Rosecandy, welcome. I assume you are asking about the Tall Beardeds which are over 27 inches. Schriener's site I believe gives heights of SDB, MTB, IB, etc. 1. Tall beardeds are equal in disease resistance pretty much. What are called cemetary iris are very old varieties and they are the toughest, withstanding neglect. Beardeds don't like babying. They like sun and deep watering when the top 4 inches of soil is dry. Sprinkler systems are not good. 2. Heights listed are from the ground to the top of the terminal flower (first bloom on top). Height is an average of 2 years performance. There can be a difference due to weather, nuitrition, etc. I've only seen down in the foliage bloom occur in rebloomers' rebloom. 3. Definately drought friendly. They do not like moist soil. Sun and drainage! 4. An iris stalk typically has 6 buds. If that cultivar opens 3 flowers at once and they last 5 days & on the 5th day the other 3 open and last 5 days, you have 10 days of bloom for that stalk. Other cultivars may open 1 bud at a time so you may have a couple extra days of open bloom. If temps. are warm (80's - 90's) a bloom will only last 3 days. If you have a large clump, then some stalks will be slower than others to open so you will have a longer show of that cultivar. 2 weeks of bloom of a particular cultivar is common. 3 weeks is wonderful! The majority of tall beardeds are mid-season openers. Early ones begin about 3 weeks before the early mid-season ones open. So those early ones are winding down as the early mid-season ones begin. Peak bloom here occurs at Mother's Day. The early mids may still have bloom, the mid-mids are going great, and the late-mids are opening. As the late-mids are finishing, the lates open. There is overlap. Bearded iris bloom once in the spring unless it is a rebloomer (which will require additional water and food). 5. Beardeds with poor substance (thin petals) do not fare well in rain. They are few and far between. More common in historics in my experience. Lots of pictures of beardeds looking very perky covered with raindrops. A storm is another matter. 6. 'Around Midnight' (Schreiner'95) is considered the blackest by people on this forum. Be very leary of judging color by photos. 'Dusky Challenger' is not as black but has been the top notch purple for several years. 7. A self is all one color. I've read conflicting info on whether that includes the beard.

Blackangus - at least your irises were unintentionally stored. I'm a bonafide slacker :D I'm in a different zone, but I take this to mean that I can plant my irises now and they'll be okay. I don't expect bloom this year, but I want to get them in the ground while I'm on a roll with the bed preparations and soil-working. I've had the rhizomes sitting in the garage for a year and a half now and they're nice and dry and still have roots on them.

There are many different types of irises. Some grow from bulbs (rounded, buried several inches below the soil surface), and some grow from rhizomes (potato-looking things that should be at or close to the surface of the soil). When you say you purchased and planted iris bulbs last fall, were these actual, rounded bulbs, or were they rhizomes? I've never grown bulbous irises (Dutch, reticulata, English, etc.), but I believe they all bloom very early in the season. I am guessing that the potted irises you purchased are rhizomatous bearded irises. Do you happen to know for sure what type of irises they are? If they are beardeds, it's possible that it's just too early in your season for them to have developed bloom stalks yet. Where do you live? Are the irises still in their pots, or did you plant them in-ground? If you planted them, how deeply did you plant them? We're going to need more information in order to answer your questions accurately. In the meantime, you might find some useful information in the FAQs (link at top of forum page). Laurie

Whew, I need to proofread and spell check before I post things!! Had to go back and edit...sorry about that! Thanks for the advice. I was hoping that potting them would be ok. So if I place one rizome in each 1g pot, that sounds like it would be ok and then just keep them in dappled sunlight? I have a box of those copper tags that I bought for the roses but never used, so that sounds like a good idea. They are the kind that you can attach with wire, so maybe I can find some kind of thing to attach them to at the hardware store. Good excuse to go shopping and run by the plant section while I'm there anyway ;) Tammy