June is a joyous time, for its iris-time. Everywhere, gardens large and small, private and public, even nursery rows — are a glow with the rainbow flowers in all their ravishing colors.
To these displays, areas come the iris fans and the beauty lovers, gathering in tiny groups or throngs, to both appreciate and study these lovely plants.
High in popularity on the visitors’ list is the Presby Memorial Iris Gardens in Montclair, New Jersey, where all kinds of iris are planted and maintained for the benefit of the public. Every year hundreds of gardeners arrive just to see the latest iris creations alone.
Dykes Medal Winners
- Argus Pheasant — soft brown self, orange-brown beard
- Blue Rhythm — cornflower blue, silver overtone
- Chivalry — ruffled, medium blue
- Helen McGregor — ruffled pale, blue
- Mary Randall — raspberry pink self, tangerine beard
- Ola Kala — ruffled, deep yellow, almost orange
- Truly Yours — ruffled, lace-edged yellow-white
Outstanding Beautiful Whites
- Ice Carnival — white falls, pale blue standards
- Helen McKenzie—well-formed, pure white
- Lady Boscawen — slightly ruffled alabaster white
- New Snow — ruffled snow-white Snow Flurry — ruffled blue-white
- The Citadel — fine, flaring white Tranquility — large, milk-white
- Wedding Bouquet — broad, heavily white, chartreuse buds
Some of the dark irises, deep as night, are Top Hat, Black Hills, and Sable Night. There are lovely tans, too, such as Thomas the Third and Medicine Man; also new reds, such as Ranger, Delaware Chief, Pacemaker, Town Talk, and Ylem.
All shades of blue may be seen. Some are just off the white, as in Precious Days and Grasmere; others, a little deeper blue, as in Kiki and Jane Phillips; a few still deeper, as in Pierre Menard.
Revolutionary Development In Iris
Great favorites among the top newer ones are Happy Birthday, Pink Sensation and Cloud Cap. Golden Hawk is an outstanding tall, new yellow with marvelous substance and Solid Gold will be hard to beat in its color class.
Other fine new irises included are Country Butter, Cinnamon Toast, Ballerina, Prairie Jewel, Rosedale, Rosa Barona, Colonel Primrose, Rainbow Room, Fire Dance, and Pretender.
They thrive in sandy hot areas, on mountains, in valleys, along the shores of ponds and streams, and in swamps.
The length of bloom offered by all types in succession is considerable. Iris cristata, a dainty, dwarf iris species blooms in early spring. Sometimes this is likened to a butterfly, so fragile is its beauty.
Iris reticulata, with its deep purple, falls splashed with gold, lending color to the March landscape. Then comes Iris tectorum, the roof iris, so-called because in Japan it grows on roofs.
The dwarf-bearded forms begin to blossom on the first of May and are followed by the intermediates and tall-bearded ones, which continue, usually, until mid-June.
Keep Pollen Fresh Over Several Weeks
Hybridizers have been able to cross the dwarfs with the intermediates and tall-bearded types, thus obtaining varieties to fill previous gaps in blooming periods. Breeding has been helpful also in producing later blooms on tall-bearded iris and increasing the number of buds on a stalk as well as bettering the substance, or “staying powers,” of the flower itself.
Overlapping and following the bearded iris, come the Siberian iris, the spurias, and the Louisiana iris from the bayous of that state. With the Japanese iris (Iris kaempferi) bloom carries well into July. The vesper iris (Iris dichotoma) appears during August.
Rel;ated: Professional Tips on Hybridizing Iris Species
Iris for the Fall
In September, the fall-blooming iris begins. Breeders are still working with this type, but there are already several good ones on the market. Two years ago in Presby Iris Gardens, one clump of fall-blooming iris flowered the first week of September and still showed color the first week in November!
The hardiness in growing bearded iris makes it a fine plant for the perennial border. It has often been said that, if a rhizome of iris were thrown out of a third-story window, it would take hold and grow, so tenacious is its hold on life.
Cultivate Iris Easy
Requires much less work in its care than most of the hardy perennials. It does not have to be lifted and stored; it stays where it is put. It may be left for at least five years in the same place before replanting.
There are, however, a few “musts” in the culture of this type that cause trouble whenever they are ignored. First, good drainage is essential, so plant bearded iris either on a slope or in a raised bed.
Second, this type needs sunshine and air. Never plant them under overhanging shrubs which will crowd or shade them.
Soil Should Be Porous
The kind of fertilizer bearded iris like depends upon the soil in which they are growing. Sandy, porous soil, for instance, or hard shale, needs organic matter as a rule. Accordingly, manures may be used with wonderful results.
With ordinary garden loam or soil of considerable clay content, no manures should be used. Instead, apply bone meal, phosphate crystals, and the commercial mixture, 5-10-10. Some people add lime rock also, but with a bone meal, this seems unnecessary.
The great group of beardless iris requires quite a different culture. All of the Siberians, spurias, Japanese iris and the Louisiana iris respond to manures, leaf mold, and peat moss in the soil with flourishing results.
These plants like plenty of water in the spring before the blooming season but stand a dry summer later very well.
Beware Of And Control Iris Borers
An annoying borer attacks the iris and is the complaint of many gardeners. It is hatched from eggs laid by a moth in the fall among the leaves and in the debris around the iris. If in the late fall, the iris leaves are cut back to within five or six inches of the ground and all the wilted leaves, weeds, and debris are cleaned out, these eggs are destroyed.
Later, in the first week of December (or when it gets cold) it is customary to cover the iris with a very slight sprinkling of salt hay held down with a brush. Another method of controlling the border is to spray with Acephate or Spinosad in the early spring and again later.
Avoid Iris Rhizomes in a Damp Situation
Raised beds open to the air and sunshine keep rot under control. Bearded iris has much more than hardiness, ease of culture, and length of bloom to offer the gardener in his perennial bed.
The bearded iris leaves are an accent in the garden and lovely at all times, just as the slender, curving leaves of the beardless types of iris are always a graceful adjunct to a garden picture.
In form and its unparalleled range of colors, the bearded iris is unsurpassed by any flower.
Breeding Is Fascinating
One of its interesting attributes is that, because of the arrangement of the pistils and stamens, the iris blossom is easily crossed without disturbing the flower. Crossing and breeding of iris is fascinating work and, in recent years, many amateur gardeners have produced exceptional results with it.