Mine was Crimson King , I had never seen such a beautiful flower. It was my grandfather's
I remember crying when I found out that when the blooms went away, it would be a long time before they came back thumbsup:

I just ordered this one. I sure hope it looks just like this picture. If it does it will be a favorite.

Shoot, that iris is SO pretty, I'd almost trade my own face for it

That is a good question, I guess I never thought about it. I don't remember the first iris I had other than grape scented ones, plain white, and some cream and bright yellow that were at my last house when we moved there. Sometime along the way I guess I probably seen some pics in a mail order and started 'trying' some... then realized there were so many and tried lots more!

It would be the wild irises that grew in the cow pasture in the wet area in one section of the pasture. When I was a kid my mother and grandmother would go pick wild blueberries. We kids went along of course, to help and grandma would always take time to check out the wild irises growing there. They were short and purple. Irises were her favorite flower and she had some in her flower gardens. They soon became my favorite. Of course I also remember the wild blueberry pies my mom would make.

Our neighbor's back yard was nothing but irises. He gave some seedlings purple & dirty yellow ones to my Mom. I remember pointing out a pink one (as if he didn't know). this was in the 1940s when the 'true' pinks rather than the orchid pinks were appearing in gardens.

My dad always had a variety of selfs, so I remember large TB's in dark purple, light violet, yellow, orange, and red. I never thought about the names of such things back then, but they always grew so well for him. He is currently enjoying the iris bloom out in Arizona, but it is hard to get him to send pictures! I may need to raid his beds up in Michigan when we are up there for his 90th birthday in May.

Last year Coffee Shop gave me a thrill for being one of the very first tb's to bloom in my garden.
This year it will also be one of the first, because it has a big bloom stalk now. It also is a fertile parent and is responsible for 6 of my 9 seedling crosses.

Barb - I am hoping for a bloom on Australian Rose this year! (planted last season) If it's as
pretty as its picture!

Which brings me to the subject of photography. A really outstanding photo will grab me every time! I absolutely went bonkers over Brad's
photo of Patchwork Puzzle last season and had to have it.
A good photo will make you love, and want to own an iris. Hats off to the photographers!

Especially to Brad and Kent and Carl who have gotten me into a buying mode on more than one occasion!

I blame everyone on here for giving me iris fever...it's very contagious!

I'm calling the CDC.

That is a beautiful picture of Patchwork Puzzle, and when I first saw it, I wanted it really bad.

So of course, I ordered

instead!

(What can I say?)

Paul has shared some wonderful iris photos too!

Gloriafied Glenn is going on my list. Leslie!

Yes he has.

I just asked my son, he has more than I do and he said Fireplace Embers
I would've never guessed that. My son and dil seem to like purple so I've always gotten them purple irises,
There have been some beautiful irises shown and mentioned
I should've waited to order

These are the two that did it for me in '09. I saw the first at a backyard sale in Brantford--no name-- and the picture is blurry {sorry} but I was smitten by the velvety color from afar. The woman brought me a bare root piece. I flew home with it, planted it and it disappeared! I thought it died. The next spring, new growth! A tough iris.
The second one was Superstition from a nursery. Both continue to bloom like crazy every year and have been divided several times.

I grew up in Pennsylvania, and many of my neighbors all had Iris pallida planted in their back yards or ally's and I recall smelling them and falling in love with their fragrance. They smelled
like "Grape soda" to me. I was smitted with their beauty and elegance immediately, and new
that one day I was going to have my own Iris garden. Well that dream has now come true and
in May my Iris garden will be in bloom for the first time and I am going to fall in love all over
again and it has only taken me 61 years!

UndertheSun said:I blame everyone on here for giving me iris fever...it's very contagious!

I'm calling the CDC.

Does the CDC sell irises, Rob?

No specific Iris, just remember my grandmother and great-grandmother had them in their yards. And their houses were my favorite places to be, always. I associate Iris with them.