what is your favorite iris?

This has to be one of my top favorites…

Hi Lucy. I don't know that I have an absolute favorite ! If I'd ever had a dozen children ,(Which I have none.) it would almost be like asking ; "Which is your favorite child ?"
I could tell, you, I have a favorite sister & she always was & always will be my favorite sibling ! Maybe, for now, it will be 'Adriatic Noble' as it was recommended to me, just as Dahlia, "Just Getting Married' , was, also...
I always liked Oncocyclus & used to buy roots of the species, over 30 years ago, but now I grow those, from seeds. I think I actually prefer, Iris bismarckiana, over kirkwoodii, (which is very similar to what was called susiana- 'Mourning Iris'), but I just can't really make up my mind, on that, either.
I think 'Decadence' is a nice looking tall bearded. I just like big Iris & now they are so, exravagant looking. It is hard to say. 'Volacnic Glow', looks great & 'Sorbonne' or 'Tuscan Summer'. If you were to ask about it by color, as in self, or bitone, or plicata or luminata,, it would just be so different, that it's really rather difficult, to say.

Even if it was something like aphylla, suaveloens, or something little like that. Or , an old Historic, it''s just a whole different class. Then, if you were a teacher, I suppose your favorite student, would be the one student, that was the most kind to you & respected you & gave you reason to show kindness & respected, also & knew you cared, & showed they knew that & was interested in learning & you knew that you motivated them, then they excelled & performed, well & always had good grades, behaved well, knew the answers to your questions, never forgot their homework, was never late, or skipped their class & so, you were satisfied with your life's work, because those students ( or a certain Iris) gave you a reason, to continue doing it., as an occupation... You got the results & it made the student happy & the teacher, also.

Maybe, in a way, it's almost symbiotic in a way. You like that particular Iris, it performs well & you like it & feel it has rewarded you, for your efforts you've put forth. It almost is like, it works both ways, when you "like" something. Similar, to love, between people. It can't just be beneficial to one & not the other & compromise is involved & it takes effort & work. You have to tend it, & pay attention to it & provide the needs.

Do you see what I mean ? What if, "your favorite Iris", doesn't turn out, to be, all that you liked, about it & didn't flower well, or increase, or possibly just rotted away & didn't grow well, for you ?
Do you keep replacing it, every year, until it is no longer your favorite, if it simply died for you, each year ? It would be different, if there was a known reason, it had died for you & there was a benefit to you, later, even if it was to flower just once,& yet you still had that memory, of that favorite Iris & it had died for, you in flowering & yet in doing so, it continued on, in your memory to be there, forever. I think that would be my choice as my most favorite one, as it just may last for an eternity...

Lucy ~ What is your favorite iris?

I would like to know too...


If I could only grow one? I cannot choose!

Lucy, do you have a favorite, Iris ? I'd like to know, what you consider to be, one of your favorites. Won't you be, so kind as to share, at least with us, what you consider to be your most favored one ?

Today it is this one
Care to Dance




Tomorrow, will likely be something else

Dahlia, Just Married? One of my "babies".

One of very favorites, but you probably already know this to be true.

The scent of Owyhee Desert is my absolute favorite of all iris. Pearls for Girls is probably second in the scent department.

@GuiseppeJ Yes, they are like a "substitute' for children, to me.. Just as you call it, one of your 'babies" !
I may raise them from seeds, grow them , give them attention, when they need it , show care for them & some have lived many years for me & when they become mature, flower for me, if I have "raised them properly. " My favorites, do tend to get "spoiled", but I love it !

This year it was Layer Cake



Another favorite is its lookalike



But not because I have clumps of each. Both had just one stalk this year. It is the flowers.

This was a close runner-up



Mine wasn't quite this dark, It was a large clump that I hope is not a bloomout. Two sets of blooms about ten days apart.

I had considered Japanese Iris.. I even used to have colchicine (used, for treating Gout) & you can create some unusually different flowers by simply using minute amounts of it , or actually kill a seed, using a "bit too much" ! Not certain, if I'd thrown it out, or not..But may have used some other chemical agent,to try & make unusual hybrids, ... & I used to get emails, showing me, results, with photos of plants that had been crossed, but at the time, we didn't even know, if those plants, may ever even bloom... Like some sort of "mad scientists" doing weird experiments !

MTB Billie the Brownie Not only my husband John's introduction, but the name of a childhood radio program which brings back happy memories.

Lucy - lovely reason to have that as a favorite. I quite like that bloom!

The question should be what is your favorite iris today! OK I'll try to narrow that down a bit, but it's not easy. One I enjoy a great deal that I've had for a while is Super Hero. People who visit my garden always stop and stare and say, Oh my, look at that one.


I love the bold colors and the gold etched edge of the standards. It grows well here, and is fertile both ways. I have seedlings on the way that have it as a parent, but none old enough to bloom yet.

Now I will try to choose one of my favorite new intros that bloomed this year. I think I've got a tie between Shadowed Light, and Bond Girl.


And then if you said what's your favorite luminata, I'd say . . . . . You get my dilemma?

These are pictures you have to expand to really appreciate them.

Lucy, were you trying to decide, on something to order ?
Tom, that ' Bond Girl,' is "Really Something" !
I just couldn't take it anymore & had to get a few from Mid America . I wanted to go on a 'Cosmic Voyage'' ! Into an 'Exploding Galaxy' & since I was having so much difficulty getting my order to go through , had to go into private browser , using 'Just Witchery', so I didn't get any 'Mixed Signals' & ended up getting 'Smoky Dusk' at the end of the order.. How's that looking, for just a quick order, Lucy ?

I really will not know, what my favorites really are, until they grow & I see their blooms... But there are others ordered & will have to compare them all. That was just, what I'd finished ordering from Mid America,, only a few minutes ago & doesn't include, any of the others... Have you figured out your favorite one, yet ?
I really almost can't simply name just one, as I like so many of them...

This is my "favorite"....given, by a neighbor (Mrs. Buckner) to my mother, in the late '40's, hence, we've always called it "Mrs. B's". After much "pondering", growing of "maybes", and question asking, I've narrowed the field to a group of irises.....all from the same cross, and VERY similar in appearance, and , to one specific one …."Helen Field Fischer"

not ordering this y ear.

So many favorites, but this one always thrills

Lucy, not even an' itsy bitsy" little one ? I think some of the smaller ones are just so cute & adorable, too. Even if I do mainly order "tall bearded." Are you just not feeling up to it, lately ? Or, perhaps running out of room, for any more ?
I've always thought gardening actually helps people to live a healthier, & have a more enjoyable & longer life span, than those whom don't, or aren't interested in gardening... If I were to give up gardening, I'd end up being rather unhappy...Not forgetting to mention, there are more rebloomers, these days, too..

As I think I just wouldn't have much to look forward to , each & every spring, summer, fall & yes, including winter ! As I tend to start some seeds, even during that season, too. Not that summer stops me ,from sowing seeds, either. Some Iris seeds (& others) are in the fridge, now ! & those are very special to me & won't ever get really very big...

But, the following month, if I have anything at all, to do with it, I think I'm tempted, to order 'Rum Is The Reason' ( & no, I don't drink alcohol) & I just may find, it is actually my favorite, but who knows, as it just may be sold out, by August !