This Forum has the Exchanges page for trading, if you don't have anything to trade, maybe you could post a wanted list there.
No, Broken Color Iris are not more fragile, like any other iris, some grow good in some places and some don't.

Here is a link that might be useful: Exchanges

Under my nose!!! Thank you for your voice of experience. I took a peek and it looks to have real potential. I do have a few to trade because I bought in multiples last year and have increase on those. Thank you sooooo much!!!

Irisawe brings up an interesting point. I ordered as soon as websites were up this year, was assured everything I wanted was available, sent off my payments. Then, because I suppose some companies ship by zones instead of placement of order, I get shipments with several "out of stocks." Blue J was honest and marked one had died and one turned out to be misnamed.

I've started avoiding the companies that keep my money for six months and then send my shipment with "out of stocks."

Neil

The above are good questions.

I usually order a day or so after I receive a catalog. I learned a long time ago not to delay to August or September for delivery because I found out some of the biggest dealers won't save a popular item for you until August even though your ordered it in March and your order was confirmed. They either don't keep track of their inventory or didn't make a notation you wanted the iris in August.

Last year Schreiners sent me a voucher on irises they couldn't supply even though I ordered early and they confirmed. Nowhere in the catalog does it say anything about vouchers or what to do with them. I waited until this year to use the voucher and they honored it, but I did not place an order with them.

So, even though I live in an area where it is fatal or near-fatal to plant irises in the open in July, I accept them, dry them out for about a month and then pot them. That way I usually get everything I want and the irises get a head start in the pot.

I have stopped ordering from two dealers who say they send their orders by climate. They waited until September or even October to send orders to hot climates. I thought a business was to cater to its customers and not to its own whims.

Order from Cooley's and buy their insurance. They have honored it on the two or three times I've lost something.

Broken colors are not necessarily 'fragile,' but I have found few that really like the Deep South. Lacy Lynx and Oasis Patches have been pleasant surprises.

It puzzles me why some dealers keep checks for three or four months before depositing. This has been going on for years. There used to be one dealer who deposited your check the day he mailed your order.

I placed my first iris order from a Schreiner ad in Better Homes and Gardens around 1962. You could get twelve irises for $3.95 post paid! Walter Marx Gardens almost bankrupted me in the sixties before they became exclusively Japanese iris dealers.

Walter Moores

I have done both - purchasing from nurseries and also trading on the iris exchange forums. My experience has been that when I order from the nurseries I usually get what I've ordered and if they mess up they will send me a replacement or a refund. Several of the irises I received from trades last year turned out not to be what they were supposed to be. So this year I've done more buying than trading.

overall, i have had fewer mislabels in my trading than in my purchases. go figure.....
there are only a few gardeners that i trade with.

I am looking for broken color irises. Anyone have any they can part with??
TY
Deb

Here is a link that might be useful: GardenWeb

AS a small grower I can say one thing about ordering early and then end out out of stock. I keep really great inventory with each order. Problem can be be of old ma nature, this year in Oregon we had a wetter, longer winter spring than in history. So some point blank rotted out. That makes it sound like the iris is not a good preformer and that was not the case, the weather. Then you can have an iris look beautiful from the top and you dig, clean and there in the very middle can be hidden rot!

D

Boy Denise, I can sure understand that. I'm afraid to commit to an iris trade unless I have them already dug and inspected before I post having them, or offer them in trade.

Sue

I ordered late for my southern climate once, and I couldn't believe how small and dried up the rhizomes looked, and this from a heavyweight nursery whose name I will not mention. Several of the plants were the size of my thumb and looked like they would have been composted had they not filled my order. They did all grow, though some didn't perform particularly well. I vowed then to always order early, and since then I've never had a problem with something being out of stock.

I would rather order for earlier delivery than for fall delivery, though we have great heat through September here. We never have frost until late November.

Mike