i spend lots of times making cute roommates when i plant. usually i do my map in spring, when they are blooming, but gophers ruined my garden this year so i am winging it this summer. i plant large swaths of colors to flow into each other or jolt you awake! i am just redoing all my beds now. i won't give you names because i have too many to list but i just flanked stairs in light blues and whites, another area drk blues, purples and mauves, another in blue/yel/wht, a bed of yel/purples, another of pinks and orgs, one area of red/org/yel, ok i could go on for ages... i have great fun lining up roommates when i plant, its the only thing that makes dividing fun, replanting new designs! one thing i sugggest is to offset patterns with solid colors, and the more the contrast, the better they look side by side.

Thanks Jain! I've seen your garden pictures and they are lovely! I probably don't have enough yard to do "swaths" of anything-- I'm hoping for "blotches". But your advice about patterns and solids is very useful.

I'm working on a map too. Hopefully a more accurate one than I made the first year.

I love yellow and violet together. I saw 'Double Agent' (bitone magentaish?) with 'Titan's Glory' (purple) - WOW.

My combos tend to be soft --- 'Mary Frances' (orchid blue), a pastel pink I can't remember name of, 'Heather Blush' and a pastel blue like 'Babbling Brook'.

Another bed I put yellows & oranges. Didn't have bloom times when planting. Now I have a dedicated calender where I note opening day.

Iris gal, I think 'titan's glory' and 'mary frances' must look good with everything-- can't believe I didn't order them!

I like the double agent/titans glory idea. I've got 'Fiery temper' on its way--I think I'll pair it with 'Dusky challenger.' Dusky didn't bloom in its first spring, but I'm seeing some nice increase and hoping it will bloom next year.

Keeping a calendar is a good idea. I have dated photos from this spring, but it is a bit of a hassle to reconstruct start and end dates. A calendar would be better. I will use AIS info for the new irises, but I noticed last year that those aren't always accurate. I had some Es that bloomed later that the MLs.

I just did a search looking for combos, and this old thread came up. I'm getting ready to do a google on double agent and titan's glory.

anyone else have any great combos they love?

Be careful when you are 'clustering' that what you put in the cluster likes to bloom at the same time. Keep in mind that DUSKY CHALLENGER tends to be late (here), so it should not be placed with BEFORE THE STORM, which is early (here).

Just something else to think about.

Walter Moores

Although I like the historics best, I think beds with limited color combos work better with the moderns.
If I had the space my 'dream' combination would be dark blue and purples offset with a few accent light blues, mauves and lavenders. I would not put any plicatas (too busy)or reds/yellows/orange in the mix. Only selfs so the solid colors would play off each other. I like to see a purple offset against a blue one. It makes the purple richer and the blue more blue.
I would also like to have a black and white bed. Maybe a blue (victoria falls) and pink (vanity) combination.
and...and...and....
Well, someday.
Its in the plans.
Laetitia

Walter, thank you for this interesting and important point. I will have to keep that in mind when planting combos.

Laetitia - I have seen the plicatas on the iris suppliers websites so I know what they look like, but Im not sure what self is. Does "self" mean one solid color?

Thanks guys. I'll be picking all your brains for the next few weeks.

Maureen

Irish Rose ~~

Yes. 'Self' means one solid color. I always thought it also meant the beard was also the same color but not true.

Here is Mike's site with iris photos in his garden. Some super ideas. Wish Lupines did better here -- they wimp along.

Jain's site also has garden shots of mixed iris colors.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.garden-of-mu.com/gardenpage.HTML

There are a few different patterns of basic iris color combinations:
self = as stated, falls and standards same color
plicata = as you stated, feathered
bitone = same color falls and standards, but one lighter than the other
bicolor = different colored falls and standards.

Then there are 'blends' colors melding into one another,
variegata: a kind of bicolor with yellow on top and red, brown, or maroon on the bottom
amoena: a kind of bicolor with white on the top and some other color on the bottom.
luminata: I find this hard to describe but basically white or yellow in the heart and hafts radiating outwards and any color on the falls or standards. (sorry about this description, its the only one that comes to mind)
And there are always those oddballs which defy description or seem to fall into more than one category.
All and all...lots of fun.
Laetitia

Last year I had a nice combination of IRISH TUNE (Yellow), MARIPOSA SKIES (LIGHT BLUE) and EDITH WOLFORD (Yellow Standards & Blue Falls).

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Here's a couple of my favorites.

This combo of rust, creamy orange, maroon, beige, and red-violet was a knock-out. I'll be repeating it again in the new garden. A gold or variegata would work well in the mix too.

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I really liked this combo of soft tones of yellow, orchid and red too. A light blue and a creamy white would look good in there also - and maybe a deep purple for some drama.

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Mike

I have a warm combination of TB and IB irises in my back yard in one corner: TB "Jazz Echo" and IB's "Honey Glazed" and "Red Zinger." Their bloom times overlap for me, so it's not a all on/all off display - it lasts for little while. I added some warm-colored historics together near the first clump for fun, but now I'm drawing a total blank on what I planted.

Once out in the front yard I got a mislabled iris mixed in with my 'Superstition' clump, which is backed by a mature white clematis 'Henryi.' When the plants bloomed together two years ago, it was wonderful - there was a dark violet-purple and white bicolor that was fantastic with 'Superstition' in front of the clematis. But the uninvited guest didn't bloom last year, so I don't know if the "mystery iris" didn't make it through the winter, or what happened. I'd like to repeat the combination on purpose, because it was stunning. Last year I planted heuchera 'Palace Purple' all around the front of the grouping to keep the purple going all summer.

Carlos42180, I really like the 'Edith Wolford'-'Irish Tune'-'Mariposa Skies' combination. I have EW planted in two clumps flanking my front porch, and they're one of my favorite irises.

Laurel

I'm getting inspired to plant some deep purple irises in with my yellow/white and white/yellow noids, and maybe a pale blue. What is a good choice for a pale blue that blooms a lot? Some have navy, white, or red beards. So many choices, but looking at the photos doesn't tell how much they bloom or increase.

I like to sit on my little bench and write down all of the color combo/iris that I think would look good together. Here are some combos' that I've written down. I honestly don't know if they'd look as good together as I imagine, but I guess I'll see... You can see photo's of these iris at my picturetrail album below.
Marauder, Woodland Rose, Afternoon Delight, Branching Out and Pinkness.

Ginger Swirl, Cable Car, Harvest Of Memories, Goldkist.

Flavescens, Pocahontas, Pallida, Mexicana, a noid that resembles Honorable and another historic noid that is light and dark blue.

Covet Me, Tiger Honey, Ginger Swirl.

Smooth Talk, Harvest of Memories and Chantilly.

Easter Bonet, Dark Yellows, Yellow/red noid, Smooth Talk.

Goldish Brown noid (similar to Copper Classic), Dark or light yellows, Orange Two Tone, Brown Plicata's, Pastel Yellow seedling(similar to Jean Cayeux but lighter yellow).

Smokey Lavendar seedling, Thornbird, Hello Darkness, Halloween Moon, Tiger Honey seedling (similar to Tiger Honey).

Dusky Challenger, Titans Glory, Snowbrook, Stepping Out, Lee Marge, Immortality, Batik, Pocahontas.

Pallida, Clarence, Yellows, Dusky Challenger, Titans Glory, Minn Mixed Up Kid.

Stunning, Marauder, Black As Night, Dark Yellow.

heidi

Here is a link that might be useful: Picturetrail photo album

When my 'Superstition' clump bloomed, I had a reappearance of my "on-again-off-again" iris (which I planted 5 years ago and has bloomed only every other year) in the middle of it. It's 'Liaison,' so the clump is a purple/white combination, very nice.

Laurel.

Just a suggestion, a color wheel can help a lot, like how about trying complementary colors together such as blues & oranges, purples & yellows, and reds & greens, and see how that looks. Another idea is to plant them in a rainbow pattern, (reds to oranges to yellows to greens to blues to purples). And of course another way would be to group the same colors in different shades of lightnesses and darknesses together.
I haven't tried these methods, but I think it might be worth a try.
There are a lot of color wheel sites online.
JT