Well, that is an ENGLISH garden I think, we are not in England, and spring is will nigh gone, so I guess we can darn well grow what we please and be prepared to face the consequences. I don't necessarily recommend Asian or Longiforum lilies with roses, just wanted some so badly and have them in a spot by themselves toward the back. I liked the daylilies idea, but am weary of yellow Stella, and their bloom time is short but the foliage stays pretty neat and tidy. In one picture I saved of Jon's friend who also had a Mottisfont-inspired garden in ENGLAND, it was charming, brick wall in the bg, lots of pink fairy-like roses that almost twinkled, and the only other plant I recall was eremus which was marvelous. Maybe he didn't read the book? Another thing I liked about that garden was that there were areas of room between the plants, not all crammed together. It had a light, airy, pleasing look and your eyes drifted from one attraction to another and not have the whole thing jump in your face. That guy on the island off the coast of Italy really has a handle on landscape design. Whether you get the formal training or not, it seems like somewhat of a gift to me, how he worked things in with the roses the main attraction. I like iris with roses if I could get some to grow like in the pics people posted. You should have pitched the book across the room, that is funny!

(Paul Black, R. 1991) Sdlg. 89U25. TB, 33" (84 cm), M S. white rib blending to pale yellow with plum brown plicata markings around edge, gilt gold rim at top; style arms violet edged yellow gold, crests brassy violet; F. warm white, plum brown plicata markings at hafts, brassy gold edge halfway around, lime yellow band around lower half; beards yellow, tipped white at end; ruffled, laced. Bronze Fawn X Glitz 'n Glitter sib.

I love to try indentifying..................but this is beyond me. Here's a partial list of reds if you're really determined. I love the top one. The second may be Liason. The only way to know for sure is to compare the stalk's branch pattern. As I recall, the standards were more beige than pink or white and the fall rim pale lavender. Disregard foliage - unfortunately the color green can be totally off while the other colors may be on. And vice-versa. REDS Agatine schrein'59, B.yel Almaden Battle Hymn Battle Royale HM'98 Big Apple Bonfire Night lg haft area veined Bouzy Bouzy anfosso84 Burgandy Bubbles Caliente AM Can Can - falls looked blended in pic Cannonball Czech Republic - oldie with veined hafts, B.orn Classic Bordeaux (good with pumpkin color) Cherry Glen Cherry Smoke Chief Hematite - striped hafts Chief Quinaby - at Ponderosa had oxblood beard Chief Watsuka Chief Waukesha - may have gold beard Classic Bordeaux Clearfire - stevens'79 Cover Page - ghio02 Cranapple IB AM Cranberry Ice Danger Dark Past Dynamite Edenite Elizabeth Carol End Zone - IB some photos magenta? Fancy Sparkler - SDB Fire Brigade schrein'57 Fire Pit Fireball schrein'67 Forge Fire Gallant Moment Gorby's Red durrance'92 Hell's Fire falls vy deep Ida Red Inferno B.yel Jewel Tone AM'70 Main Event oldie Man From Rio Manuel nice tailored Midnight Masterpiece annand'01 New Centurion schreiner'93 Nitro hedgecock'01 Picante Post Time schrein'71 more orange red Red At Night ernst'92 Red Fox Red Hot Lover Red Masterpiece schrein'04 Red Polish Red Rider Red Tornado schreiner'88 Red Zinger IB AM'89 Redwood Grove - ghio'95 Resurrection Story - old form, veined hafts Revel In Red Royal Chant black'86 burgandy Samurai Warrior - HM'83 Saturday Night Live schreiner'96 Scarlet O'Hara Scarlet Ribbon HM'67 B.antique gold Sinister Smuggler IB Spartan no hafts AM'76 Spectacular Bid AM'86 Sultan's Palace schrein'77 Supermanual denney'82 Tommyknocker Unforgettable Fire Velvet Robe schrein'60 Vitafire schrein'68 War Chief Young Blood IB

If you really like an iris that dies out the first year, I'd suggest trying it again and plant it in a different location. I've tried Batik for 5 years (you'd think I'd give up, hu?) and every year it winter/spring rots on me. However, last year I got 2 healthy rhyzomes from a gal in a trade and low and behold one of them took off and is actually blooming and looking great this year! The other rhyzome looks fine but without all the increases and no blooms. I've also had iris that were planted with all the others (that grow great) and they didn't do much (bloomed close to the ground, not many increases, etc). One of them was Covet Me. Last year I'd had enough babying this one and gave them all away except one that I threw in the ground on the west side of our secret fence. It started increasing like madd and this year has nice tall stalks with lots of blooms. So for me, I've learned that sometimes persistence pays off if you're willing to try new sources and plant in different places. heidi