Well, that is an ENGLISH garden I think, we are not in England, and spring is will nigh gone, so I guess we can darn well grow what we please and be prepared to face the consequences. I don't necessarily recommend Asian or Longiforum lilies with roses, just wanted some so badly and have them in a spot by themselves toward the back. I liked the daylilies idea, but am weary of yellow Stella, and their bloom time is short but the foliage stays pretty neat and tidy. In one picture I saved of Jon's friend who also had a Mottisfont-inspired garden in ENGLAND, it was charming, brick wall in the bg, lots of pink fairy-like roses that almost twinkled, and the only other plant I recall was eremus which was marvelous. Maybe he didn't read the book? Another thing I liked about that garden was that there were areas of room between the plants, not all crammed together. It had a light, airy, pleasing look and your eyes drifted from one attraction to another and not have the whole thing jump in your face. That guy on the island off the coast of Italy really has a handle on landscape design. Whether you get the formal training or not, it seems like somewhat of a gift to me, how he worked things in with the roses the main attraction. I like iris with roses if I could get some to grow like in the pics people posted. You should have pitched the book across the room, that is funny!

Well I got your message a little too late. I got out there in the heat and dug some up. I have no ideal what kind of shape they will arrive in. I tried several different methods. Tropicanna Gold is in a big plastic coke bottle, with wet paper towels wrapped around them. There are 3 nice size rhizomes with several nods on each. Tropicanna Black is in a paper towel roll , without anything around the rhizome. This was a small plant. I kept breaking if off at the ground. Cleopatra is wrapped in wet paper towels that are wrapped with plastic wrap. I included a tall purple leaf canna that I don't know the name of. It gets about 8 ft tall including the reddish orange bloom. I grow most of these for the foilage and not their blooms. Cleopatra is a green leaf canna that blooms very pretty yellow splashed blooms and sometimes they are half red- half yellow. This is one of my favorites when it is blooming. Very full unusual blooms. No two blooms alike. You can google it and see if you like it. Your confirmationnumber is 0306 1070 0002 7733 0333. Congrats on the birth of your son. I didn't even know you were expecting. Is this your first child? I hope these cannas do well for you. Please let me know which ones arrived in the best shape. I guess you can say I experimented with your package. Happy Gardening, Marian AKA Lovely Iris

I thought your third one might be Sindjkha too, or related to it. The blue and yellow ones though, there's just too many of them in that color class to even guess. Unless an iris is really distinctive its extremely difficult to get an ID. HIPS has several display gardens around Texas. Perhaps if one is close you could take some blooms there and walk the rows looking for a match. At the least you're bound to find some new ones you'll want to grow. Mike Here is a link that might be useful: HIPS

Thanks for the feedback everyone! It's fun to read through what everyone is growing. I have had mixed success with the suggestions received, and of course, this year the weather has wrecked havoc with the bloom cycle. I have found over the last few years that those irises that were recommended or found in Zone 8 or higher have done well, but that those from colder regions are very stingy with the bloom and increase in my climate. In some cases, irises that could be completely abused and still thrive in northern regions just could not take our heat and died out completely. I wish I could find bearded irises in cemeteries around here, but I have been unsuccessful in finding them! I can frequently find Louisiana irises planted behind headstones, as they bloom taller and thus do not obscure the names. But beardeds are so prone to rot here, and folks don't usually try to grow them. I have actually had people stop and ask what kind of plant I have when they are in bloom... it's a rare sight here.