These are in my main garden, a raised bed, which does get watered. I didnÂt buy any of the rare and expensive ones. That is an active bed with so much digging going on that losing some small bulbs is going to happen. So all minor bulbs planted there have to be expendable. This is the third year for these. The most-purple one has really reproduced so I think I will dig some later and spread them around a bit. Since the leaves really grow after flowering I will have to figure out when the right time is. Katharine Hodgkin is very pretty. I like the veining on the falls, which look a little larger than most. I think the one I took a photo of is Pixie. I also have Pauline which is a deep rose purple with a touch of white and no yellow. I find the color of this one does not show up against the bark mulch. When itÂs too cold to be outside I want to be able to see them from the house! Pixie just glows. I liked the pale blue Cantab so much I planted a lot more of those last fall. These were from Brent and BeckyÂs. I didnÂt buy a yellow iris because I was counting on yellow crocuses, though so far they have not bloomed together. I keep meaning to buy the iris color assortment when they go on sale but itÂs been sold out every year by that time! The iris are the first thing I have to bloom, way before the first daffodil. They have quite a long bloom time too. They will get a little tattered under the snow but survive it remarkably well.

Look's like spring's there to me. I was already working out in the garden two weeks ago, even if the ground was frozen 2" down. :) Thank-you for sharing your beautiful shot. Brock

Timmba's list of plants which grow well with Iris is very good. Here are some combinations, including some from that list, that I use in my garden which consists of mostly mixed borders. I love Iris and enjoy this forum, but do not have the soil conditions or space to grow many Iris, but maybe this will give you some ideas on the range of plantings that you can work Iris into. :~) I grow most of my Tall Bearded Iris in my daylily bed near the patio, which is one of the driest areas in my yard. There are two dozen daylilies in the bed, most of which are only 18-20 inches tall. With them I grow a Baptisia Purple Smoke (shrub size) and a topiary evergreen and several other shrubs for some structure, but most of the bed is kept low so that I can see out into the rest of the garden. The 1/2 dozen large Iris clumps are used for both color early in the season and as vertical punctuations in an otherwise fairly flat looking bed. Except for the baptisia, all the shrubs and daylilies were added to the bed first and were reasonably well-established (and well-watered as new plants) before I added the iris and other perennials. In addition to the Iris, there is one Walker's Low Catmint, a good sized grouping of May Night Salvia on one side, another of Caradonna Salvia for slightly redder blue purple on the other, and several winding patches of Red Baron grass along the path. Knautia Macedonica (which spreads like crazy), Guara Whirling Butterflies, & a variety of early and late hardy lilies are added here and there. None of these plantings need any supplemental water during the summer which greatly helps the Iris. The color begins in early spring with several large masses of Iris reticulata. I have had good luck with both Harmony and Pixie (both deep blues)in this bed but virtually no return from Iris danfordiae (a bright yellow). The Iris reticulata is following by other small bulbs such as crocus and then by the Tall Bearded Iris and Alliums. At this point the DLs, which are fairly small to begin with, provide a mostly green curved & strappy carpeting for the more upright Iris. The Alliums, Giganteum and Globemaster with their tall round orbs, mostly follow after the Iris, but there can be some overlap at times, so you need to be a bit careful with the colors here. The Daylilies begin in late June along with most of the other later perennials. The gaura and the short Red Barrons grass look their best in late summer and early fall. The Iris foliage stays pretty clean in this bed and adds a nice accent. As this bed turns the corner and becomes more shady I use a lot of Iris pallida for the creamy variegated foliage mixed in with the hostas and ferns. Any bloom on these I consider a bonus. This area also has several more patches of the early spring blooming reticulata and other minor bulbs, but also has a nice clump (variety unknown) of yellow and white Tall Bearded Iris on an outside edge - which surprisingly doesn't mind the part shade. In addition to these Iris, I grow many clumps of Siberian Iris in my shrub border in the lower (and wetter) yard and have a raised gravel bed which has 5 different clumps of dwarf bearded Iris (sold as Pumila group - whatever that means) that are doing quite well. These are grown with all kinds of early spring alpine type plants and some later blooming penstemons, dwarf gaillardias & tiny salvias. BTW, the biggest problem with growing Iris for me, besides a mostly wet clay soil yard, is fighting my way into those few areas where they can grow, to divide them. Hope this helps give you some ideas. Leslie

Can you grow I. reticulata up there in Qld? I would check this out before you buy an expensive bulb. My understainding is that they like the same conditions as crocus. I am unsure if George is available in Australia, but we are fairly limited for reticulatas here. Try the current plant finder .....better still I will go look it up now ...... No luck... It lists Harmony, J.S.Dijt, Katherine Hodgkin and Pauline only. If you are looking for just something like it, I would suggest Harmony as a good alternative. Quite a few bulb nurseries carry this cultivar now. Be aware that the bloom time is very brief, snails adore these delicacies, and any heat will dehydrate the delicate blooms very quickly. In the USA it is most common to see blooms poking through the snow. Cheers, Jan