Hi PDFrog ~ I'm interested in your .... white Siberian Iris ~ Japanese Iris ~ I have some Aloe (house plant) A Canary Island Palm seedling ( I grew from seed :) Dutch Iris ~ Purple&Yellow . Also please check my list and let me know " via Email" if we can work out a trade. :^) *~*~ Thank You for your time... And Have a Blessed Day ~*~* *~* Tink62 ~*~*

I'm in zone 7 Maryland, for me Siberians start blooming the middle of May, a week to two weeks earlier than the Japanese Iris. The foliage of Japanese iris is overall more subtantial than that of Siberians. The leaf is wider and thicker, and has a fat, rigid mid-rib that keeps it from being floppy. It also stays a nice medium green the whole season (not as dark a green as Siberians). If your Siberian foliage held up well for you, there should be no problem with the Japanese. I have actually left the foliage on the whole winter some years and it was a quite attractive gray-brown, standing tall until I cut it down in February or March. They (at least my Japanese iris) set a lot of seed, and the pods are also attractive. Letting them go to seed hasn't seemed to affect the amount of bloom I get year to year. Sometimes I deadhead, sometimes I don't. But, unless you are particularly interested in seeing the results of genetic recombination, make sure to remove the seed pods before they start to split open - three or four years ago I didn't and I'm still getting seedlings all over the place. One of the seedlings was actually quite lovely (I somehow missed it weeding, and it got to blooming size), having gotten a deep purple color and flat, round form from one parent and a stripe/stippling pattern from another, so I kept it; the rest have gone to the compost pile... - Steve

JI irises are the easiest to grow and they come more easily from seed than any irises I know. I love them and they grow well this far south. The drawbacks are: They bloom very late after the onset of heat in the South. Many blooms last only a day. Sometimes with the multifalled ones, in the humidity they get all tangled up and do not 'fall' or bloom properly. They soon exhaust the soil they are in and have to be moved to another area, not just replanted in the same spot unless you had another foot of soil to the bed. Otherwise, they are fantastic, and I continue to have a nice patch of them, knowing all of the problems I have to contend with. A good selling point: Many of the older varieties can pass for modern ones, so you don't have to spend a wad to get good looking varieties. Surprisingly, they can tolerate drought quite well. When you plant seed from modern cultivars, you will be surprised at the number of keepers you'll get, unlike most bearded. I try to get early bloom, three falled varieties. There are some three falled varieties that are so big, they look like they have six falls. Hatsu Kagami is a great parent for getting wide falls. Try your luck with Iris City Gardens near Nashville, TN. Walter Moores

I have fresh seed of Iris sibirica blue king. Are you interested? Jonna