Out of curiosity, I wanted to see if Amazon sold Bearded Iris. Turns out they do, however, I wanted to ask the professionals (you guys) if you knew the pros./cons., etc. of buying iris from Amazon.

I never have done so, but with so many good sources, I really see no reason to try it.

I would suggest trying to source a reputable nursery. Amazon are not specialists in anything, they just want to sell whatever they can. Try the green pages on here, lots of nurseries probably do mail order if you're looking for particular varieties.

Most of the bearded irises for sale on Amazon seem to be sold by a vendor called "Easy to Grow". If you click on the link to them to see the entirety of what they sell, in order to find the irises, you must click on the category "Bulbs". Frankly, I would not buy from a vendor that does not know the difference between a bulb and a rhizome.

There are too many reputable Iris specialists who do know what they are doing, for me to order from one who makes this sort of mistake.

We all have our favorite places, & best to stay with the specialists. Winterberry Iris garden introduces for us & we also buy from Mid america, Stout, Adkins, Keith Keppel, & suttons & Schreiners. Joe Pie Weed here in MA sells siberians.

Ian ~ I agree with Lucy and the others. If you stick with the Iris growers, you can be sure of what you are getting. And if an error does occur, they will make good on it. Plus, the quality is pretty consistent.

Thank you everyone. I will definitely order from other nurseries.

Do you know any nurseries that have a great variety of Bearded Iris??? And do they have online purchases??? I'm thinking Schreiner's, has a large variety but I'm not so sure.

Ian,I have iris from Schreiner's since the late 80's.They have been in business a long time.I think their cut off date to order has passed for your area.
Mid-America has a large selection ,but they are closed for this year.
I have purchased iris from Lucy's vendor list and the Iris Sisters.They are all reputable vendors /hybridizers.
Sadly, most are closed and not taking orders for this year.
It is getting late to plant iris in the ground in a lot of places..They need at least 6 weeks before your first freeze to establish themselves.Here in Louisville ,that is around now, though I have planted them up until Sept.23rd.

Yes, Ian, the best time to order is when the iris companies first open for orders in the spring. That's (around February for many nurseries) when you are most likely to get what you want, without substitutions. Most of the iris specialists, if they know what they are doing, though, won't dig your order until 6 weeks after bloom. And yes, Almost all of them will take orders either by phone or online, and almost all will ship to you.

So back when you inquired about planting time, and I said, "Now's the time," I had not reckoned on the fact that you had never placed your order back in springtime.

The thing about irises is that planning ahead is essential, and that means not just ordering way earlier than seems logical, but also getting sod lifted and beds prepared where none are already available. Don't wait for the iris to arrive to do that, or you may be sorry. Planting the irises into prepared beds in the heat of July or August is enough work, without trying to prepare the beds at the same time.

Wintertime is for browsing catalogs, researching awards histories online, making your wish lists, and drafting the layout of your intended garden design. Anticipa-ation!!

March and late fall are for peeling off every single dead leaf and bagging them up in order to get rid of borer eggs before they can hatch.

In March and right after bloom is the time for fertilizing with low nitrogen fertilizer. But consider doing a soil test first.

So with irises, it really is a year 'round hobby.

On the top of the Iris forum is a sticky thread with a vendor list, I linked it below too.
The thread "Vendor list" in Irises forum
@evelyninthegarden mentioned you in that thread to show you that list.

SonoveShakespeare said:Thank you everyone. I will definitely order from other nurseries.

Do you know any nurseries that have a great variety of Bearded Iris??? And do they have online purchases??? I'm thinking Schreiner's, has a large variety but I'm not so sure.

A lot of places are closed for the year now, but still have their catalogs up.
I believe Flyingpbar and C & T are still open. Or they were. Some, like Eagle Ridge, have closed up the storefront entirely. (EDIT: WALKINGPBAR not flying, lol) https://www.walking-p-bar.com/...

Dancing Dragon has a big catalog, but it's not the easiest to use.
Winterberry has some great irises, and pretty clear labelling and nice photos. But their website is also not my favorite. I have to scroll up and down to find photos and heights and bloom timing, etc.

I ordered quite a bit from MidAmerica this year. The new website is much improved and their search functionality, like Schreiner's, is excellent. Being able to filter a search by keyword is really helpful when they have a big selection. And especially, for people like me, being able to filter out early blooming irises is really helpful, because we always have nasty cold snaps and freezes after an initial thaw.
Cayeux ships to the US, fyi. I like their website's storefront as well.

Sutton and Stout and Iris Sisters and a lot of hybridizers/gardens have their catalogs online or you can view all their stock. They all have pretty good online storefronts, in my opinion.

OH and PS:
I know that some reputable nurseries also sell Siberians and some DBs. Bluestone Perennials does. They have a few DBs in stock, and some Sibbies as well. They have a 100% guarantee on their plants. I once got some salvia that was just crawling with slugs, and they replaced them all immediately. I trust them, I got all my catmint and veronica from them. but if it's a place you trust, with a guarantee on it, you might try them out.

I would stick with a iris nursery cause it's the only thing they deal with. I wouldn't trust ebay and amazon for them.