Question on prices vs. numbers of fans/rhizomes

14 years ago

hello all....brief intro first -- I am, in a sense, new to irises. I've grown a few in the past, but not in quantity, as our former house had LOTS of shade, lots of rich, damp soil, and the few sunny places were set aside for my daylilies. I know a bit, however, and I'm familiar with many sellers' and hybridizers' names....Snowpeak, Malevil, Joe Pye Weed's, Ensata, Keppel, Kasperek, Ghio, etc etc. And I'm at least semi-familiar with all the types, from SDB to Louisiana to spuria.

Now that we've moved to a place with lots of places to grow irises, I've ID'd three local places to buy from, and I've been to all three at one time or another. Two dig irises, and one of the two gives you a rhizome, maybe two. My recollection is that the other gives you maybe two or three rhizomes. In both cases, prices are probably $5-$10 range. The third place has a really nice selection of potted and field-grown plants, bearded to beardless. I've just bought rather a lot of plants from them, and I've the feeling I'll be going back for more...many, many more. :))

Other than that, I have not mail-ordered or bought irises locally for this new place yet. My question, finally :) --

what does one typically get for the money when mail ordering?

For example, how many fans of a Siberian or Louisiana iris could I reasonably expect to receive via mail order? How about a tall bearded iris, listed in a catalog at $8.00, for example....how many rhizomes might I receive in a mail shipment? Or here's a Japanese iris online, sold out at $10....how many fans of that one did people who ordered it typically receive?

I realize it probably varies from place to place, but I'm interested in a ballpark number. BTW, if you're reading between the lines and sensing the imminent approach of a new plant addiction, you'd be correct. :)))

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Comments (7)

newyorkrita
14 years ago
The only question I can help you on is for Siberian Iris as I have already planted 44 mail order Sibs this spring. It seems that one usually gets 3-4 fans when you order one plant. Being used to daylilies, the plants that arrived seemed very small to me because a fan of a Siberian Iris is small (thin) compaired to that of the daylilies I am used to planting mail order. Those fans are all attached to each other, growing out of the rhizome. It doesn't look like a rhizome to me, as what I think of as a rhizome looks like the bearded iris ones but these are different.

To ship, you can litterally tell where a piece of the mother plant was cut off and thats what you get. The piece and however many fans are growing out of it.

I have a more difficult area on a slope in my yard that I want to plant some in and what I am going to do when I am ready to plant there is to order doubles or even triples of the same plant so that I get a division with lots of fans that I really need for the slope. Otherwise all the rest that I planted this spring, while small, will do nicely as they surely will grow quickly and spread.

I do believe that for bearded iris you get one rhizome per plant ordered. I have seen pictures of orders recieved in the mail and thats the way it always was.
hosenemesis
14 years ago
With bearded irises, you get one rhizome, at least from the places I have ordered.

I'm looking forward to seeing photos of your garden next year...

Renee
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PollyNY
14 years ago
3-7 fans for the beardless ones. I would say 4-5 is average.
alina_1
14 years ago
I got my first bearded Iris orders last year. The size of rhizomes that I got from 2 sellers was VERY different. The rhizomes I got from BlueJ were quite small. The ones I received from Malevil Gardens were much larger + "toes" on each of them. I got bonus plants from both vendors. Overall, I was quite happy with both orders: I got fantastic new hybrids for a very reasonable price. Irises are relatively cheap and multiply fast, so the number of rhizomes is secondary for me.
hosenemesis
14 years ago
Carlos has pointed out that iris growers on the West Coast have growing conditions that produce huge rhizomes, while in the rest of the country the rhizomes are smaller. This has no effect on the plant or bloom, if I am recalling what he said correctly.
Renee
newyorkrita
14 years ago
Maybe its like those daylily fans one gets from California or down south. The darn things look like they are grown on steriods but plant them and give them afew weeks to grow here and they settle down to look like the other daylilies in the garden.
lynxe
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for the info, everyone. I recognize the advantages of each way of buying. Potted plants may seem more expensive, but you get what I like to call "insta-clumps." For example, I came home with a pot of the Japanese iris Butterflies In Flight, for $14. Maybe that seems like a lot, but the pot contained 14 mature fans. Buying online or via mail order offers a huge selection....too huge LOL.

I expect I'll be doing a lot of both from now on.