I’m sure you know what they say about planting trees, that we don’t do it for ourselves, we do it for our kids. Even though I’ve planted a few trees, I never think quite that far ahead. But those who’ve heard me talk about daffodils know that they do have me thinking of at least the following year.

When I’m planting bulbs in October and November, I’m not even thinking of Winter—I’m looking through Winter to the following Spring. And when we’re in the middle of Winter … believe me, the thought of daffodils got me through many a snowbound day.

As we were visiting Exline Iris Garden this afternoon, I realized that iris are suddenly having me thinking even further ahead than that. When we bought from Exline last year, I was told I’d have to wait two years for any blooms. Which, for the most part, has turned out to be true—only 5 of the 28 rhizomes we put in the ground last year look like they’ll bloom in the coming weeks. That didn’t stop us from buying another 22 this year, two each of the varieties below.

If you’d like to see what will be in bloom in our 2012 garden (is it possible your interest in garden neepery extends that far?), click through several times to check these out!