i do... but bearded come in 60,000+ color choices, easier to chat about! have you tried delft dutch iris, STUNNING!

Yes, but I'm in Australia too, and these lovelies are sooo much easier to grow in our climate. on the other hand, Bearded irises have never been as popular in Oz as they are in the US.
Many people here only "Know" DI's and they are so popular as a cut flower as they can be made to flower at any time of year, and last so long in a vase. You will start to see them blooming in pots in the chain stores here soon, even though we are just into winter. Nothing nicer than a pot of blooming DI's (or daffs) inside to brighten the short winter days :-)
Incidentally Dutch iris are the only iris that are not registered by the American Iris Society. The Dutch have their own registration book, so a DI can carry the same name as a TB.
Where in Australia are you Young Quinn? Have you tried growing iris reticulata - tiny little bulb iris that bloom in early Spring? If you are in the Southern states, you may have success with these.
Cheers, Jan

I adore my Dutch Iris and they multiply well in my zone. I've had some that had 2 blooms at the top and what a sight. I just got a division of one with 'Edith Wolford' colors. Have never seen it in commerce! Next spring, with luck, I'll be posting pics of it.

iris gal the edith colors are called oriental beauty. i love that one too!

Jain with 60000 to choose from I had better not get started (my husband would not be amused!) I have seen the delft on the internet but have never seen them for sale in australia They certainly are beautiful. Sparaxis I am in the outer eastern suburbs of melb and I do grow iris reticulata harmony I got them from tasmania last year and they are the sweetest things I also have oriental beauty iris gal . I have PB under my apricot roses and a whole bed of apollo simply stunning I get 2 flowers on each of mine too. Such good value! I have most of the beauty series and some beautiful pale blues carmen I think I meant to say mine would be in bloom in a couple of months not weeks. thanks for your replies cheers pam

I planted some a few years ago (wasn't familiar with them but I hit a sale!), & they're beautiful.

They're good cut flowers, & they multiply like mad!

Jain, thanks for the name!! I've have many of the Beauty series in the past and never saw this one. I truly love it.

I used to have some but I had to dig them up. I do miss them.

Shadow

I planted some for the first time last fall and when then bloomed this spring, I was hooked! Will the foliage die down like other spring bulbs?

I only have two varieties, but they were huge clumps. Really nice show when they are in full bloom. There's just no other blue in the garden that compares. I hope to add more to my planned rock garden area. Lots of retics too. And i. buccharica, and i. magnifica, and... and... =)

Jerseygirl - yes, they will die down when it gets warm and remain dormant for the summer. They should be kept dry during the summer months or they may rot. You should probably dig them if you'll have regular summer rains. Wait until the foliage completely dies back though. In most areas of the US they are grown as annuals.

Mike

Maybe the fact that they have to be treated like annuals is a reason why they are less popular in the USA . Here in Melbourne I am able to leave them in for years and only lift them to divide them. The only bulbs I have to lift annualy are tulips

Rats. I thought they would come back like the other bulbs. Why are they treated as annuals? Because they rot in wet soil? Not a big problem for me. Or do the bulbs lose their vigor?

jerseygirl-

This is the first time I've heard of treating them as annuals.

Mine have been in the ground for 5 or 6 years.
They return & bloom reliably each spring, & they've multiplied beautifully.

Summers here, however, are dry & hot:

The problem we usually have with some bulbs, notably tulips, is that our mild winters don't provide enough chilling hours & our hot summers cook them!

Tulips are grown as annuals here, but Dutch iris don't seem to be affected.

They're not expensive at all in the mail order catalogs:
you might try some & see what happens.

Best luck & have fun.

sylvia

ps: I have heard that "Eye of the Tiger", a bronze Dutch iris, is not robust at all, probably better to buy a different kind.

perhaps I misunderstood I was responding to garden of mu (the previous poster) who said they were treated as annuals.I dont know why this would be so. Regarding tulips we have the same problem with mild winters. In melbourne we have to lift tulips after the leaves brown store them in the garage and put them in the fridge for 2 months before planting in autumn (fall) but they are worth it cheers

I have never had a dutch iris to live more than three years, and I have never had a clump - unless I planted three or four in the same hole.

Their color range is limited, too.

Walter Moores

There are hardy (accept freezes), semi-hardy and non-hardy bulbs. Some bulbs accept a wide range of climates so are not referred to as hardy or non-hardy.

While Dutch Iris bulbs will take more winter chill than Freesias, they have their limits.

So we in mild winter zones have to treat hybrid tulips as an "annual" bulb (unless we're able to lift them and provide with artificial cold winter in the refrig. And you in very cold winter areas have to do the opposite with semi-hardy and non-hardy bulbs by providing them with an artificial mild winter. The Bulbs Forum has information on this.

They don't make it up here. Makes me sad because I do like them. Sometimes some come back for a couple years but less and less and even less blooms and then nothing. If I planted 100 I can expect to see 50 live through the winter and wet spring. Only half of those 50 bloom and the following year it's halfed again the same way.

I was kind of hoping Walmart was going to get some in as spring bulbs this year but they didn't. Last year they had a big bag for next to nothing but I passed because I was too busy.

The notheast I think is just too cold and wet for them. I kind of see a bit of a pattern here. TX is dry compared to the east, so is most of CA. MS is a wet state, same for NJ and NH. MS is certainly mild enough but lots of rain.

Anybody have luck in the northern plains states or provinces?

They are treated as annuals here. Cheap enough so you don't bother digging and storing them. I really don't remember but I think walmart's cheap bag was 250 of them for $3.88.
My husband bought some for the gardens at the state prison and kind of got mad at me when I told him they wouldn't make it. Couldn't understand why walmart would sell something that wouldn't survive. Actually Walmart's plant dept is full of perennials and shrubs that won't make a harsh winter up here.

I had the same experience with Dutch irises when I lived in Ft. Worth.

Some tulips will return for another year or two. The sign that they are 'done for' occurs when they send up foliage and no stalk. 99% of tulips are annuals here.

It doesn't get cold enough here for them, but I really think it is the hot, damp soil in the summer time that takes bulbs.

With daffs, King Alfred (types) and Ice Follies are the only two reliable naturalizers.

But we do have our spider lilies (hymenocallis occidentalis) that take freezes, heat, etc. There are two kinds of these with essentially the same flower. One blooms in April with the early irises and the other blooms in July. The July bloomer is often called Peruvian Daffodil. Some of these spider bulbs can get as big as coconuts and are awfully hard to dig and divide.

'Nekkid ladies and red spider lilies also do well. Amaryllis can grow outside too; I am talking about the big ones like Red Lion, etc.

Walter Moores

Walter i don't understand you saying it doesn't get cold enough for them? We are sort of equivalent to your zone 9 and our temps rarely go below 5degrees below zero (celcius) which is certainly cold enough for DI's, and Tulips to bloom. I agree it is the damp soil in summer that will rot DI bulbs. Here I avoid watering them, but like the original poster, I never lift them unless I want to move them.

They grow short here but are taller when we have a really cold winter. We have lots of summer rainfall that is partly responsible for Dutch not naturalizing.

It is the same with most SDBs regarding height. Many never get out of the fan and you have to help them open. Three or four years ago, it was cold long enough for them to get a little height to them when they bloomed in the spring.

Zone 9 in the US can be desert to rainforest (almost).

Walter Moores

I'm see 'Rosario' in both Scheepers and Van Engelen catalogs. Describewd as Aster-violet flushed pink.

Anyone growing it? Is it worthwhile? TIA.

Dear Iris gal I grow it here and it is beautiful not quite as tall as apollos and pbs cheers

Thanks Young Quinn! I think I will order it.

They grow well in Tucson, AZ, hot and dry. Planted in Nov. and bloomed in Jan. and Feb. but I don't know yet if they will come up again.
Planted several Beauty Strain DI in MN zn4 also and few came up and only one bloomed. I'm ordering more for AZ.
Does anyone have 'Lion King' DI? The catalog pic is fabulous.