We had a lady down the street with a great hill of perennials. She was very old, or seemed to be to a 4 year old. The whole hill had been terraced. I don't remember specific flowers, just that it was beautiful and she never minded a couple of little kids showing up to tell her how pretty her flowers were. We had a remnants of a garden at home. My dad told me the same lady (Mrs. Howard) had lived in our house many years before. I bet she moved at least a few of each.
We moved. The next house had some purple iris and rhubarb probably where the out house had been. They smelled good. I didn't pay much attention.
In my twenties I found I. versicolor, Blue Flags in a field at work. I brought them home, moved them to my friend's house in Maine, moved some to my office and never got them to where I live now.
The house came with 4 kinds of iris, a tenant planted some Sibs that took over a whole garden and I got some rhizomes at a storage auction. It wasn't until I tried to look up irises on eBay that I realized there are a gazillion different ones! Then I found HIPS and ATP! I went from 6 kinds to over 200 in 2 seasons!
