Most of mine have bloomed out too, here in middle Georgia. I had hoped to have something to take to the show in Milledgeville this Saturday but I think I can forget that.
I tried to find something about BLAZING BEACON on AIS Website but all it says is that it was registered in 2004 - it gives no description and no breeder information??? Wish I knew. Also, PIXIE DUST - introduced by Schreiner in 2001 but I wasn't able to find a source selling it???
My iris have been outstanding this year - the best I've ever seen them. > Marvin Enquist

This is my first iris year - LA Irises.

The yellow President Hedley was the first to bloom. Then Heavenly Glow opened up and WOW it was beautiful. More are starting to bloom. I don't know what is what as the names were written on the fans, bought two and three of each color and mixed them up when planting. Meanwhile old fans died off in early January and new fans sprouted up (of course without the names written on them). Anyway, I counted and have 21 plants growing, lost one *frown*, two of the 21 have bloomed 19 to go.

I've got them all mulched and have been thinking of maybe planting artillary fern in between the irises as a groundcover.

Loretta

I live about 1/2 hour south of Olympia, Washington, which puts me in zone 7. We had approximately 42 straight days of rain, followed by hard freezes. So far, last week was the latest freeze. I lost quite a few plants over the past winter, which is unusual, although the irises seemed to have made it through the winter. The tulips, dogwood, flowering cherry, and flowering crabapple are in full bloom. I don't expect to see the TB irises for a few weeks, but I have a couple of dutch irises in bloom, and the purple iris germanica is starting to bud up, and getting ready to bloom. There currently, are no buds showing on the SDBs, IBs, or TBs, except for the old faithful, BETHANY CLAIRE. She blooms every spring and usually twice in the fall. About 1/4 of my TB's are rebloomers, and they all bloom in the spring, but Bethany Claire and Corn Harvest are the only two that rebloom for me. Of Walter Moore's lovely irises, I have Pink Reprise, Blue Reprise, and Libra Star (I can't remember if LS is a rebloomer) - all which bloom beautifully in the spring, but don't rebloom. But then, neither does Immortality, Frost Echo, or Gibson Girl - all great rebloomers elsewhere. My most prolific and longest blooming irises are Stellar Lights, Bethany Claire, and Creative Stitchery. I have found that I won't know if anything will bloom until after I have had it for awhile, as it can take up to 3 years for things to settle into my yard. But so far, I have had about 6 irises that have never bloomed for me. These are World Class, Honeymoon Suite, Raspberry Frost, Amain, Bess Bergin, and Pink Attraction. They are all planted in the long border, so if they don't ever bloom, they still give a "green" effect to the border. Flowers would be nice, though. Gail

Our season is really just starting this past week. Amazing that it is already finished for you!

We had our local (Oakland) iris show on April 15. Last year that would have been just about right for TBs, but this year there was hardly a TB to be found. It's my second year with iris and I was looking forward to bringing some, but I had only 2 stalks in bloom; one was good, but the other had been shredded by rain. There were only 6 other modern TBs at the show, including a space-ager; there were a couple of historics, but that was it.

But what a glorious show of PCI's! I don't grow any, but we have a couple of great hybridizers in our area. I think the Pacific Coast seedling section was the largest of any section. What a riot of color!

But I just didn't get my fill of TBs!

Of the newer plantings that I have (within the last two years) I have two standouts: HAPPENSTANCE and SPLASHACOTTA.

I was excited about JURRASIC PARK, but it doesn't really do that much for me. I'll probably be giving it away to a friend to pass along to someone else. If I had more space I would keep it. But my space is very, very limited.

And speaking of giveaways. I'm sick of JESSE'S SONG falling down every year after year after year. It's going by the wayside as well. SPLASHACOTTA has a more dynamic effect anyway and it will be talking JS's place in my main bed.

Seems to be an odd iris season this year - or is it back to normal? The last three years have been early and prolific, while this one is late (by comparison) and very sparse on the blooms (not surprising as they have all been potted for the past year). A few stalks are coming up and just aborting halfway thru though. They just dry up and don't continue to develop. No idea why. Doubt more than a dozen TB out of hundreds are going to bloom for me. One good point - the leafspot has never been so light. Guess the space, lack of rain and sunny conditions are helping that along. Next year looks promising though as everything has good second year clumps to start off with.

Mike

Ditto, what Mike said. I have very few flower stalks showing this year. And those that are, just dry up, and don't open. However, we have had solidly frozen ground every morning for a couple of weeks, although it warms up to beautiful sunny days. I think my iris season will be almost non-existent this year, although the plants look quite healthy. Gail

I having an odd year too. Warm and sunny to the point of fire alerts in April and May. A drought it was said we were having here ibn Maine until it rained the last two days.

I went out today and yes it was sunny and in the seventies, a bit warm for us this time of year and to my surprise I have an iris bud way too early for my season. It very blue and is a noid from Idaho that looks similar to Blue Doll. Can't wait to see it open, only seen it in a picture when it was sent during a trade.

Last year was not normal either it was rain all through Spring then ninty degrees which fried my irises. I hope it stays mild and that I get some bloom this year.

Julianna

All,
I had a wonderful bloom season in Knoxville Tn. I have photos of of about 87 arilbreds as well as 84 tall bearded iris. Sunday may the 7th is the annual show here in Knoxville and I have three beauties that just bloomed today. They are RING AROUND ROSIE, WHISPERING SPIRITS, and MASERTY. Alas all are talls as the arilbreds are all but gone with only a couple of straggling blooms. FALCON'S FLIGHT, TATAI PASHA, HUBBLE SPACETELESCOPE and WHITE ARTS each still have one bloom. FALCON'S FLIGHT is still going after three weeks the last bloom opened yesterday. I have had a regular SMOURGASBOARD. I posted some photos at photobucket http://s49.photobucket.com/albums/f294/arilbred/

Randall

My bloom season is just starting - my early, unidentified heirloom dwarf bearded purple self (I'll have to give it a name just to avoid the string of descriptions!) iris just began blooming. My two large clumps of 'Edith Wolford' are loaded with bloom stalks, and the rest of my irises are just setting blooming stalks. I have GREAT iris foliage this year, with only a couple exceptions, so I'm hoping for some great bloom on all the TB historics I planted last year and the year before.

Laurel

My iris are just starting to open now too. So far, I've had buds on Stitch Witch and YoYo (both open about 2 weeks), Boo, Bedazzled, Katherine Hodgekin, Symphony, and a couple little unnamed ones that came with the new house. No sign yet of Candy Apple, Baby Baron, Gypsy Queen, Bronze Beauty or one called Dardanus. Someone forgot to mention that spring should have been here a while ago, and my tulips are only just now going a couple days past their peak, so perhaps the missing iris will still show more than green. It's very hard to be patient! (It's my first year with a proper iris garden so I'm learning on the go). My TBs may be a little while yet. Of the rhizomes that have bloomed so far, YoYo is my favorite. I got it from a local grower here last year, and it's even more beautiful than the picture he had of it- rich colors and it's been blooming steadily. The clump has also multiplied to about three times the pot size it came in last fall.

And Mr. Moores, thank you for the information about the Katherine H. iris! I've been watching for others, as that one was a very welcome early spot of color.