The last one is only a improvement if you consider a white base superiour to the mauve one that cosmic shows.. otherwise its pretty similiar. I think it contrasts more with the white base , but it wouldnt differ enough to do anything with other then breed with it. Its pretty subtle but its a triple colour edge with the dark purple, light purple and fine gold edge. I understand about the pinks, but a friend of mine raved about the power of leslee renee to start to take blue eyes, thats my plan , if I can get a crop based out of my heaviest pie crusting edges with it, If I get one showing that same familiar eye zone, with a heavier pie crusting, I will then go back into my blue eyed lines. Ive tried it already it hasnt done what I wanted yet, but I will continue trying. (though the seedling I got, is still wonderful from that try, it just isnt the heavy blue eye with a pink wash background Im looking for, I have no doubt people will be years ahead of me before I get one that I want, but thats ok, Im also breeding for cold zones, or colder zones I should say) Silverkelt

Has anybody tried the Bayer soil drench? I think it has a fungicide in it that would not be terribly useful for irises, but it also has imidacloprid (the active ingredient in Merit) that is supposed to be taken up by the plant. Does spray Merit actually stick to iris leaves or is a separate spreader/sticker needed? I wouldn't care about the borers so much but I am heartily sick of soft rot in the rhizomes.

Actually, in the picture, The Prince does have most all of its leaves. They just don't show well against the background because of the camera angle. As to the color of Munstead Wood, it seems to be in the same general color range along with Tradescant and Prospero, neither of which I grow, but I have seen them. I have also had some early LD Braithwaites that were approaching that color, but they lightened up when the weather warmed up.

Thanks Ann for your suggestion. I am not phone person, so I always start with e-mails. But I did follow your suggestion and after some phone tags, found a correct person to talk to, a very nice sounding lady. What I did find out is, that this is a known problem and they are working on it, to try to figure out the cause and fix it. Meanwhile, I e-mailed her the same photo as above and they will be sending me a new one :) I hope the new one will last, or if not, by the time I need new one, they have fixed the problem, as I really like this grater otherwise.