Aruba's Eye-Popping Clump Shots

'Amber Essence' in Brad's Garden c. Brad Collins

By Renee Fraser

We are a lucky generation of gardeners:  there are quite a number of talented photographers across the internet sharing their shots of our favorite flower.  In the days before internet sites such as Dave's Garden, All Things Plants, Gardenweb, and of course, the American Iris Society's Iris Encyclopedia, we had to anxiously await the year's catalogs from our favorite iris growing companies to drool over lovely images of irises.  So much has changed in the last few years!  So today I would like to share a few of the fine photographs of one of my internet heroes, Brad Collins (Aruba), who has designed and planted an extraordinary iris garden in Iowa and who liberally and generously shares his beautiful photographs of irises with the world on AllThings Plants and the Irises Cubit.  

'Purple Serenade' c. Brad Collins

I really love Brad's pictures because he often photographs the whole plant or a clump of irises, which gives me a better idea of what the variety will look like in the garden.  For instance, 'Petticoat Shuffle' never would have caught my eye (just another purple plicata) but Brad's clump shot sent me straight to the catalog to place the order.

'Petticoat Shuffle' c. Brad Collins

Brad became interested in photography through scuba diving, and when I complimented him on his talent, he dryly noted that taking pictures of irises is easy compared to trying to capture a three-foot-long fish moving like lightning 90 feet below water.  But I don't think it's easy to get a shot like this:

'There's No Place Like Home' c. Brad Collins

Brad comes from a long line of iris lovers.  It has become a cliché' in this blog, but once again, it was grandma who started it all.  Brad's father, Michael, also an iris lover and accomplished gardener, says that when he was a child the whole family would walk over to grandma's iris garden to eat a hearty breakfast cooked by grandpa over an open fire outside.  The scent of the first iris each spring brings those memories flooding back, and Michael is proud and happy that his son Brad caught the iris virus and is continuing the family tradition.  The first iris Brad planted in his garden was 'Stepping Out', a gift from his dad, who was given that very iris by his grandmother in 1975. 

'Drinks at Sunset' c. Brad Collins

Brad has designed several acres of gardens in Iowa.  He was inspired to plant his huge curving beds of irises after a tour of the Pacific northwest iris growers in 2009, including visits to Mid America, where he fell in love with the way the irises were set off by the conifers, roses, and small trees.  With advice and help from Paul Black, he set about creating his own Eden.  Many of his spectacular clump shots are taken in his own back yard.  He grows over 500 varieties of irises, mostly newer introductions from Paul Black, Thomas Johnson, Joe Ghio, Barry Blyth, and Keith Keppel, but many from other hybridizers as well.

Brad's garden featuring rare conifers

Year-round interest

Over 500 varieties of irises

Brad says "one of the things I enjoyed from visiting the commercial gardens on the west coast was the seedling beds, and finding something brand new in those gardens every day that I had never seen before. It was a lot of fun- I think I walked all of Schreiner's 200 acres in those few days and made numerous stops at Mid America and Keppel’s,  and I really enjoyed seeing all the new colors and patterns.  So I decided to try and make some crosses at home just to see if I could get some pods. The result was better than I had hoped and I came up with almost 40 crosses."  Over 800 plants are growing, and this year he planted 3,000 seeds.  Thank goodness his kind neighbors own a commercial garden, and they have given over part of a greenhouse for his use.  He'll need his own greenhouse soon!

Brad's Seedlings lined out

Brad has scheduled a trip to California this spring:  he will be visiting  Napa Country Iris, Joe Ghio's gardens in Monterey, and Superstition Iris Gardens this April.  I look forward to sharing his experience through his generosity with his time and talent and the wonders of the internet.  To hold you over until then, here are a few more of his wonderful clump shots.

'Catwalk Queen' c. Brad Collins

'Sweetly Sung' c. Brad Collins

'Romantic Gentleman' c. Brad Collins

Which photo will send you straight to the order forms?  Let us know below.

The Iris at the End of the Rainbow: the Favorites of Ginny Spoon

By Renee Fraser

Traditionally, men arrive for a first date with flowers. Don Spoon brought Ginny just the pollen! And so at their first dinner date in 1993, Ginny made her first iris cross, 'Zurich' X 'Chaste White', using pollen from Don's garden. The match produced offspring:  Ginny's first iris introduction, 'Autumn Ivory'.

Does it get any more romantic than that?

Don and Ginny Spoon are the owners of Winterberry Gardens in Cross Junction, Virginia. Their gardens are in USDA zone 6, 1100 feet above sea level. The main problem in their climate is the extreme temperature shifts. Spring temperatures might go from the mid 80's in the daytime to 25 at night! Those of you gardening under these conditions know that this can pose challenges for growing irises, because they may begin to bloom and still be vulnerable to frost.

Don started hybridizing as a youngster, over 60 years ago, along with his mother, Lilla Spoon, who was president of the Charlotte, North Carolina Iris Society at the time. Don majored in biology, earning his Ph.D. and taught at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. for over 22 years. He established a lovely garden there, which is still maintained by the staff at Georgetown. Don also discovered a previously unknown organism and published a scientific paper and got to name it [Euhyperamoeba biospherica]. Ginny earned a degree in horticulture, and she says "so of course, the biologist and the horticulturalist are always arguing over who is right about what to do in the garden, but we manage to do it without too much bloodshed."

Don and Ginny worked at the Biosphere 2 in Arizona when they were first married. He helped design the ocean and was in charge of it for two years. Ginny went along for the ride, but ended up taking care of the Intensive Agricultural Biome for three months so the manager could visit his family in Nepal. They planted quite a few irises around the Biosphere 2, where they still grow today.

One of Ginny's favorite introductions is Don's 'Little John'. Ginny says "Don took me out to a large planting of his seedlings in Maryland where I first saw 'Little John' in bloom. Of course it was just a seedling then. I wanted it but we had no tools and the ground was dry and hard as cement. Don was ready to leave but I had to have a piece so I took a rock and managed to chip out a rhizome. I planted it and the next year it was in bloom with 11 buds. Don got his shovel right away and we traveled the three hours to dig out the rest of it.

'Little John' 1996 Owens Rebert garden

'Little John' was not named for the character in Robin Hood as many people have thought, but for a young man who helped me in my garden who was a John Junior, but his dad called him "Little John." Sadly, he died very young from leukemia, and I asked Don if I could name my favorite iris for him. 'Little John' is a cross of 'Damsel' by 'Queen Dorothy' and since it is half rebloomer it also has produced rebloomers for us, including broken colors. I have seen it growing very well in Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas and Maryland. I think the best planting was at the garden of Owens Rebert."

'Orchid Dove' 2007 (Lady of Leoness sibling X Uncle Charlie)

 When a dreamy orchid-colored seedling bloomed, Don kept asking Ginny if she could see the dove-blue color in the crests. Hence the name 'Orchid Dove'. It has been reported to grow well wherever they have sent it. At the National Convention in Wisconsin it got the most popular votes for a tall bearded iris out of region.

'My Ginny' 2000 (Sweet Musette x Femme Fatale) X (Winifred Ross x My Katie)

Don was waiting to name an iris after his love, and when the first flower on this seedling opened, his exclamation of joy and surprise was "My Ginny!" Both Don and Ginny love the 'Emma Cook' color pattern.  'My Ginny' won the popular vote at the International Competition in Florence, Italy for a commercial variety and the Franklin Cook Cup at the 2003 National AIS Convention. It grows well all over the U.S.

'Daughter of Stars' 2001 (Clarence X Mindreader)
Photo by Riley Probst

'Daughter of Stars' is another of Don's irises beloved by Ginny. They named it after the local Native American legend about the Shenandoah River, which says the river is so deep and dark that it gave birth to the stars. This iris won the Wister Medal 2007. It grows well all over the country and reblooms in zones 6 through 9.

That takes care of Ginny's favorites hybridized by Don, but what of her own efforts?

'Selah Christine' 2012 (Sariel X Orchid Dove)

Of her own introductions, a great favorite is 'Selah Christine', which is named after Ginny's granddaughter. It has been awarded an Exhibition Certificate (EC) which is the only award an iris can get that is not a garden award, and a High Commendation (HC) for a seedling iris. She has high hopes that it will also do well in most areas.

'Zippo' 2011

Another is 'Zippo', a nearly black SDB (Standard Dwarf Bearded) iris with large pure white beards, is named for Ginny's daughter-in-law's cat, which is black with white paws.

'Velvet Elvis' 2012 ((Cerise Boy x Candy Corn sibling) X self)

A wide, velvety red iris with showy orange beards inspired the name 'Velvet Elvis'. This SDB won an EC as a seedling.

'Autumn Rose' 2008 (Diamond Blush X Chatter)

The striking 'Autumn Rose' reblooms in the autumn.  Ginny crossed Don's beautiful pink rebloomer 'Diamond Blush' and Ghio's dark pink plicata, 'Chatter' (which rebloomed once for them) and got a nice zone 6 rebloomer. Don had told Ginny that if you cross a solid color with a plicata it would intensify the color, and indeed it did. It is a very intense rose pink that stands out in the garden.

When Don and Ginny met at the C&P Iris Society, they each had a large collection of rebloomers. They continue working to produce irises that are multiple rebloomers with modern form, vigor, and exceptional coloration.  I grow two of their irises in Southern California.  MY favorite is 'Plum Pretty Whiskers' which has that gorgeous orchid color of many of their irises.  It is not listed as a rebloomer, but it reblooms in my garden. 

'Plum Pretty Whiskers'

I also recently planted what may be their most famous iris, 'Daughter of Stars', even though I had to create a place in my garden for it.  I couldn't help myself!

Do you grow any Spoon irises?  Do they bloom in your zone?  And are there any irises that you would love to see in a reblooming version?  Let us know here in the comments section.

The Iris at the End of the Rainbow: the Favorites of Walter Moores

By Renee Fraser

Sometimes when I'm out in my garden enjoying my irises, I wonder about the men and women who create such beauty.  What did they think when they first saw THIS flower open?  Out of all of the irises they have hybridized, which are their very favorites?  I also notice that the irises of particular hybridizers do well for me.  Could it have something to do with the climate the flower was born in? 

Since I have recently become acquainted with a number of both avocational hybridizers and those who also run commercial gardens, I asked them to share their favorite iris introductions and tell us a bit about how they became interested in hybridizing.  

The inspiration for these questions was 'Flying Down to Rio' by Walter Moores.  I have always loved amoenas (irises with white standards at the top) and bicolored irises, and this one is exceptionally pretty with its orange beard. So I asked him about this flower, and it turns out it's his favorite too! So we will begin with Walter Moores.

'Flying Down to Rio' 2006

Walter is an avocational hybridizer who gardens in North Mississippi, about seventy miles south of Memphis, which is at the southern edge for growing bearded irises with success.  He says he likes to try irises that people claim cannot be grown there. Those of you who live in this climate know the challenges.  Evey's Blissful Garden is a website devoted to helping gardeners in this climate choose appropriate plants, and wouldn't you know it, the site features Walter's irises! 

Walter says "sometimes I think I was born in an iris patch.  From my earliest recollections of flowers, I remember irises.  My dad had a huge planting of irises rowed out in the front of the house which was some distance from the road.  He had all colors but didn't know they had names.  My grandmother also had irises in her flower beds.  I remember taking bouquets to my teachers in elementary school just to hear oohs and ahhs and to get praised.  But it was not until I stumbled across an iris show in a Fort Worth mall in 1966 that I got serious about irises.  I had never seen modern irises before and was immediately smitten by them.  I joined the Fort Worth Iris Society on the spot and have never wavered from my love for the genus iris.  It was there that I first learned that some irises produced seed.  I was taught hybridizing by a member of the society and made my first crosses in 1967.  My first introductions were offered to the public in 1977, and I have rarely missed a year registering or introducing an iris.  Some of my irises are now historic, and it is amazing to me to find one of those 1977 introductions, 'Pepper Blend', still listed in catalogs today.  Another perennial favorite is 'Purgatory', introduced in 1987."  

Walter has grown and hybridized siberians, ensatas, spurias, arilbreds, species and species-cross irises, as well as bearded irises.  He loves them all, and thinks the most interesting gardens feature a variety of different iris types.

'Brown Recluse' 2013

An example of his efforts in breeding new species irises include this beauty, which is an unusual color for a fulva iris.  Look at that branching. Good branching allows the flowers to open without crowding, a very important goal in iris hybridizing.

'Pharaoh's Host' 2012

Another favorite of his is an arilbred, 'Pharaoh's Host'.  An arilbred iris is created by crossing an aril iris, native to the Mediterranean region, with a bearded iris.

A few of his favorite tall bearded introductions include 'Ascii 
Art', which remains very popular among gardeners today,  'Lemonade Springs', 'Miniver Rose', and 'Yalobusha Desert'.  Walter named the last to reflect the fierce growing conditions he faces in Yalobusha County.

'Ascii Art' 1997
Photo by Marilyn Campbell

'Lemonade Springs' 2004

'Miniver Rose' 2007

'Yalobusha Desert' 2011

Early on in his career, Walter was known for hybridizing reblooming bearded irises, but for the last few years, when he works with tall bearded irises, his focus is on zonals with different color backgrounds within the zones (see 'Bright New Day' for an example of a zonal pattern). In his current hybridizing efforts he is looking for "that elusive pink zonal." 

Walter adds "I think irises are one of the reasons I have enjoyed a long life.  New seedlings inspire me each bloom season, and I plan to continue for as long as I am able."

'Moonlight and Wine' 2011
Photo by Rick Tasco

Which of these lovelies is your favorite?  Do you grow any irises by Walter Moores?  If you do, how do they perform in your climate?  

If you would like to know more about iris hybridizers, I recommend Classic Irises and the Men and Women Who Created Them by Clarence Mahan (yes, the same 'Clarence' for whom the lovely reblooming iris is named).  Stay tuned for more posts on hybriders from different parts of the country and the jackpots they found at the end of their rainbows.  

Every Tom, Dick and Harry of Louisiana Irises

By Ron Kiingsworth

When I first became active in Society for Louisiana Irises (SLI), I became friends with three long-time members: Harry Wolford, Tom Dillard, and Dick Sloan.  I decided I would hybridize three LA irises and name them for Tom, Dick, and Harry.

Hybridizing irises is a time-consuming process, and it helps to set out with a specific goal in mind. In 2007 I decided to cross two dark Louisiana (LA) irises with the goal of putting a larger signal on the pod parent.  (The signal is the flash of gold you see below.)  I chose the Mary Swords DeBaillon winning LA iris 'Night Thunder' (Morgan, R 2000) as the "pollen parent" and 'Jeri' (Bertinot, N 1984) as the "pod parent."  In other words, I took the pollen from 'Night Thunder' and put the pollen on 'Jeri.'  I made several crosses on different days to insure that some of the crosses would set seed.

'Night Thunder' - the "daddy"

'Jeri' - the pod parent or "mom"

'Jeri' has only a tiny gold line signal while 'Night Thunder' has a large "steeple" gold signal.  I was really hoping to get a 'Jeri' with 'Night Thunder's' signal.  (Let me point out that both of these irises are darker than these pictures reflect.  I have trouble with digital pictures of really dark irises, they always seem to shift in color to appear lighter than they are in reality.) 

These crosses produced several nice seed pods and from the pods I harvested about 80 seeds.  I planted the seeds from each pod in separate large plastic pots and marked them as "Jeri X Night Thunder."  I was successful in germinating about 30 seeds and wound up with over 25 seedlings.  I planted these seedlings out in rows in one of my flower beds and the seedlings grew through the fall of 2007, the whole year of 2008, and finally in the spring of 2009 my seedlings bloomed! 

What do you get when you cross a dark, almost black, iris with another dark iris?  Well, when my seedlings finally bloomed I was truly amazed.  I did in fact have quite a few dark irises.  Some looked just like 'Jeri' while others looked more like 'Night Thunder.'  Quite a few looked like 'Jeri' with 'Night Thunder's' signal.  But what amazed me was the other colors this cross produced.  Oh, those sneaky genes!

'Our Friend Harry' (Killingsworth, R 2011)

 One of the seedlings was almost red.  It has the nice large signals from 'Night Thunder'.  I moved this seedling to another bed and used every method I knew to increase the number of plants.  It bloomed again in 2010 and was still red!  It was red again in 2011 and the bloom count and positions were sufficient so I registered it as 'Our Friend Harry.'

Another seedling from the 'Jeri' X 'Night Thunder' cross turned out to be a lighter red and it too proved to be a good garden iris with lots of blooms and bud positions.  I registered it in 2011 as 'Our Friend Tom.'

'Our Friend Tom' (Killingsworth, R 2011)

I continue to grow many of the other seedlings from this cross and will eventually chose a few to register.  One of them is very dark with a velvety look and with 'Night Thunder's' signals, which I set out to create.

Seedling S-07-09-920

I really like this seedling because the stands "stand up" and the falls stay straight out.  Another seedling from this cross has stands that stand up and falls that droop down.

So, that takes care of Tom and Harry, but what about Dick?  Earlier, in 2009, I registered an iris as 'Our Friend Dick' (Killingsworth, R 2009).  It was a cross between 'Dural Bluebird' (Taylor, JC 1993) and 'Hush Money' (Dunn, M 1998).  'Dural Bluebird' is, as its name suggests, a nice blue, while 'Hush Money' is a creamy colored iris with a blue cast.  This cross also produced irises of many colors and I chose a seedling from this 2004 cross to name 'Our Friend Dick.'

'Dural Bluebird' - the daddy

'Hush Money' - the mom

'Our Friend Dick' - the child

So, there you have it -- every Tom, Dick and Harry of LA irises!

Siberians that the World Overlooked

By Bob Hollingworth

'White Amber'

For any iris, winning awards is a matter of both worthiness and luck. Luck is always an element in the recognition equation:  an iris might put on a particularly impressive display at an iris convention where many judges see it. Or it may put on a great show of bloom, but a week before the convention visit. It may have been planted on a rock, or at the corner of a sunless bed that missed water and fertilizer. In other cases, a worthy iris may never get to the convention for various reasons, perhaps there is not enough stock, for instance. Over the many years that we have sent Siberians to conventions we have seen all these things happen. We have also been lucky when an eye-catching plant showed itself off like a fashion model just as the visitors came. So here I would like to start a series that recognizes fine Siberians, that for one reason or another, never seem to have received the recognition they (to me at least) deserve.  

'White Amber' (Photo by Brock Heilman)

I don’t understand why Marty Schafer and Jan Sack’s 'White Amber', introduced in 2001, has never received any AIS award; not even an Honorable Mention. Maybe they have so many good introductions that some just get overlooked in the crowd, but 'White Amber' for me is one of their finest.  It grows very well for us, blooms early and reliably produces masses of bloom held so that the clump effect is near-perfect. The colors of the flower are novel and satisfying.

It comes from a complex background involving 'Reprise', 'Mad Magenta, 'Isabelle', 'Silver Illusion' and 'Snow Prince'. Surely 'Snow Prince' must have had a significant role because the flowers are relatively small, though compact and nicely ruffled, and the plant generally has a “sibirica” appearance.  Maybe Isabelle helps with the yellow base. The color is perfectly captured by the name – a smooth, warm, milky amber color on the falls that comes from combining yellow and light lavender–pink and which intensifies towards the hafts. The standards are near white and the style arms are mainly yellow. It is certainly in the top dozen Siberians I would take if banished to that proverbial desert island.

Another in the characteristic of a great iris is that it is a fine parent. Again it seems 'White Amber' has been overlooked. The AIS Iris Register lists no named progeny. That is until this year when we introduced an iris called 'Lemon Mousse' which is from 'White Amber' x 'See Ya Later' (Hollingworth, 2006). That cross gave irises in a variety of colors and patterns with several being good enough to take to the next stage for consideration.
I used 'White Amber' because it had such pleasing growth and flowering habits and because I was interested in the combination of yellow and lavender or red shades in Siberians. 'See Ya Later' comes from that kind of background too. So it’s rather ironic that 'Lemon Mousse' has no trace of red. It opens light yellow and fades to pure white with a yellow heart. The flowers are larger than 'White Amber', but produced in the same profusion. Another iris in this cross (05R1B15) did show the lavender and yellow combination along with striking yellow style arms. This too would have been introduced if not for a bunch of white grubs that ate the roots off in a dry summer several years ago. That’s when we discovered that European Chafer grub populations were rapidly on the rise here in Michigan.

10J13B3  (No. 1)

10J13B7  (No. 2)

The results of this cross were so pleasing that I decided to do another similar one using 'White Amber' and our 'Gem Quality' (2008), a seedling from 'See Ya Later' x the yellow 'Smiley Face'. And again the results have been fascinating – tremendously varied and some quite surprising, with all flowering vigorously. Here are three of them  The first, 10J13B3, in which red-violet is combined with yellow to give orangey shades (the photo is less than ideal I’m sorry to say), and the second one (10J13B7) combining blue-purple and yellow to give some brown tones on the style arms and falls, may not be so unexpected, but where did the third (and most interesting) one come from? 

10J13A1 (No. 3)

Reddish on top and blue below, 10J13A1  probably gets its bright gold signal from 'Gem Quality'. I expect that one or two of these may eventually be introduced if they continue to grow well and our control measures keep the grubs at bay.

So to me 'White Amber' is an under-appreciated gem. I still vote it for an HM every year though I suppose its time is now past. Irises are never technically out of the running for an HM, but not being listed on the ballot now is a killer. It seems that some irises just can’t get lucky, but if you want to add a fine Siberian to your collection, do keep it in mind.

Heavenly Hager Irises

Late at night, after I kiss my dear husband goodnight, I sneak out of our bedroom, pad down the hall, and turn on the computer in my study.  I spend hours on the internet chasing my next fix:  beautiful photographs of irises.  I search garden blogs, Facebook pages, garden forums, and commercial iris grower catalogs.  I assemble dream gardens and wish lists.

I expected to grow weary of this obsession within a few months and to move on, perhaps to something more respectable like playing Resident Evil 5.  I was mistaken, and my nightly sojourns only leave me wanting more.  Occasionally I find a photograph that is so beautiful that I must share.  My husband Mike is a good sport, and will give an animated nod of appreciation when I call him in to look at an especially pretty iris, but to tell the truth, from the glazed appearance of his eyes, I suspect the Nairobi Trio is playing in his head.


When I saw Barbara Kuhlman's photograph of Ben Hager's iris 'Edith Wolford' on Gardenweb, I knew I couldn't limit my sharing to Mikey.  I had to share it with all of you.

After a night spent with this photo, I recalled another lovely picture of 'Edith Wolford' and decided on the theme 'heavenly Hager irises.'  I was smitten with this enchanting photo by Laurawege on Dave's Garden quite some time ago.  Here the geraniums and delphiniums make perfect companions, and have me fantasizing about a new lavendar-blue and yellow bed in my garden.  

All of Joel Shaber's photographs of his Idaho garden are worth staying up into the wee hours to view, but his images of 'Edith Wolford' are particularly lovely.  These photos show why this iris won the highest honor for an iris, the Dykes Medal, in 1993.

The word 'clump' seems unsuited to describe such beauty.

'Edith Wolford' blooms midseason and is a tall iris, reaching 40 inches.










Susanne Holland Spicker grows irises in her brilliantly coordinated and charming Utah garden.  She feeds the iris addiction with her exceptional photography in her blog, Sowing the Seeds, a great site for late-night iris ogling.  Here she has captured the beauty of Hager's 'Poem of Ecstacy' which she grows with 'Jump For Joy.'

'Poem of Ecstacy' was the winner of the John C. Wister Memorial Medal for tall bearded irises in 2004.  Here it is paired with tall lupines in Susanne's garden, demonstrating her talent combining plants with different forms and coordinating colors.

'Poem of Ecstacy' grows to be about 36" tall and blooms midseason.














'Beverly Sills' is Ben Hager's most famous iris, with consistently high ratings in the American Iris Society's popularity polls.  It was the 1985 winner of the Dykes Medal, and is named after the famous opera singer.  It does her justice.

This iris is easy to grow in Southern California and makes a satisfying clump in a short period of time.  It has quite an extended bloom season in cool weather here.  Last year it was blooming from late April through June.

'Beverly Sills' is a pale, warm pink.  It is a photogenic iris, and has the wide falls that Ben Hager is so famous for creating.

This is 'Beverly Sills' with 'Lady Friend.' 

















'Chasing Rainbows'  is a 1998 Hager introduction.  Naomi DiVincenzo, an avid gardener who has just won her first blue ribbon for iris horticulture, grows a lovely clump on her grounds, Front Range Iris, in Colorado.  You can see how she brought home the blue from this photo.

One of my regular stops during my nighttime forays on the internet is the archive of the American Iris Society's annual Photo Contest.  This is why:

This photo of 'Chasing Rainbows' by Becky Fain, the proprietor of the Inn at Iris Meadows in North Carolina, won first prize and appeared on the cover of the AIS magazine.  I wanted to make sure that those of you new to growing irises got to see it too.


The American Iris Society Photography Contest is a wonderful way to share your irises, your garden, and your photography with other iris lovers.  The deadline this year is June 30, so if you love taking pictures of your irises, please consider entering.  We have many long nights ahead in front of the computer, and we need more beautiful photos!