glad to read this walter, i have never ordered, i just shop their pots in bloom... how about bonus iris, are they generous?

You know me and extras. I always say, "Go slow with the extras."

I thought they were generous. They sent two of their own extras called Brilliance (2005) and Cameo Kiss (2003) plus a Blyth called Gaelic Jig. I am satisfied. They take orders to Aug 15 with a $20 minimum. Check out www.napairis.com to see what they have. Stunning photography!

Love those California rhizomes!

Walter Moores

p.s.They list ASCII ART for $5. Somebody was looking for that one of mine. I think my clump is down to three now and must let it rest for awhile.

thanks walter for the info, i love their cameo kiss! and get ascii art, you won't be disappointed, it is a HUGE flower!

Walter aren't you the one who hybridized Ascii Art?

I ordered from Napa a while back and am expecting my order this week. I got Cameo Kiss, Cinnamon Sun, Coffee Whispers, Extrovert, Gaelic jig, Grape Expectations (absolutely LOVE their photo of Grape Expectations), Green and Gifted, Imprimus, Qualified and Rare Find.

i have all of the ones you ordered, you will love them, cinnamon sun is an absolute fav, i have i next to trans-orange, what a perfect combo!

I am in zone 5b, specifically Kansas City, MO. I have read comments that made me concerned that California raised rhizomes might have some trouble adjusting to the climate where I live. We've got extremes.Is there any truth to this? Therefore, I totally ignored the California nurseries when I ordered this year even though some had yummy cultivars at good prices. Please give me the straight scoop(or gardening trowel) if you will.

i can tell you that the worlds, and countries, largest growers are ALL in the west. i also can tell that many of the west coast growers i have met consider that a HUGE myth and highly irritating at the very least... there are some people that do not grow iris well, no matter what, and the squeaky wheel gets heard the loudest.
how can the west have a huge multimillion dollar national businesses if nobody but the west can grow them? its false, they ship all over the country and have a huge client base. ask schreiners, cooleys, suttons, superstition and mid amc if they they don't sell to the east because of poor performance.
i have read for years on this forum how bad the huge iris of the west are in the east from a select few. i trade, share and sell iris and started sending my smaller plants back east because i was worried about them adapting, EVERY SINGLE PERSON contacted me and asked where in the world i heard that our large iris are not successful back east... they assured me it was ridiculous, and i am talking dozens of people that i dealt with during my faux pas...
west coast iris also have a much higher bloom rate then i was reading about here, i get emails every year from customers all around the country loving my iris and how beautiful the flowers were the first spring. i think it depends on whose growing them...
iris are a drought plant, they thrive in the west because that is their most natural habitat. they grow large here because, just like cactus, they need to store the nutrients thru the high heat. when you buy a west coast iris you are getting a fat nutrient filled iris, in the east they shrink as the moisture is no longer needed in that climate, but you will most likely have your plant bloom in spring. east coast iris do not adapt as readily to the west because they lack the size to adjust to our heat instantly, they lack enough stored nutrient to carry them to bloom for a year or two. i have never had an east coast iris bloom for me the first year, they require potting and babying to get them to be able to be a drought plant of normal size to bloom here.
when you buy from the west cost growers you get large plants with many new starts on the side for a fast large clump. try any of the names above mentioned and you will be THRILLED with what they send you! try it yourself and see, i am only commenting becasue i have had lots of feedback on my plants from around the country and because i KNOW this issure really irks the large commerical growers when they read it!

Boy, do I appreciate your feedback. Thank you for so much info to educate us. This should result in our being able to make infomed choices. This opens a new world of iris and that can't be bad.
I was so hoping to get a "go ahead".

Your feedback was worth it even though it was based on something that causes you grief. I would love to hear from others that are from my zone. By the way, you have a very good website setup. I have been there numerous times just wishing...I'm sure many people will appreciate your feedback to set the record straight.

Greetings Irisawe,

As an Iris hobbyist in Chicago with the same climate as you, I can say that you will have a harder time growing iris from west coast areas.

Maybe I'm one of those people that can't grow iris well, no matter what, but in my experience growing iris from the West Coast from iris growers in the Midwest is about 50/50.

A few will do good and possibly will give you first year bloom IF you pot them. If you simply put them into the ground upon arrival, most likely they will have rotted by the time spring comes next year. Quite often, the large rhizomes sends extra shoots of fans while adjusting to your climate. What happens next spring is that the large rhizome rots and the extra shoot continue growing, taking about two to three years to grow.

Large rhizomes in Chicago are about the size of a golf ball. I know that if I get an rhizome around that size, it should do well. Any larger and anything smaller than dime, usually go kaput. I have had much higher mortality rate with the smaller-sized rhizomes than the huge ones given to me by west coast suppliers, but it doesn't mean that you can't grow them. I always have ordered from Superstition and Schreiner's knowing that it might take two or three years to get a bloom from them. But I also know that I'll be getting a properly marked and true to name variety. And as a historic iris grower, the majority of my west coast historics do a lot better than the west coast moderns.

I really don't want to say what Jain said isn't true, but I had to give my personal experience about it.

Sincerely,
Carlos