I love the looks of Japanese iris, yours are just beautiful. I have a couple, but no so pretty as these. The blooms don't seem to last very long at all for me.

I love Japanese iris. Do you have the names of these? Of the few I've grown 'Fairy Carillon' was my favorite.

Very lovely!

Irisgal I do have the names of these Iris that are in the photos but they are attached to the plant. I will check on them later. I have ordered two more new ones, Lion King and Lady in Waiting from this supplier http://www.champsfleuris.com/store/c18/IRIS_ENSATA.html Also have quite a few seeds that I am going to try and start, saved from the white one. Haven't tried to start Jap. Iris from seed yet but will see what happens.

I got this neat idea from another garden site, copied and pasted it here as it answered my question.

All I had to do was gather the seed pods and get the seed out of them. Then I tied the seed up in the foot of some pantyhose and I put them in the watertank on the "throne" for two months. The seed need frequent water changes so they don't get eaten up with bacteria and the throne's flushing action takes care of this nicely. Then after the two months were done, I took the seed out of the throne tank and wrapped them up in a wet papertowel and I put it into a ziploc bag. I put the ziploc bag into the refrigerator for 4 months of chilling.

With the 4 months done, I took the seed out of the refrigerator and they are already beginning to sprout!

Nice site! I'd not seen it before. Thank you.

Great directions. I hope something incredibly lovely turns up.

How lovely! I'm relatively new to iris and haven't looked into Japanese iris yet. Thank you for these photos. Also, I think I'd be tickled to know that every time I used the "throne" I was helping baby iris grow!

Question Susan, do you have the wet summers/dry winters described in your link? My watering is more supplemental than constant.

Also, how long of a blooming period do you typically get?

Thanks in advance!

I generally have wet clay soil, I dug out two Japanese Iris this year and the holes filled up with water. That is how wet the land it but it doesn't stay that wet, during the summer it will dry out considerably. I read that the Iris need wet roots and dry crowns but I am not sure if that is necessary. I did find this from Alan Banks who is quite famous for his Japanese Iris. Below is his quote. Hope this helps

The plants should be set in the soil about 10 cm (4 inches) deep and provided with lots of moisture. They can even be planted in a pond as long as they are lifted for the winter. Because their roots tend to move up toward the surface of the ground, they should be divided every three to four years and should be moved to a different area of the garden.

Blooming period seems to be about a couple of weeks for me, once cut the flowers do not last long in a vase.

Thank you Susan. That was very helpful. I have clay based soil and an area where water likes to collect, but we are dry every August. It is pretty shady so might not be that great.

Those are swell. Here is my new ones in zone 5. Very short an bloom same time as the crocus.

racetowin, those are very different

Thanks Susan, and very much appreciated.

Hope they multiply, this is the 2nd year on those.

I LOVE lion king!! I bought 2 plants and they did so well for me (6b), that I bought 4 more!

Have you ever seen this drool-worthy vendor?

http://ensata.com/

No, I ordered from Quebec. I have learned to start my own from seeds, they are doing quite well. Another post on this site.

Received my Lion King, can't wait until I see some blooms

beautiful