Go to or phone your nearest botanic garden. They can place you in touch with a local club affiliated with the American Iris Society. Most clubs have a summer sale. The people working the sale can tell you the best varieties for your local area. They can also give you lots of advice on planting, etc.

Walter Moores

You can find a list of your regional iris clubs and contact information at the link below. As Walter mentioned, iris clubs hold annual rhizome sales. That would be a great place for you to purchase irises that are already acclimated to your climate and known to grow well there.

Laurie

Here is a link that might be useful: Region 1 iris clubs

Hi,

Thank you both for your responses. Walter I did what you suggested, calling the botanical gardens, but as with everything else, they are not allowed to make referrals or tell people who they use. *sigh* Yes, I did find a few American Iris groups in New England, but the only sale coming up is in my neighboring states and not mine. I am not sure I will be able to go, one is next Saturday and is probably a 2 or 3 hr drive away.

Is there some reccomendation for some of the iris companies that I could buy some iris from? Do people on this forum purchase only from iris clubs or from commercial companies too?

Thanks
:-)

Look at the thread below on the Schreiner Sale. You can go to their site and order online or better yet, call their 800 number to see what is still available. They are reliable and can help you.

I am surprised at the policies of your local botanic garden. Most are supported by taxes and host meetings of various plant societies and have information on clubs and meeting dates. The botanic gardens I am familiar with have the latest AIS Bulletin plus all other plant society bulletins. Maybe, the botanic garden you called was a private one. Anyway, most want to share plant information. That has been my experience.

Hi, walter, I am sorry I guess I wasn't clear. The botanical garden wouldn't offer me the names of commercial iris sellers not the iris societies. I did find those on the American Iris Society webpage and there is one group here in Massachusetts, one in CT one in ME. I emailed two of them and haven't heard back from anyone yet. The CT society website has a notice that there is a sale for members this Saturday but I don't think I can go. There isn't one here in Mass that I can determine.

So, I see the Schreiner Sale but I looked up Schreiner on Gardenwatchdog and they have had a couple of complaints. I also saw the post below about Keppel's. I found your other post suggesting Midamerica, and Superstition too and I am looking at the MidAmerica website right now.

I want to order quickly before everything is sold out. I already lost 3 items I liked from yesterday to today they are sold out. Is there anyone else you would recommend? What about Aietkins or Snowpeak?

All of these had very good reputations according to Gardenwatchdog...Keppel, Superstition, MidAmerica, Aietkins, or Snowpeak, which one would you order from if you were only going to make one order? Or am I missing someone?

Thanks very much and sorry for the confusion.
:-)
pm2

Check Blue J Iris & Iris Greens.

I ordered from Blue J a few years back, & it seems like their rhizomes were smallish but healthy, they were all fresh, Blue J included extra rhizomes, & their prices are great.

Although a lot of places have stopped shipping for 2007, last year Iris Greens shipped some to me very late (they're in California, & I'm in Texas, so it worked fine).

Their prices were good, the irises were packed well, insulated with some sort of peat-mossy or excelsior-type stuff, ventilation holes were punched in the sides of the box, & the order was shipped very quickly.

The rhizomes were fat & healthy, & they all bloomed this spring.

You know, I really don't trust that Garden Watchdog. Some of the complaints people make there are simply unreasonable. I think one of the comments made was "one of my iris died over winter." That can happen to even the most season veteran, especially after this year's crazy spring weather.

I have been ordering from Schreiner's Iris since I was 15 years old. I'm 27 now and still order from Schreiner's and have never been disappointed in their product. Over the years, I have tried MANY iris growers. Here is a list of reliable iris growers.

Argyle Acres
Blue J Iris
Bluebird Haven Iris Gardens
Brooks Gardens
Chuck Chapman Iris
Hornbakers Gardens
Iris4U Iris Gardens
Lakeside Iris
Malevil Iris Gardens
Mid-America Garden
Mountaintop Iris
Napa Country Iris Gardens
Newburn's Iris Gardens
Newport Naturals at Spruce Corner
Schreiner's Iris Gardens
Snowpeak's Iris and Daylilies
Stoney Creek Iris
Superstition Iris Gardens
Tennessee State Iris Gardens
The Iris Farm
Wild Iris Rows
Winterberry Gardens

I have tried all of those companies and have been satisfied with what they have sent, based on the region that they live in. I am trying many more for the first time this year and have not listed them, since I have not received them yet.

Sincerely,
Carlos
Brighton Park Iris
http://www.brightonparkiris.com/

Thank you Carlos...very nice to have such a long list. :-)
I'm happy to hear you have had good experiences with them
Appreciate you taking the time to post this. I will call around.

pm2

I agree with Carlos about the Garden Watchdog. People will go there to vent the least little problem. Schreiners and Cooleys both have been around for more than seventy-five years each, and no company could survive that long if their customer relations were bad.

Walter Moores

I am sorry that you are disappointed that a grower that you have been happy with was criticized on Garden Watchdog but as a consumer, I am very thankful for the service that Garden Watchdog offers. I have had much better success at finding companies that work out well, since using Gardenwatchdog. I think the site is very fair and if a grower is smart, he can benefit from it. I have seen people make complaints and the company has responded on the website and has been able to resolve it with their reputation in tact. I don't think that most people expect a company to be perfect. We all have problems come up that are unanticipated. For me and many people I talk to, it is more what the company does about the problems that come up that carries more weight.

I try to be very fair about these matters. I read every negative post about a company and decide for myself whether I think the person complaining was unreasonable or not. I read the company's response to see how they handle complaints. I can't tell you how many times I have seen no response at all from the company. I ordered from a company who had a lot of negative posts. The company posted that they were in the middle of a move, so I wanted to cut them some slack and they had plants that I really wanted, and then had a complete fiasco with that company that was just like all the previous complaints. I also had an opportunity to visit that company in person, and believe me when I say it was eye opening. There was obviously a lack of organizational skills there that explained a lot.

I still don't go by an isolated complaint. I look for a trend. If 10 people are all saying that a company sent them mislabeled plants...then they can't all be cranks. Right? I have also seen other posters stick up for the company and reprimand someone who was complaining unfairly and expecting too much.

While there are a fair amount of companies that have complaints about them, there are many companies who have no complaints about them and I don't think that is an accident. I think it is because some companies understand how important their 'business' end of things is...sending the right plants, getting them there on time, etc...and they make it their policy to focus on making customer's experience as problem free as possible. I saw a lot of iris growers who had perfect records on Gardenwatchdog.

I am new to irises and to the iris forum, and perhaps you all as a group look out for each other and know who the best growers are etc. But I came in blind and while I asked here on the forum for recommendations, I did what I always do with a company I haven't done business with, I went to Gardenwatchdog. It is very important to me to deal with a company who is capable of handling their business well, from disease prevention in the greenhouse, to customer service on the phone.

I think it is great that these companies have such loyal customers that you stuck up for them on the forum. :-) I am very happy to have your recommendations and assurances that the companies you order from are dependable and I have already started looking over their websites. I apologize if I upset anyone with my comments. If I could make a suggestion, if any of your favorite companies have complaints about them, you might want to encourage them to respond to the complaints and resolve them. Plus you could always go and post your own positive experiences to offset them. I think Garden watchdog is a fact of life. I don't think it is going anywhere. It is very popular and I read many posts from people who look up a company before making a purchase.

Thanks for all your help.

:-)

Greetings Prairiemoon,

I respect your opinion about Garden Watchdog, and by all means, if that helps you out in your purchases, then continue to use them. However, I do want to point out a couple of things.

QUOTE: I look for a trend. If 10 people are all saying that a company sent them mislabeled plants...then they can't all be cranks. Right?

Ok, 10 people make a complaint about mislabeled plants. Fair enough, however, what if the majority of people who purchased and were satisfied NEVER POSTED, or don't even know about Garden Watchdog. Quickly, you can easily have 10 mediocre complaints, written by people angry at the heat of the moment, against thousands of satisfied customers. Walter is right, the Schreiner's has been around since 1925 and Cooley's before that, if I'm not mistaken. There's a reason why they're still around.

QUOTE: I saw a lot of iris growers who had perfect records on Gardenwatchdog.

Okay, how many members posted a comment. I've seen a lot of companies...questionable at best, with 100% ratings. I check them out and what do I see? A single positive comment. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't feel very comfortable if I ordered from company with only 1 comment, albeit a postive one. Which brings me to my next point.

Garden Watchdog's method listing is poorly done. I go to the website, type in Iris and get a long list of iris growers. They have this column of customer satisfaction in a percentage value. So the one company who only has one comment, a positive one has a 100% customer satisfaction versus a reputable grower who may have 95% or less because some hot-headed member said, "it didn't survive my winter." Very misleading in my opinion.

If I'm not mistaken, I even saw a grower posting a postive comment on their own company...what happened, Garden Watchdog left it on there with the positive comment still affect the score, only with a note from the webmaster stating that the company placed comments for themselves.

In my opinion, you don't need Garden Watchdog if you are a smart buyer. When I first order from a company I never heard of, I do it in a small scale. Three to ten rhizomes will give me a good indication of what type of grower they are. When I first purchased from Superstition Iris Gardens, I was skeptical at first. I think I only purchased eight rhizomes from them, but I was satisfied with them. Years later, I've started adding more and more. This year, I think I've purchased close to 50 iris rhizomes from them.

However, this is all my personal opinion, so please take this with a grain of salt.

Sincerely,
Carlos

If you are interested in rebloomers (my new passion), Nicholls Gardens (http://www.nichollsgardens.com/) has quite a few with pictures & lots of info on each. They are in zone 7 in Gainesville, VA. They respond well to emails and probably could advise you on what would grow well in MA zone 6. PS - Highly rated on Garden Watchdog. My order looks great and was shipped promply.

Hello Carlos...

Thank you very much for such a nice response to my post. :-)

I agree with everything you said pretty much with a few additions to what you had to say.

First about Schreiners' and Cooleys. I have not ordered from them. I have only spent a total of 20 mins on the Schreiner's website and none on the Cooleys website and I have not looked at their page on Garden Watchdog because I hadn't been considering ordering from that at this point. So I am unaware of what has been said about them. I just want to say that Garden Watchdog is not a perfect system any more than any other system is. Will every rating given on the site be a true representation of the company, doubtful. But it is a sincere and fair effort to do it I think.

Your point about whether you can know what a company is like from 10 complaints, what about all the satisfied customers that don't post...but really there could just as easily be a lot of dissatisfied customers that don't post too. Can someone base a choice on those 10 complaints...well..I think they do, and that is my point about why the company and their satisfied customers should post to the site. I think it is something like statistics, when they count the votes for elections they predict who is going to win based on a small percentage of the votes cast already. The fact that these two companies have been around for so many years is a definite deciding factor. I agree with you, that they wouldn't stay in business so long without a lot of happy customers and a good product.

So, I was just curious about what was on their Garden Watchdog page, so I just went and looked. I don't think you have anything to worry about with Schreiner's. There are 56 positives to 2 negatives. I don't see how that would discourage anyone from buying from them.

As for Cooley's...I think there might be something wrong with their page. They are in Oregon, correct? They are showing a rating of 88 of 100 but I see 24 positives and 1 negative. That doesn't add up. Someone should contact them and straighten that out.

Your point about the companies that have perfect scores but few posts good or bad. I don't go by the score. If they have a 100% I go to their page and read the posts. If someone has one or two posts, that is too little information to be useful to me and I don't count it really. Choosing to go with a company that has one or two posts is just like choosing them out of the yellow pages to me. So when you do a search and it brings up a list of 50 companies that sell a certain product and that page that lists them has just the percentage and their name...that is just a starting point. I would assume that no one would stop there and just order from a company based on that. So I don't feel there is any potential there for it to be misleading. All the information is right there on their page. All the specific posts and the details of what the complaint is and how many people posted and what they all had to say word for word.

The specific complaint you used as an example..the customer who complains that 'it didn't survive my winter'. I think you can give people more credit than that. When people read these kind of complaints I believe the majority of people can put it in perspective. I think most people understand that if a plant doesn't survive a winter, that isn't usually the company's fault. There are degrees of importance of different complaints. Not surviving the winter is a lot different than someone receiving diseased plants.

The incident you pointed out about the company posting comments about themselves. If Garden Watchdog had not let everyone know that the company was posting for themselves, then I would worry. I guess I think that most people that are reading this site are able to figure these things out. That is one of the reasons I wouldn't choose a company that only had one or two comments, because for all I know, they or their friends have made those posts.

That is a good tip about making your initial purchase small to test out the company. As for needing or not needing Garden Watchdog, well, carlos, it is a big world. [g] If I have learned anything over the years, it is that often everyone's circumstances and needs are different. If you are suggesting that there is no need for Garden Watchdog, I would have to respectfully disagree. In my experience there are more than enough companies being run by people who are in over their head, companies who habitually deliver poor quality products, that don't really care about being fair, etc, etc. Not every company is well run and well intentioned. I think you can be a smart buyer and use Garden Watchdog and be a smart buyer and not use them. :-)

Thanks for taking the time to discuss this subject..appreciate it. :-)

Sue...thanks very much for that recommendation for Nichols Gardens. I will check them out. :-)

PS - I agree with Carlos in a lot of respects about Watchdog. I don't go by the rating per se. I read the reviews and form my own judgment. If people are just griping about somewhat slow shipping, or their plants died (could be THEM, haha), or I'm satisfied by the company's response to make things right, and other people say good things, I order.

PPS - I am new to iris myself and have just been told my rhizomes from Nicholls are a bit on the small side, though totally fresh. Anyway, even if you don't buy from them, you can use their website to browse the rebloomers.

Carlos and Walter are right about Schreiner's. They sell an exceptional product. The usual complaint is the price, not the product. I usually order something from Aitken's. Mid America gets most of my money. Snowpeak is really nice too. Denise gives great service. She may be sold out of a lot of things by now. I would suggest going easy on rebloomers for a year or two. In cooler climates many send up a stalk in the very late fall that gets frozen or rots in the cool weather. Then they bloom lightly the following spring. Rebloom is a trait that I try not to buy. I have one iris blooming right now, but I have lots of daylilies, oriental lilies, crocosmia, Dahlia, Glads, phlox etc that add long lasting color to my yard.

Suel...sounds like you are an example of the point I was making that people can figure these things out and don't just go by the rating alone. And thanks again for the heads up on Nicholls. :-)

gmason....Thanks for your list of companies too. Nice to see that I have lots of choices. I am getting to the point of not having very much interest in the rebloomers. So many of the iris that don't rebloom seem so much prettier than those I have seen that rebloom. Maybe I just have only seen a small amount of rebloomers so far, but that is the impression I have gotten so far. Maybe that will change in the coming years. If I find one that I really like, I would be willing to make an experiment, knowing I can't depend on them.

Thank you all for the help. :-)
pm2

Since you are new to Iris, you might not know (or maybe you do) that rebloom is not a sure thing. I never buy an Iris for reblooming traits. It's a toss up if it does. Colder zones generally have a harder time getting rebloom than the warmer zones.

Since you are in Zone 6, you should get in contact with Winterberry Gardens. I believe they are in Virginia at Zone 6 and they specialize in reblooming Iris. You can contact them at VSpoon@aol.com

Don and Ginny Spoon should be able to help you with your needs. They don't have a website, so catalog only.

Carlos

Hi Carlos,

Yes, I have been told that rebloomers in the NEast are iffy. I am happy to have another source for them though because I look at it this way....if I can find rebloomers that I really like and they have a possibility of blooming again then I would like to see how that would work out in my yard. Especially with the crazy changes in our weather patterns the past few years.

I also took a look around your website yesterday and you have a nice collection of iris.

Thanks for your help! :-)
pm2

I love exlineirisgarden, he has always supllied me with wonderful iris. jennid

IrisGreens is now out of business... BlueJ Iris is excellent but their 'season' is over and aren't accepting any more orders fo 2007. I find them to be right up there with the size of their irises and the prices cannot be beat.

The problem is that right now one can hardly FIND anywhere to purchase from...

One source that I rave about can be found on eBay. Try going there and look up IRISES in auctions of seller greenriver_dr. They have some of the best and larger irises that I have ever seen and their packing and shipping is great too. Their only draw back is pricing. Bidders that want greenriver_dr's irises tend to really bid the cost way up...

I was sorry when irisgreens folded. THAT was an excellent source both qualitywise and pricewise. BlueJ is second on MY list for quality and price. Keep them in mind for next year.

I just got some beautiful irises from Wild Iris Rows. Most of his irises are $3 each and he has a huge selection. I received generous, multiple rhizomes and he sent very nice bonuses. Shipping is reasonable and very fast too.

Greg was beyond helpful too. I'm not sure how much longer he'll be taking orders but I believe he told me into September.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wild Iris Rows

Looks like we are getting a very good reference thread...thanks!