Oooo ~~~~ Woodland Rose is lovely !!!

Bellarosa,

Here is a site listing the top 100 favorite iris. While many of my favorites are not on it, it is still an excellent reference for tried and true performers.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://wpsco.org/favorite.htm

From what's growing in my garden, these are my
TOP 5 FAVORITE ON COLOR & FORM

#1 BOLD FASHION
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#2 CHIMERA
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#3 CAMELOT ROSE
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#4 SWEETER THAN WINE
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#5 DON JUAN
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From what's growing in my garden, these are my
TOP 5 BASED ON PERFORMANCE (ZONE 5 CHICAGO)

#1 HONORABILE: Plant it and forget it and it comes back with a vengeance every year. If you're looking for an Iris that can take a beating or that doesn't need any fuss. Look no further.
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#2 CELESTE: Similiar to Honorabile, but only it doesn't increase as fast.
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#3 STEPPING OUT: I had gotten this with my first iris collection when I was 12. It was my least favorite of the collection of 8 irises, so I simply put it in the "undiscovered" part of my yard. You know, that part of the garden where you purposely don't show your guests, where things simply grow wild. Well, four years had passed from first planting it and in the back of my mind, I was like "Oh yeah, I wondered what happened to that 'other' one." Little did I know that it had formed into a magnificient clump. I still have a photo of it somewhere when I first saw it. Today, it's growing in a more dignified spot, and of the collection of 8, it's one of three that I never actually had to replace. (The other two were Pledge Allegiance and Tut's Gold.)
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4) LACY SNOWFLAKE: This one has bloomed every year since I planted it in the fall of 1993. Great grower and is always the first TB to bloom in my yard. Traditionally, Lacy Snowflake was also my last one to bloom, but that title was stolen by SABLE last year.
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5) GOLD OF OPHIR: This is a part TB, part Aril iris. Similiar to the story with STEPPING OUT, GOLD OF OPHIR is hasn't been growing (and still isn't...haven't moved it) in the most ideal settings. Although it wasn't *neglected* like STEPPING OUT was, this stem shows what it can do on a consistent basis.
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Thank you for the beautiful pictures and useful commentary.

Oh, I just love all of them! Carlos, where did you get 'Camelot Rose' and 'Sweeter than Wine'? Thank you everyone for your beautiful pictures! Now at least I have some great options to choose from.