & never looked back. ☺
