CULT: Our Favorites

---

I’m taking the liberty of naming more than 25 favorite growers as the two of us contributed to the list. Please bear with us:

1. Back in Black—Schreiner 1986
2. Blue Luster—O. Brown 1973
3. Calico Cat BB—Lankow 1988
4. Conjuration—Byers 1988
5. Dazzling Gold—D. Anderson 1981
6. Edith Wolford—Hager 1984
7. Everything Plus—Niswonger 1983
8. Helen Boehm—Schreiner 1977
9. Immortality—Zubrigg 1982
10. Jam Session—Crandall 1981
11. La Mer—Richardson 1994
12. Lemon Mist—Rudolph 1971
13. Misty Shadows—Schreiner 1972
14. Mountain Majesty—Ghio 1995
15. Northwest Progress—Schreiner 1997
16. Pumpin Iron—P. Black 1990
17. Gold Galore—Schreiner 1978
18. Likely Story—Plough 1981
19. Understudy—Tompkins 1986
20. Sea Wolf—Aitken 1981
21. Jesse’s Song—Williamson 1983
22. Strictly Ballroom—Lauer 1994
23. Bedford Lilac SDB—B. Jone 1991
24. Carnival Time—Schreiner 1976
25. Cityscape—Schreiner 1997
26. Faraway Blue—Plough 1981
27. Fiji Dancer—Zurbrigg 1978
28. Orange Game—Slade 1985
29. Planned Treasure—Burger 1985
30. Touch of Bronze—Blyth 1983
31. Well Endowed—Ghio 1978
32. Unidentified lemon scented pale yellow F and S, purple based foliage, grown on our farm since the 1920’s

Northeast Washington, zone 4 (but with temperatures as low as 48F below in the 20 years we’ve been here); acid sandy loam, 12-15 inches of rain per year November through May; organically grown in horse, alpaca, sheep and chicken manure compost. Biggest problem is frost which can and has come in every month of the year. Last frost date is usually late June and first killing frost is late August; then we get 30 plus days of warm weather. This year we had iris blooming through the third week of July. I’ve never had rebloom, but this year as I was trimming irises dug for replanting by a helper, I found a partially developed bloom stalk.

Robert and Linda Karr, Zone 4, AIS, HIPS, Region 13