Shipping Season is upon us!

Iris rhizomes had a slow start this spring and are only now beginning to put on some size…just in time for the weather to try to bake things.

Several varieties are sold out, but there are still others available. Stay tuned to the Facebook page for some collections coming available soon.

Reservations are being taken for Hemerocallis for late summer shipping. They’re blooming now, so it will be about another 6-8 weeks before they ship.

The US Postal Service raised rates late in 2024 for the Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes.

The medium flat rate box now ships for $19.15. This is per box, no matter what’s inside, and is automatically added to the price of plants in your order at checkout.

On average, about 6-9 TB Iris rhizomes fit in the medium box.

Below, the first round of boxes ready to ship in July, 2024.

Well, snooze and lose, apparently. While the weather was being ornery and difficult, the true lilies and Hostas woke up and now can’t be shipped until the fall. Apologies—the winter was weird, simply stated. I will update the on-hand quantities and the system will allow ordering with the caveat that shipping will now occur in the fall.

Below, Lily Square in 2024.

Container production of my wares has been slow overall with soil temperatures and moisture levels being inconsistent and difficult to hold relatively steady.

Late in 2023, I increased container sizes for named varieties and seedlings intended for registration and introduction, which has definitely helped.

I also rowed out the 2023 crop of seedlings that germinated in 2024 into a field behind the house on the arboretum grounds I manage. Growth and development have been explosive.

Below: purple based foliage (PBF) on one of the field planted seedlings in October, 2024.

I’m working toward a new set of registrations and introductions for 2025. In Iris alone, crosses made in 2023 and 2024 resulted in 54 and 51 pods respectively with varying numbers of seeds. That’s two consecutive “high” pod sets, after the all-time low of 9 pods set in 2022. Pictured below is seedling 18-07B, one of the more promising youngsters I’m considering for registration.

I got approval to row out some 850 seedlings that germinated in 2024 to speed up the turnaround time from germination to bloom, so I can determine what gets culled and what gets selected to breed and/or introduce more quickly.

Six months after planting, most of this crop of seedlings is about the size that most of my container grown seedlings are after about three years. Below: the “field” at work in October, 2024.