For others trying to get started in iris trades, Let me say that in your profile on this site (person icon in the upper right corner, assuming you have created an account here), you have the ability to establish to create a personal database of all the plants you have, all those you have had previously, and all those you still want. Of those you want, you can prioritize how much you want them. Of those you have, you can specify for each whether you are ready to exchange them in trade.
How do you get your database started? Scroll down in your profile to Where it says, "(your screen name's) Plant List". Just below that is a blue link that should take you into your personal plant list database, where you can follow the prompts to add a plant. Try to search for it in the main database as you do this. And if you find it there (you should if you have spelled it right), it will add a photo of it to that plant in your plant list assuming there is a photo of it in the main database listing.
An alternate way of starting your own database is outlined at
https://garden.org/thread/view... . You can add plants to your database either way.
The main site's iris database is at
https://garden.org/plants/grou... . You might want to bookmark that address in your web browser or add the page as an icon to your desktop. You'll find that to be a very time-saving step, instead of having to search for this search page again and again.
At that search page, you can either search for an iris by name, by typing the name into the box in the upper right hand corner, or you can search for an iris by characteristics. Searching for an iris by name should yield the database page for that specific registered iris. Searching for irises by characteristics, can yield lists of plants that satisfy ALL the characteristics you have named.
Once you have found the database page for a specific iris you are interested in, scroll down, and you will see a list of people who have it, and those who want it, because those people have listed that plant as a WANT or a HAVE in their own personal database.
I don't recommend contacting a person in the HAVE list, however, unless you can first verify from their own profile one of these things
1. They have a mailbox icon at the top of their profile, which indicates they are willing to do trades. And by the way you can buy one of those for your own profile with acorns earned from the site for such things as adding a photo to the plants or plant combinations databases, or sometimes for writing something that other members deem valuable.
2. Their personal database indicates they WANT something that you HAVE. Check to see if they also HAVE something that you WANT. If so, you may have a viable trade in the making.
3. Their HAVE list contains things that they specify they are willing to trade. That identifies them as a person willing to do trades, even if they don't have a mailbox icon.
Also, keep an eye out for people on this site saying they have extras to trade at dividing time. Click on anyone's screen name to access their profile and database, and to send an intra-site message to them.
It is also good to start your iris collection with some award-winning iris that others are sure to want in trade. Purchase them preferably direct from the hybridizers, at least in the beginning to better assure you are not getting mislabeled stuff, and that it is healthy.
Download the pdf for the 2021 list of AIS award winners at
https://www.irises.org/about-a... .
And download the 2020 TB popularity Poll winners at
https://www.irises.org/about-a... (scroll down for the 2020 link.)
If you want to see a photo gallery of past Dykes winners, go to
https://www.irises.org/gardene...
Or in any of the new lists of award winners, you can copy a name, enter the name plus the word "iris" into your web browser's address box, hit your enter button to search and then switch your browser to images. Particularly for new irises you may find more images of an iris that way than by accessing it in the NGA iris database, but you can try both.
Searching for multiple photos of an iris this way can tell you whether you like the form, color, branching, and en masse appearance. This way you can build your WANTS list, too, so other people who have what you want are more likely to contact you, too. It works both ways.
Using these approaches, I have been able to establish nice trading relationships with a couple of members who seem to like the same sorts of irises that I do. That's a lovely, lovely thing!
