Would I plant 20 of the same dark blue iris? Well, yes, if I had the space; but I don't so I have to stick to smaller numbers.
20 dark blue or purple iris would look very nice. But mixed with a light blue (or lavender) or even a white would also look nice. Its really a matter of your personal taste.
My favorite would have to be the oldie I germanica in that color class. Its a very intense dark blue/purple. Its an old fashioned one, but very hardy. Its also alot earlier than most TB's. If you prefer more modern, TITAN's GLORY or DUSKY CHALLENGER are dark bluish purples, without getting into the 'blacks'. If you prefer something more 'blue' and not quite as dark, YAQUINA BLUE is gorgeous...but a little fussier. All these iris are popular and you can find pictures of them on the web if you 'google' them.
As for whether Schreiners or Blue J, they are quite different. Schreiner's sells huge rhizomes at a high price; BlueJ's are smaller, alot less expensive but very healthy. Both carry some of the most popular iris in the colors you want.
Good luck, and both these places are reputable and you will be thrilled with the quality of your purchase.
Laetitia

Thank you njiris. I've seen dusky challenger come up quite a bit as I have been reading older threads on this forum to learn as much as I can. I appreciate all of your help here

Maureen

Some years ago Schreiners had a bed of 20 or so Dusky Challenger planted in the East display garden and it was striking. I would second both Dusky Challenger or Titan's Glory.
Dusky Challenger
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Loyalist
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Northwest Progress
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Honky Tonk Blues
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20 is a lot -- in 2 years you may have 40+. Space required as Laetitia said! Or lots of friends who want pieces.

Most books on Monet's garden show his iris border of dk blue-purp, med blue-purp and white/blue-purp plicatas mixed with a blue-pink (Elisa Renee) here and there. Breathtaking.

I'm not up on plicatas. 'Blue Staccato' is one I like.

Gmason, wow, those pictures are gorgeous. I especially love Dusky Challenger and Northwest Progress. Thank you for posting these pictures for me to drool over :-)

Irisgal, yes I agree now that I'm a little more stable that 20 is a lot. Maybe small groupings of 3-5 of specific colors would look nice. I'm not familiar with how they multiply.

I'm interested to see these pictures of monet's gardens of iris. Thank you for this info.

Maureen

I don't grow Dusky Challenger or Titan's Glory, so I can't tell you how great they'll do, but for dark Iris, you can go with the Historic SABLE or the Modern GHOST TRAIN. Both grow great in my garden.

SABLE
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GHOST TRAIN
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Carlos, those are beauties. I especially love the look of Ghost Train.

Thank you for posting these pictures.

Maureen

Jesse's Song is a great purple and white plicata.

Here is a link that may be useful: Jesse's Song

Just to add my 2 cents, Rosalie Figge would fit very well in this color grouping and then you could get rebloom too

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Gmason,

I just wanted to let you know that the iris pictured as NORTHWEST PROGRESS is labelled incorrectly. NORTHWEST PROGRESS has light blue standards and dark blue falls:

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Carlos, you are absolutely correct. Here is a picture that may help to explain the oops- notice the plant in the foreground looks just like the one I have incorrectly labeled Northwest Progress which is actually the one in the background. They both grew in the same bed and I must have just glanced down for a tag and looked at the wrong tag.
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gmason ~~ so what is the name of the lovely solid blue?

Go for Dusky Challenger. It loves LI weather. A small clump will soon be a big clump. Good for sharing and a great confidence builder.

To answer your question in the other post. The big rhizomes will shrink down to east coast size over the summer. Enough so that you might wonder if your loosing it. Time may have fuzzed the memory up a bit but the rhizomes were bigger than I can grow them here just not supersized.

If your in a typical LI burb spot the gritty sand left behind is by the builders stealing the loam is perfect for bearded iris. You'll have to do little amending or adding.

Only thing I miss about LI is the growing season and the ocean.

I love Dusky Challenger, but am looking for something that dark but that has more blue and less purple.
Anyone have any thoughts. I have only seen some photos of BlueBerry Bliss, but they vary all over the place in color and intensity. Other candidates?

Yesterday I saw a lot of "Feedback" in bloom at a nursery. It was beautiful.

In my garden, both Alexander's Ragtime Band and Deep Pacific are dark blue-purple. Deep Pacific actually has the most NAVY-like tones of the two, however, it is at the short end of the TBs.

Alexander's Ragtime Band
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Deep Pacific
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Embassy Ball and Grand Old Opry are two other dark purples. (Forgive the washed out picture from last year -- GOO hasn't bloomed out for this year yet)
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The incorrectly labeled iris was Foreign Statesman.

I received fabulous irises from Paradise Garden this summer, and they have a great website too. I ordered 13 bulbs and they sent an additional 9 free (of similar color and style). All were huge and are doing very well- better than any of my "nursery" irises, the rebloomers are even starting to come after less than 2 months in my garden and in less than ideal weather. my "main" garden is blue with white plicatas and a few old fashioned purples. I am most looking forward to Autumn Tryst (3 freebies) and Happy New Year(white with violets) and City Lights (also 3 freebies- dark blue with white hi-lite). I try to stick with reblooms cause i like a little bonus :) Autumn Circus (purple with white) has been exceptionally vigorous in my garden.

what is the truest blue iris?
Wormy

Iris Gal mentioned Monet's garden irises. There is an iris in my garden which may be the purple seen in Monet's garden, it is Perfection (1880) and here it is. I especially like the "batik" effect on the standards. Found it on the remains of a private property in what is now a public park.

I have a lot of iris and have at least 20 of the old fashioned purple iris in a row along my min flower beds and love them

I get all my iris from Schreiners. They send good healthy fans and i have never lost a one. They have a catalog for $5.00,then free after you order. The pictures are to die for and mine have been true to color. They have a lot of blues and purples.
I just checked the site out and i'm not sure they have an Iris lovers catalog this year but they have an online catalog
vickie

Here is a link that might be useful: Schreiners

Oh my heavens.....
I am sitting here in freezing weather in Maryland, and I'm drooling over all these iris pictures in catalogs.

I've decided to try to clean out/consolidate my sprawling, cottage style gardens to more organized areas. I've got iris in my gardens and want more of them after reading about and looking at all the talk here on this iris forum.
I'd really like to get involved with a local iris garden club, and would appreciate any names/info/addresses.etc, that could get me started.
Thanks for any help on this......
Bonnie
Middle River, Md

Hi Bonnie,

I don't know anything about your area personaly, but I did find out that you are in region 4 of the American Iris Society.

I also learned that you're region has it's own site. You can find it here

The best advice I can give is to find your local club through that site and get to know the members. They should be very helpful.

Brock

Brock....
Thanks so much for the info.....I will check them out.

Bonnie