My NAPA order is on its way.... They called me to LMK it was mailing out Today.... Burgard and Schrieners to go...

Woohoo, my Napa order was sent out last week! Can't wait to get it, it's my very first order from them.

Containerfreak you must be in north LA to be zone 7b. I'm central LA and I plan on planting them straight in the ground as soon as I get them. I have been getting daylily orders in too and I have been planting them straight in the ground also and they are all doing very well and putting up new growth.
I planted 2 Little Freak Iris about 3 weeks ago and they were tiny maybe the size of a nickel around but they have a whole set of leaves out and the rhizomes have already plumped up to the size of a quarter. The soil is really well draining and I water every 3-4 days depending on how hot it is and whether or not we have had any rain. Which thankfully as of real late we've had a good bit.
Rena'

Rena', have you seen this website? I didn't know where you were or I would have suggested it earlier.

Here is a link that might be useful: Evey's Blissful Garden

Yes, thank you Renee I visit it quite often looking to see if there is a current update. And I find none :( Baton Rouge is about 160 miles south of here. Not very many people around really grow very many bearded Iris. I hope mine all do well. We shall see...

Oh, I really appreciate her # 7 Pray. I laugh out loud like a hyena every time I read it!

I put some in a pot and some straight in the ground when I 1st read her blog to see which would do better or if it would matter. The ones that went in the ground straight away grew better and faster then the ones in the pots.
So I skip the pots and put all in the ground immediately.
And I hardly ever lose any. But... I'm not naive I've only been gardening seriously with bearded Iris a relatively short time so I am positive I have a lot to learn. Experience is the best teacher so I guess I'm well on my way to a good education! lol

Rena'

I have the same experience- in the ground works better than in pots.
Renee

Hey guys thanks for the post...I am new to iris I have 2 one called batik and an another I lost the name to. I have 10 coming from schriners!!! Yay. But I started the other 2 in pots because my soil is clay.. And it doesn't drain well..I am going to divide the first 2 and put some in a bed and see if they will grow? I'm afraid to start the new ones in the ground I don't know if the will live?? Also Rena' I live in vidalia across the river from Natchez if you know where that is? I may have the zone wrong???

It gets pretty hot here even I am further north, and I find that things in pots don't do as well just because the root zone is hotter that way. Some things just really don't do well until you get them in the ground. So I would vote for in the ground, with maybe some bark added or compost or something to improve the drainage if you can. Raise up the bed, maybe. I had iris at my old house, I don't get so much rain as you are likely to get I think, and they did fine even with my clay soil. You might need to look at the drainage, even if you start them in a pot. Your light soil from the pot, once you get it into the ground, might serve as a water container with the clay walls around it, and the iris might drown. Water won't migrate from light soil to heavy.

containerfreak - you are in zone 8b. For all kinds of neat info you can go to plantmaps.com and enter your zip code.

Hum I have clay soil also but it is not dense until about 14-20" down and then only in certain places. My soil is super draining almost too much. That is why my cactus garden thrives. If it is possible I would build a raised bed for good draining if your soil doesn't drain well. At least have as many possible things as you can in your favor so as to give the iris the best shot at thriving. I know that digging in dense clay is so hard & pretty miserable. I daydream of renting a jackhammer for this one part of my garden just to get all the dense clay out of it. lol My Batik isn't the fastest growing thing in the world. Actually it is growing (both in different places) slow as a slug. But at least with the rain as of late a lot of mine are growing faster now.

I've not ordered from Schreiners but I've only heard glowing reports about them, awesome! What did you order?

Hi gardenofeden, thanks for the info!! I ordered a basic package that included:
Rosalie Figge
Pink Attraction
Harvest of memories
Orange harvest
Autumn Circus
Best Bet
Just to get started, and then I just had to ad a few
Supreme Sultan
Impressionist
Gnus Flash
And I am supposed to get a free one
Grateful Red

I am just afraid to put these in the ground!!! I have had Batik a year and I bought it in a container blooming I transplanted it into a larger container and it has grown a lot and multiplied well!!! My idea was to start in large container and when I divide later put the divisions in the ground??? I just don't want them to die if I put them directly into the ground!!!

Nice choices- lots of rebloomers. Grateful Red is a beauty.

Well, if your Batik is doing good in the pot then you must be doing something right, I say keep on keeping on! I know what you mean about not wanting to lose any. Follow your instinct, it's when we don't heed the inner voice we usually end up in trouble. I have most of those on order as well. And it is very hard to not just keep adding on to the orders. Much luck to both of us!

You are about 52 miles east of me. And actually my husband's birthday is Saturday and you know that place out your way that sells the huge cedar rocking chairs? I want to get him one of those. And all the wonderful places that sell those concrete statues and pots is calling me. lol

Rena'

Hey Y'all,
My order came in and the plants look great!!! And Greatful Red has the purple foliage!!! Yea!!! And I got an extra bonus Silken Trim the picture looks beautiful!!! SO excited!!

Woohoo for the pbf's! Hum... Silken Trim gotta go take a peek. Oh that one is pretty. Don't forget to take photos and post them when they bloom. We wanna see too!

Rena'

Well I planted them in 3 gallon containers in miracle grow potting soil!! Hope the do well, at least until I can get a raised bed built this spring!