I is for Irises in the A to Z Challenge

  • Post published:04/11/2016
  • Post comments:2 Comments

I is for Irises.  I fell in love with Siberian irises. A white one and a blue one were growing at our house in Heath when we  bought it. They had not had any care for a couple of years and yet they bloomed looking like clouds in the sky – effortless.

Siberian irises
Siberian irises in the field

Siberian irises are not particular about soil or watering so I never realized how much they liked wet sites. One year I noticed a big clump of deep blue Siberian irises growing in a wet swale in the field next to the house. I have no idea how they got there. Maybe I threw an extra division out there one year when I had more divisions than I knew what to do with?

Siberian irises are beardless irises. I never thought this was a whole class of irises, but in Beardless Irises – A Plant for Every Garden Situation by Kevin C. Vaughn (Schiffer $29.99) I learned that Japanese irises (which also like a damp spot or lots of watering) are in  the beardless family, along with Louisiana irises, Pacific Coast Native Irises and Spuria irises. I had never heard of Spuria irises but these irises need a wet spot so badly that Vaughn suggests that one way to handle them is to bury a kiddie paddling pool slightly underground, fill it with soil and then plant the Spurias there after heavily watering the area, keeping it wet.

The array of color and bi-color in the beardless iris category is staggering. The illustrations in Vaugh’s book are gorgeous and may lead to a springtime splurge on more irises. I wrote about my Heath irises earlier this year here.

 

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Denise

    If I let them Siberian irises would take over my entire garden .

  2. honestdayPeter

    “I” has to be the best letter of the alphabet, at least for those of us who swoon at th sight of Siberian or Japanese irises. Thank you!

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